Local woman trains dogs for PTSD work

Karen Duty might be the dog whisperer of Lake County. 

Duty houses dogs, trains dogs, breeds dogs, and she’s the president of Lifesaver animal rescue. 

She started her business, Hellroaring Kennels, in 1998 when she and her husband moved to Polson from Sandpoint. Originally from Lewistown, Mont., Duty said she always had pets growing up. “I always had as many cats and dogs as my parents could allow me to have,” she said, “which is nothing compared to what I have now.”

After 17 years of training classes and seminars, Duty has moved up to the big leagues in dog training. Recently, she was accepted into a very competitive Post-traumatic service dog training academy in Virginia. Only 10 people are allowed into the program. “I’ve been wanting to apply for about five years, and I finally got the courage to do it this year,” Duty said. This Able Veteran puts on the two-week academy, which involves classroom and hands-on training. Among the things Duty will learn is how to match people with dogs, how to teach dogs to sense anxiety before it happens, get dogs to wake their humans up from nightmares and teach other services like opening doors and getting light switches.

Long before being accepted into the service dog academy, Duty was certified to train dogs in obedience, which she referred to learning theory. For awhile, she had a training center in Polson, but today, she does more one-on-one training in others’ houses. “The goal is to make the dog part of the family, and not a burden,” she said.

While some people tell her they don’t have time to work with their dog, Duty said her philosophy is “it’s not a time commitment, it’s a lifestyle.” She said, “Everything you do during the day is a chance to teach.”

Around four years ago, Duty started what she calls a prep class. Those dogs are owned by people who want them to become certified therapy, or emotional support, dogs. “People like the idea, and the call for them is huge,” Duty said of why she got into it. Duty can’t actually certify the dogs, but can teach them how to pass the test. The dogs have to go somewhere else to take the test. Those dogs go on to visit hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.

Duty herself has up to six certified therapy dogs. Today, she is down to one, Benz, a yellow Labrador. 

Behind her house on Hellroaring Road in Polson, Duty has an acre field where more labs played in the trees. One of those, an eight month-old yellow labrador, is going with her to Virginia to train to become a service dog. 

Near the grown labs, two chocolate lab puppies played on wooden walkways and a children’s playhouse with a couple of  slides, which Duty calls a “puppy agility course.” She plans to teach the puppies to be service dogs, and said walking on different types of surfaces is a confidence builder for later in their lives.

In another of her many facets of her job, Duty fosters dogs as part of the Lifesaver animal rescue. Recently, they organized a free spay and neuter clinic in Lake County, where they fixed 216 dogs and cats. 

Duty also keeps a couple cats around the dog heavy property. She said she likes cats as much or more than dogs. “I didn’t think my husband would let me raise cats, so I compromised,” she said with a laugh.