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Steve and Kelly
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Margaret, Steve, Kelly and dogs

The Full Story

We have a lifetime of experience and have trained almost every dog sport imaginable with champion results and a lifetime of happy dogs.  We have developed our proprietary training method with foundation obedience as the corner stone for all dogs sports and activities for family pets and emotional support dogs to dog athletes that compete in sports across the country.  We are committed to providing excellent customer service and sharing our knowledge and experience to help you achieve results for your dog to be well balanced and trained to fit your lifestyle.  In 2013 we bought this 45 acre working ranch in Hudson, CO and returned to our passion of dogs.  We are continually enhancing and upgrading our property and offerings for all things dogs.  Dogs are our passion.  We are licensed by the State of Colorado and the county we reside in to board and train dogs.

Mission

Our mission it to keep dogs in their homes and out of shelters by sharing our expertise, building a community and ensuring each service we provide has a cornerstone of training and support, building lifetime bonds and increased communications with dogs and their families.

Vision

Through a solid foundation of expert training developed by Kelly Roll's lifetime experience and achievements with her dogs we will utilize dog sports and enrichment activities in all of our services and offerings to build a community that is supportive, offering services that are trailblazing for our heart dogs to have activities and experiences that are fulfilling and rewarding for them.

Kelly helps people with dogs who have behavior and aggression issues, and has even provided training and analysis of dogs who are court ordered to seek training because of their behavior.  Kelly is passionate about giving every dog a chance and ensuring through use of proper training tools, rewards and training.

 

Kelly has helped many people obtain the title of therapy dog, and she has helped service dogs have a foundation to pursue service dog and search and rescue.  Additionally, Kelly has provided private lessons to special needs individuals for wheelchair and  other disability training of their dogs.  Proficient training in tasks that assist special needs is offered by Kelly and her team.  Behavior modification to assist with emotional support dogs being well trained and having excellent manners and behavior as well as confidence is public is offered at K9cation.

 

As a young child, Kelly, at two years old, had practically learned to walk in the Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) show ring traveling to dog shows across the Nation, entering her first show when she was only two years old with her puppy, Frosty.  Kelly traveled to dog shows with her mom, Margaret, and was a named partner in their ASCA registered and foundation registered Kennel, Mar-Kel.  Kelly began her conformation show career showing in junior handling, puppy, and regular conformation classes throughout her early years of life..  Kelly put her first conformation champion on her dog, Cinnamon Frost of Mar-Kel which was out of the Hall of Fame Kennel Las Rocosa in the early 90s.  She and her mom raised performance puppies and Kelly helped to socialize and ensure each puppy got a quality foundation before going to their new home.  Kelly also showed in 4-H starting at the young age of eight and was regularly awarded Grand Champion at the Colorado State Fair and Boulder County Fair in both obedience and showmanship, Grand Champion overall.  Kelly titled many of her dogs in obedience with the highest level completed being in Open which included off leash, retrieving, out of sight stays, broad and high jump, earning the title of Companion Dog Excellent.  She also completed numerous stock dog titles on several of her dogs including her first Working Trial Champion in the mid 90s with her dog, Trostel’s Elvis.  Kelly completed her first herding champion while still in High School and began offering lessons to clients.

In the early 90s Kelly got her start in dog training when she and her mom began co instructing dog obedience classes, and 4-H classes to students of all ages sharing their passion for dogs, knowledge and experience.  They provided conformation, obedience, trick dog, and puppy socials, agility and more to their students who brought all breeds of dogs to them for their expert help.  In the mid 90s and not even 18 years old, Kelly began offering private lessons including stock dog herding lessons to her very own clients. 

 

Kelly set a record as the top National Junior Handler three times in a row, competing in versatility with her dogs, conformation, obedience, and stock dog herding with cattle, sheep, and ducks.  Kelly was featured on the cover of the International magazine “The Aussie Times” with a special full page write up three times during her junior handling career.  Kelly led her family’s Aussies in versatility for her handling career. At age 18 Kelly aged out of 4-H and junior handling and earned three full ride academic scholarships to pursue her interest of business, multi media and marketing.  Kelly loaded up her dog, Sassy and went to College on a full scholarship from 1998-2002 earning her degree in Communication with emphasis in business and marketing at the University of Colorado Springs.  Kelly began working for the State of Colorado in the early 90s as an elementary teacher aid and during college worked as an administrative assistant for the Budget Office of the Department of Public Safety. Kelly retired from the Colorado State Patrol after 24 years of State Service as the Director of Strategic Communication & Director of  Strategic Engagement and Brand Management.

 

Kelly took some time off from showing dogs, but always had a dog at her side, and continued training and enjoying dogs as her natural talent and passion and abilities allowed.  In 2013 Kelly, her husband, Steve and daughter, Haley purchased their dream acreage in Hudson, CO with a second house for her mom, Margaret and her husband Dan.   Kelly and her family worked their property, farming hay and operating a 35+ horse boarding facility specializing in reining and cutting horses and raising cattle and sheep.  Kelly’s last of her show Aussies, Sassy who was with her for the start of college, college graduation, the start of her professional career, marriage, and birth of her daughter Haley passed away in 2013.  Kelly was devastated.  Steve brought home a young pup for Kelly that was a working dog.  Kelly trained the dog and the subsequent pups to help on their ranch.  Training the dogs and herding from horseback inspired Kelly to once again return to her love of showing and training dogs and she began offering dog training at her Ranch with the help of her family.  Haley, Kelly’s daughter showed in her very first show in Junior Handling, obedience and conformation and barn hunt at just five years old continuing in her mom’s foot steps.

