1. Top Dog Training
St. Mark Comfort Dog Ministry

2. What the dogs taught me…
Martin Comfort Dog and Luther
Comfort Dog are shown here
teaching me how to lay very
still and pay attention (without
falling asleep).

3. What the dogs taught me…
Isaiah Comfort Dog waits
patiently as his Handler eats
breakfast.
Isaiah didn’t have to wait
patiently the whole time
though…

4. What the dogs taught me…
Many hotel patrons took time
from their busy morning
schedules to stop and meet the
dogs every morning while we
ate breakfast.
One lady even “wept with joy” as
she greeted each dog. She was
a HUGE fan (and Facebook
follower) and knew each dog by
name.

5. What the dogs taught me…
Meet the Trainer (and her
Helpers)…
Anastasia, LCC’s lead dog
trainer.
Along with (left to right) Ruthie,
Samuel, Martin, Luther, Lily,
Hannah, and Isaiah.

6. What the dogs taught me…
OH NO… Anastasia has a ball!
Is it playtime???

7. What the dogs taught me…
Nope. Not yet.
Good dogs!!!

8. What the dogs taught me…
My first assigned partner…
Samuel Comfort Dog.
Samuel spends part of his
time at the Lockport
Township Fire Station… AND
is currently undergoing
training to possibly be
certified as a Search &
Rescue dog!
How neat is that?!?!
Samuel can FIND you…
and then COMFORT you!

9. What the dogs taught me…
Samuel and I at a meet-and-
greet event with over 200
people at a Senior Center.
Samuel handled all of the
pettings and rubbings while I
fielded all of the questions.

10. What the dogs taught me…
Samuel and I thoroughly
enjoyed our visit! We met lots
of nice people.

11. What the dogs taught me…
As you can see, we didn’t
really like each other… Too
much.
I think Samuel knew I missed
my family!

12. What the dogs taught me…
Ruthie Comfort Dog making a
new friend. Later we debated
who had the bigger smile on
their face…
Ruthie or the little girl.

13. What the dogs taught me…
Here is Lily Comfort Dog
showing us how to do the “lap”
command.

14. What the dogs taught me…
Samuel on his mat. This is
where Samuel slept in the hotel.
Comfort Dogs are not allowed
on furniture, so this is Samuel’s
bed.
Once Samuel was given the
“mat” command he stayed/slept
there the entire night and didn’t
leave his mat.

15. What the dogs taught me…
Is it playtime yet?

16. What the dogs taught me…
FINALLY!!!

17. What the dogs taught me…
My second assigned partner…
Lily Comfort Dog in Training!
Lily is one of the 9 pups from the
Class of 2014 and will be placed
in a church this summer.

18. What the dogs taught me…
Lily is only 9 months old now
and still has 3 months of training
left. BUT she was very well
along already. She did great!
Here is Lily’s imitation of a frog.

19. What the dogs taught me…

20. What the dogs taught me…
Lily was a doll.
Lily was my date for some Chicago style pizza
one night. Because of Lily I got to meet a little
boy, his wheelchair bound grandmother, and his
family.
She did incredible! (Even with all of the sights,
sounds and pizza smells all around her).

21. What the dogs taught me…
More training…
Notice the scary man with the
walker? The dogs didn’t budge.
The trainers routinely throw
situations like these at the dogs
throughout their training.

22. What the dogs taught me…
Did you know that each
Comfort Dog knows and obeys
46 different individual
commands?
They even have a command
for go potty! The command
“hurry up” tells the dog the
time and place to potty.