Hello, my name is Krystal. Welcome to my little corner of Caroline’s world! I’m here to help Caroline with background tasks so she can focus on YOU.

I have always had pets, which ranged from good ol’ cats and dogs, to the more exotic array of reptiles, birds and mustelids. Having pets has always been a great joy to me, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

I used to work as a Medical Office Assistant at the Royal Alexandra Hospital before my husband and I relocated to Wetaskiwin, Alberta. When we moved I was given an opportunity to work at the Wetaskiwin Animal Clinic and I snatched it up with excitement. I’ve worked in pet stores before, but animal health was of great interest to me. It’s a job I THRIVED in. I had an interest in becoming an Animal Health Technologist, but it’s a dream that got away from me. After a cat bite that went wrong and I ended up on intense IV therapy I struggled working around cats. As a result, I decided to sadly move on from that chapter. I still avoid contact with the majority of cats to this day. I still enjoy their presence from a respectable distance, however.

My love and understanding of dogs has always been stronger anyways. I loved the company of our toy American Eskimo and boxer-Rottweiler in the time we had them in Wetaskiwin.

Eventually I started my own business and was the sole owner-operator for a number of years. It was a lot of work, but I thought it would be the last job I’d ever have.

Life had a different plan for me, and it sent quite a few curveballs in my direction. I ended up in a position where I had to make the painful decision to close my business. My husband and I decided that a service dog would be a good fit for my suddenly very-changed situation. The service dog providers were, at the time, all closed to applications, and I was looking at several years before getting a dog.

After careful consideration, we decided to take the owner-trained route under direction of a trainer. We knew it would be challenging. Before we knew it, we were on the hunt for a service dog prospect. It was during this time that I spoke with Caroline, and we talked like we were old friends despite never actually have met face to face. We met her when we attended a litter of puppies where she performed a behavioral assessment, and both her and the puppy we chose have been a significant part of our lives ever since. She has helped train my pup into a confident, focused and loving companion and helper.

That puppy is now full grown and has passed the Alberta qualification test as an owner-trained service dog, thanks to Caroline’s help and support the entire time. Want to meet her? Click here!

While at a training session one day after we relocated to Parkland County, she made mention that she had a backlog of paperwork she needed to get done, and I made a comment about how she needed to get someone to do that for her. She agreed, and asked if I knew anyone.

The paperwork may be different from hospital admissions and test requests, but paperwork is something I can handle. I was happy and honored that she trusted me to help out. Being unable to work at a regular job allows me the flexibility to help Caroline out with some of the tasks that every business owner really needs. I know what that’s like. I’m happy to help her out with this end so she can focus on helping people meet their dog training goals with the same success she helped me find. I highly recommend her for a reason, and it’s because I never could have achieved the success I have without her brilliant, loving and confident approach to dogs. I want others to be able to have a similar bond with their dog as I do. The best way to do that is to free up some of her time so she can spend that with you.

You can follow my service dog, Tzila, on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok as @thetzila

-Krystal