Michele Khol
Our founder and Director of Canine Operations has 18 years of experience raising and training service dogs. She is a recognized expert in this field, being one of only six individuals world-wide who is a Service Dog Trainer certified by the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP). To ensure her proficiency in the whole service dog and veteran with disabilities experience, she is also a Certified Canine Athlete Specialist, a graduate of This Able Veteran’s PTSD Service Dog Trainer Academy and successfully completed her certification as an ADA Coordinator in addition to being a Registered Nurse, the wife of a career submarine officer and mother (and mother-in-law) to submarine officers. Compassion and service is in her blood. To further outreach and standards for the service dog community, she currently serves as the IACP Service Dog Committee Chairperson and is co-chair of the Fairfax County Veterans Collaborative and a member of the Loudon County Community Veteran Engagement Board.
Carrie Williams
Carrie Williams has over 10 years of experience as a professional dog trainer and currently is the Director of Operations, Lead Trainer, and Behavior Consultant at Woofs! Dog Training Center. She is a certified dog trainer by the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT-KA), earned her TAGteach Level 1 Certification, is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, a Supporting Member of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), a Professional Member of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG) and a Professional Member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).
Carrie has volunteered with and fostered over 37 dogs for several bully breed rescue organizations since 2006. Carrie learned that foster dogs with nice manners were quicker to find homes and more likely to stay in them, so she places special emphasis on teaching fosters to be well-mannered members of their homes and communities.
As the daughter of a retired U.S. Army Colonel, Carrie grew up on military bases and attended various DoD schools overseas. She gained a deep respect for the men and women that serve our country and their families and felt a strong desire to give back to these individuals and so has volunteered training service dogs with Michele since 2017 and joined the MK9s Service Dogs’ team when it was founded.
Marti Friedman
Marti Friedman has over 10 years of experience training therapy and service dogs and is a consultant for a veterinary practice in Northern Virginia. Among her many qualifications, Marti is a certified dog trainer by the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT-KA), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner, a Certified Trick Dog Instructor, earned her TAGteach Level 1 Certification, and is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. Her past dog lives include Chief Executive Officer and Director of a non-profit public charity that raised Labrador Retrievers for Homeland Security divisions, fostering and raising EOD canines as well as socialization protocols for puppy raisers. Her current family dogs are Mojo and Karma. Karma has numerous trick titles, nosework titles and advanced levels of obedience. Marti has volunteered her time training service dogs for many years and has served as one of MK9s Service Dogs’ trainers since its founding.
Kinga Samuel
Kinga Samuel is a certified dog trainer by the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers and owner of Kinga’s K-9s; Dog Behavioral Rehabilitation and Training. For more than 12 years, Kinga has applied her skills and experience to helping clients develop and nurture good canine behaviors and solve some of the most challenging behaviors like separation anxiety and aggression. Kinga is dedicated to helping dogs and their owners live in harmony and stop destructive and sometimes dangerous behaviors that may cause a dog to be given to a shelter or another home.
Kinga has two rescued Mastadors, Axel and Rose. Rose is a sweet puppy who loves people and regularly visits patients in assisted living. Kinga was inspired by Rose’s love in helping people to volunteer with MK9s Service Dogs to help train service dogs for veterans.
Terri Hill
Terri Hill has been training dogs for about 15 years, with eight years’ experience running her successful business focused on obedience, puppy development and behavioral modification. After a career as a paramedic and Registered Nurse, Terri followed her passion and earned the International Association of Canine Professionals dog trainer certification. Her diverse training background includes nationally renowned schools including the National K9 School for Dog Trainers, the Michael Ellis School for dog trainers, This Able Veteran, and study under renowned trainers including Robin MacFarlane. Terri is committed to bringing harmony between people and their dogs, helping people to learn how to communicate, bond and develop a respectful partnership more effectively with their dogs. She loves spending time with her family and her own dogs, Coda and Liam. Liam and Terri compete in scent work, with Liam recently earning Elite Champion in Nosework recognition. With a true passion and love for training service dogs, Terri volunteers with MK9s Service Dogs to follow her love of training service dogs for our veterans.