This whole idea started way back in 2018 at a conference in Kansas City. That was the first time I heard someone articulate that the animal sheltering field was about more than just the animals. This was about getting out into our communities and supporting the people who make all of our work possible. This was about serving our community's total health.

Flash forward to 2023. I'm teaching Bachelor of Science students at a tiny local college, and preparing for a semester centered around animal sheltering. I sat down with M.B. of The Deviled Eggery, and explained that animal welfare was part of our community's whole health. We talked about how people seeking help from support programs likely avoid programs that don't support them keeping their pet(s), how access to affordable housing becomes even more challenging when pets are part of your family, and overall how supporting our community's health includes supporting the animals in our community. With a heavy sigh, M.B. replied, "It makes so much sense. I'm all in. How can we help?"

So in collaboration with Una Vida, we teamed up to provide completely free (and bilingual) dog training to anyone who showed up. My Bachelor of Science students led the training classes that day as their final project for the course. We saw almost 20 people and their dogs in just a few hours.

The very next semester I was teaching the "Basic Obedience" course at the college. We had proven that people would show up to free dog training, and that this was a valuable service for the community. So I told the students: 

"This semester, you'll be leading free group classes
twice a week for six weeks at three locations around Rohnert Park."

The students looked back at me in horror. Many of them were new to dog training in general, and almost none of them had led a single group class before. I told them, "You'll be the first people in the world to do something like this." Their terrified faces suddenly relaxed, then faded into smiles of excitement.

We worked during our classes preparing their curriculum, working on their own training kinesthetics and mechanics, and making sure they were ready to tackle this exciting endeavor. 

Before actually setting the students out to lead these classes, I had proposed a conference workshop to the same conference I had been inspired by back in 2018. The topic: How to Offer Free Dog Training to Your Community. I was selected to speak, so I packed my bags and headed to San Antonio to present this idea on the international stage.

Throughout the conference, people from around the world would approach me saying that they wanted this in their community. They told me the stories of their own struggles with getting people access to qualified dog trainers and behavior consultants in a way that was actually accessible.

When I got back from the conference, I printed some flyers and decided to just start doing free group dog training classes once a day, four days a week, and see what happened. At the time I was trying to figure out how to pay my bills, feed myself and my own dog, and make something good like this happen.

Ultimately, it just wasn't quite right.

I had somewhat low attendance throughout, and I couldn't sustain offering these free classes without some financial backing. Most of the classes were one-on-one sessions with people, and I knew I couldn't keep this up for long. I took a job training assistance dogs to pay the bills and went back to the drawing board.

I've been stewing about this idea for months, and trying to figure out how to make this work. I talked to the students who led the pilot classes, brainstormed with others in the field, and arrived at a simple conclusion:

I'm going to have to form a nonprofit and just go for it.

So I took a big deep breath, forced the people whose opinions matter to me to give me some words of encouragement, and hit record on my phone.

I posted a video to social media saying, "I'm offering free dog training, and I want this to be a nonprofit. To file as a nonprofit, I need $600 that I don't have. If you believe in this like I do, here's how you can donate."

Within 12 hours, we had met our $600 goal. The next week we had our first board of directors meeting, two days after that we opened a bank account, and as soon as the PayPal donations hit the bank we filed for 501(c)3 status with the IRS. That was on September 16th, 2024.

We received our determination letter from the IRS on October 1, 2024.