 

Kelly began offering dog classes to help dogs and their owners better communicate in 2015 at her family ranch in Hudson.  She specialized in offering dog sports for fun to help owners of dogs better understand and communicate with their dogs.  Kelly is a balanced trainer, who has developed her own training methodology, which is based on natural dog behavior and communication with a deep bond between dog and handler and a strong foundation of obedience with added dog sports, and so was born K9cation.

Meet Kelly, K9cation Founder

Kelly’s family raised performance Australian Shepherds starting in the mid 1970s and the dogs became a primary aspect of Kelly’s life.  Kelly developed a passion for dogs and began showing her beloved dogs at the age of two years old.  She grew up on a small ranch in Erie, Colorado where she spent her days playing with and training her pack of Australian Shepherds.  Kelly remembers training and independently caring for 15 Aussies at the young age of nine years old. 

 

Kelly is certified by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and offers AKC certifications to include AKC temperament testing, AKC good citizen, AKC Trick Dog, and AKC Farm Dog training classes and certifications to her students.

 

Kelly excels in dog sport competitions, earning a variety of accolades and titles for her dogs, competing in a wide variety of dog sports.  Kelly is a natural dog sport performance trainer, earning titles and recognitions.  Most recently Kelly and has been competing in sports such as ASCA Stock Dog Herding, ASCA Obedience, ASCA and AKC Rally-O, ASCA Agility, ASCA Conformation, NADD and Rocky Mountain Dock Diving, Barn Hunt, Rat Games, USSC Nose Work, and handling in AKC conformation for friends.  Each dog Kelly owns is trained in all dog sports and each dog has a sport that is their favorite and speciality, Kelly believes in versatility in her training and her dog’s accomplishments and ensures each dog is high performing in a variety of sports. In 2022 following the world slowing down due to COVID, she showed her Border Collie, Ice in the National Western Stock Show Sheep Herding Trial and placed in the top third of the dogs.  In 2022 she was invited to judge an AKC Fun match at the AKC Terry All show in Denver, CO.  

 

Kelly is a natural dog trainer with a lifetime of experience raising, training, and showing dogs.  She uses behavior analysis and her versatility and array of dog sports training to develop her own methodology.  Kelly is often referred to by her clients as a dog whisperer, gifted with the ability to translate communication and behavior so that dog’s and humans can develop a deep bond.  In 2021 Kelly retired from her professional career in State government and opened K9cation with her family full time.

 

The mission of K9cation is to help dogs stay in their home through all of the dog services offered training, dog sports, daycare, boarding, and more.  

 

Kelly enjoys helping people with their first dog, and pet dogs so that their dog can be the best all around dog and live it’s life to the fullest.  Kelly sprinkles in time to compete with her dog’s but her priority is to care for and help dogs that are their families’ pet.  Kelly has mentored her students to win in competition throughout the years but has found a great need for introducing dog lovers to dog sports for fun without the pressures of competition. 

 

Kelly is passionate about helping dogs and offers her services to all breeds and dog owners of all ages.  Kelly’s training methodology is based on using dog’s natural and instinctive abilities in dog sports to increase their communication and partnership with their owners and families.  She works closely with families who have young puppies to ensure positive training is used to make learning fun for the puppy and the family.  Some dogs once they become a certain age, or have had negative experiences or a lack of behavior modification and training or often to help the owner better communicate with their dog requires a variety of tools.  Kelly’s knowledge and experience and balanced approach ensures that training tools are escalated only when necessary and that tools are deescalated as possible to ensure results and common understanding for both the dog and the family.  Kelly is passionate about training foundation basics such as leash walking, manners in the home and in public, separation training, crate training, positive play, socialization, coming when called, sit, down, stay and more.

 

Kelly’s mentoring of 4-H students and training classes she offers them has earned the youth she has mentored Grand Champion at CO State Fair among other awards and a deeper connection with their family dog.  Kelly has helped young kids train foundation basics on their dogs and then has encouraged, and helped them to begin dog sports and achieve accolades in dog sports, especially herding and obedience.  Kelly is dedicated to helping kids with their dogs for family dog training and dog sports because the kids are the future of dogs and she does all she can to help kids learn and grow to be expert dog and versatility handlers.

 

Kelly has recruited over 35 of her students to participate in the International Agility League for fun and the team has ranked in third, Internationally two years in a row on the 50x70 course.  Kelly believes all dogs and their owners, especially shelter dogs deserve the opportunity to experience agility and gain confidence and a deep relationship and understanding with their dogs.


 

 

Kelly's Education

  • FBI LEEDA Master PIO Certification - Graduate 2019

  • FBI LEEDA Media Mastery & Public Relations- Graduate 2017

  • Northwestern University School of Police Staff & Command (SPSC #267) Center For Public Safety 2008

  • Bachelors of Arts Degree University of CO Springs 2002

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