K-9 Companions National Headquarters

12/25/2025

As we step into the season of renewal, we wish our valued clients and friends a Christmas that sparks joy and a future filled with promise and possibility. From our pack to yours, Merry Christmas!

12/17/2025

Brady is being taught to go to source. In this case, the phone alarm, back to let the handler know that the alarm is going off, and then back to source to show where the sound is coming from.

12/16/2025

At K-9 Companions even our horses come when called! Lol

12/16/2025

Brady is a hearing service dog for his deaf owner. He’s learning to go to the source of the sound, alert his owner, and go back to source to show him where the sound is coming from.

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from our pack to yours!

10/30/2025

*Preventing unwanted litters is a goal we all share—but it's time to rethink the surgical approach. Hysterectomies and vasectomies, which preserve hormonal balance, can safely be performed as early as 8 weeks of age, making dogs sterile without disrupting their natural hormones.

New peer-reviewed study published in Nature:

How a dog’s lifetime exposure to his own hormones (before being neutered) affects how well he handles aging and frailty later in life.

Study Background

• Frailty = when older dogs (and people) become weaker, less resilient, and more prone to illness and death.
• Most research looks at how to prevent frailty — this study looked at what makes some dogs bounce back better after frailty sets in.
• The focus was on the HPG axis — the hormonal system that produces testosterone and controls reproduction.

Key Findings

• Dogs neutered very young (before 2 years old) had:

o A much higher risk of death once they became frail.
o About 16% higher mortality for every small increase in frailty.

• Dogs kept intact longer (more than ~10 years) showed:
o No increase in mortality linked to frailty.
o Their hormones seemed to “buffer” the negative effects of aging.

• Each extra year of natural hormone exposure reduced frailty-related death risk by ~1%.

What It Means

• Hormones from the te**es may protect against the worst effects of aging later in life.
• Removing them too early could make dogs less resilient to age-related decline.
• Frailty isn’t just about getting old — it’s also shaped by early-life events like the timing of neutering.
• This supports a “life course” view: what happens early in life affects health decades later.

Why It Matters

• The study suggests timing of neutering might influence how well dogs age.

10/25/2025

Ellie did it.

After two years of hard work, she’s officially a fully trained service dog. This journey took over $15,000, nine total weeks of board-and-train (three 3-week segments), hours of co-training at home, passing her CGC test, and four major outings with other service dogs.

She’s more than just a dog — she’s my partner in daily life.

A huge thank you to Ridley’s Red Retrievers for bringing her into the world, to the trainers at K-9 Companions Nashville for their dedication, and to the many generous supporters who made this possible. I couldn’t have done it without you.

This was a long road, but she’s worth every bit of it. 🐾

10/25/2025

10/05/2025

10/05/2025

10/05/2025

Happy puppy Ripkin enjoying this awesome Fall weather in Nashville, Tn!

10/04/2025