In 2012, when Stacy Sheldon-Wilkinson was hired as a part-time staff member, she was one of only a handful of part-time kennel staff members caring for eight dogs in the Can Do Canines kennel. Since then, the kennel, where our program dogs reside in their final few months before being placed with a client, has grown to host approximately 30 dogs at a time, with about a dozen full-time and part-time staff members sharing duties.
Soon after starting with us, Stacy began writing protocols for kennel responsibilities, and she earned the role as our first Kennel Manager. Interested in and encouraged by co-workers to serve in a dog-training capacity as well, she began assisting the only Program Trainer, who served as a valuable mentor. Stacy kept training just one or two dogs at a time until 2021, when she transitioned to being a full-time Program Trainer, joining three others who were engaging with the dogs in this way by then.
Working with a “string” of usually seven to nine dogs at any given time, she spends anywhere from a half hour to two hours every workday with each dog. It all depends on which Can Do Canine she is taking on an outing to a public place that day, the collaborative training she and other trainers do with the dogs, etc. Her first dog of the day (a rotating status) gets Stacy’s longest time slot while the kennel staff is cleaning the kennels, so Stacy doesn’t need to disrupt that process.
Stacy is known for remembering most of the hundreds of dogs that have come through our program these past several years. She particularly admires the eagerness that Labs bring to learning. Of poodles, she jokingly comments, “You have to earn their love.”
Can Do Canines never have to earn Stacy’s love, though. She shares, “I love the opportunity to work with the individual personalities of the dogs and figuring out their strengths and what they most enjoy doing.”
Though each client gets a “Cue List” of what their dog has been trained for, Stacy finds a use for her degree in fine arts, adding special graphic design touches to the cue lists she shares with the clients who receive her dogs. “I do love taking pictures of the dogs and sending them to clients. Capturing their uniqueness in photographs is really satisfying.”
Finding satisfaction in her job overall, Stacy admits, “I feel it is a tremendous blessing to have this job. I’m very grateful.”
We suspect our dogs in final training feel equally blessed to work with Stacy and all of our talented trainers, who are making magic happen at the end of each leash.
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