Sarah

Sarah first started her love of training dogs through 4-H with her Border Collie, teaching him obedience, tricks and agility. 

She graduated from the University of Washington, studying animal behavior and human psychology.  

For five years she managed a doggie daycare and transformed it into a "Canine Activity Program", where the dogs rotated through various activities during the day as a more structured and healthier form of daycare.  During this time she also taught obedience and pre-agility classes in the evenings.  

For the past nearly ten years Sarah trained service and therapy dogs at Freedom Service Dogs of America.  She had the role of Dog Training Director and graduated over 50 teams. 

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Anne

After teaching in public schools and coaching athletics for many years, Anne switched to work in the dog world in 2004. She worked in the Animal Behavior Department at Dumb Friends League for 4 years, learning positive reinforcement training, helping dog and cats become more adoptable, teaching new adopters how to work with their dogs, passing on her knowledge to volunteers, and counseling people through the behavior helpline to help with common cat and dog problems to help the animals stay in their home and not be relinquished to shelters. Then she ran the two downtown Denver City Bark Dog Daycare and Boarding Facilities for 7 years, bringing her behavior and dog body language expertise to make the boarding and day care experience more enjoyable and less stressful for both dogs, employees, and pet parents. After that she was hired by Freedom Service Dogs where she worked with both Cathy and Sarah before they left to found Faithfully K9. From 2017-2021, she placed over 20 dog teams with veterans living with PTSD, children living with autism, people living with mobility issues, and professional therapy dog teams performing animal assisted therapy in private practice and at schools.

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Erick

Erick served in the ARMY from 2015 to 2018 as an airborne infantryman assigned to the 4-25 Brigade Fort Richardson, Alaska, and served with the 3-509th battalion.

Being a paratrooper taught him that he could push himself physically and mentally to new limits, with his biggest lesson - that of selfless service. In Afghanistan, two brothers were lost during deployment. After the completion of deployment, he departed with an honorable discharge.

Returning to Colorado, he served his community as a police officer for the City of Lakewood. December 27, 2021, was tough as he was involved in an officer-involved shooting in the Belmar area of Lakewood. In this incident, he and his partner attempted to stop a triple homicide suspect who opened fire on them. The event ended with an officer and the suspect exchanging fire. The suspect was deceased, and his partner, his good friend Ashley Ferris, thankfully recovered.

Unfortunately, his service-connected disabilities were constantly being exacerbated, and he no longer felt healthy. He decided to pursue a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling which will enable him to still be able to fulfill his passion for helping others by serving veterans and first responders.

Erick trained his dog, Chispa, through Faithfully K9 and decided to help other Veterans and 1st Responders by becoming a trainer with FK9.