Heather Ainsley
news@greenepublishing.com
It was his experience working as a certified K9 handler for the Madison County Sheriff's Office that inspired Chris O'Brian to pursue a career working exclusively with dogs. His K9 Partner, Onyx, was credited with several suspect apprehensions, numerous successful tracking pursuits and assisting with the removal of vast amounts of narcotics from the streets of Madison County. He has been described by many of his handlers as “a force to be reckoned with.” Onyx retired from police work after sustaining injuries in the line of duty, but the experience of working with a highly skilled, professionally-trained K9 made a significant impact on Chris.
Around the same time as his partnership with Onyx, Chris worked as a dog trainer for Top Tier K9. At first, he specialized in training pets, but his experience working alongside Onyx led him to seek additional certification. Through Top Tier K9, he sought experience in other areas of dog training outside the pet world. After the completion of Top Tier K9's series of dog trainer courses, Chris became a Master Trainer and Instructor and founded Forgotten Coast K9. This led him away from the world of law enforcement and completely into the world of dog training.
Forgotten Coast K9 began as a dog training company that specialized not just in training canines, but their human counterparts as well. While the company was seeing success in their endeavors of working with recreational canine companions, Chris soon began to see the need for a different direction the company could take. This realization began with a close friend named David.
David Eastabrooks is a retired Army First Sergeant with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and served in the Third Ranger Battalion with the 75th Ranger regiment, and was in Bravo Company, serving in Somalia in 1993. Upon his retirement from the military, David suffered heavily with PTSD.
PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a mental-health condition that is triggered by a traumatic event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, emotional numbness, detachment from family and friends and trouble adjusting to day to day life, among others.
Chris and David initially met during their training at the Law Enforcement Academy and became good friends through their work. Through their friendship, Chris was able to see, firsthand, the effects of PTSD on David's life. David, who had previously been full of life, was now shut down and emotionless, a shell of the person he had been before.
“One of the problems with PTSD,” says Chris, “is that it makes people, when they come home, become flat. It's not always what you'd expect, like a lot of people think of when they think of depression, but it's no emotion at all.”
PTSD affects everyone uniquely, and in David's case, the numbness he experienced as a result of his trauma greatly impacted his daily life. As his friend, Chris would regularly get calls from David's wife, and would go over to try and help him manage his condition. It wasn't uncommon for David to accompany Chris during his dog training sessions, and one day, Chris made an observation that would change everything.
The canine Chris was working with that day, Rex, began jumping up and interacting with David and Chris witnessed David's whole demeanor change. It was as if Rex was able to bring David out of his emotionless haze and back to life. After a lengthy discussion, they agreed that Rex needed to come home with David.
“It worked out perfectly,” says Chris. “We saw how Rex helped David get past a lot of his symptoms, and allowed him to start being 'David' again. Then, we got news of a buddy of his, K.C., whose service dog had died. We were contacted by a group out of Texas to train a new service dog for him, and after I saw the change that dog, Zander, made in K.C.'s life, I just knew that this is what we need to do. We needed to be doing service dogs.”
Seeing the impact on his friends' lives solidified the decision Chris had been contemplating. In 2021, he turned his Forgotten Coast K9 training company into a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to training and providing certified service dogs to veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD and other service-related concerns. The organization partnered with the number one dog training school in the nation, Top Tier K9, to provide training and education to their clients and their dogs. Puppies are hand-selected from reputable breeders and begin the Top Tier K9 Foundation Dog training at eight weeks old. After becoming certified Foundation Dogs, they enter into the Forgotten Coast K9 program and undergo specialized training to meet the specific needs and wants of their new owners.
Forgotten Coast K9 and Top Tier K9 together offer three different programs: Build a Battle Buddy, Buy a Battle Buddy and Emotional Support Dogs. The Battle Buddy theme feeds into the military honor system of “never leave a battle buddy behind.”
A true service dog is not cheap. A single canine that has completed their full training can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000, which is unobtainable for most individuals. Forgotten Coast K9's partnership with Top Tier K9 enables them to limit these out-of-pocket expenses for veterans and first responders to just $5,000 through their different programs.
Many veterans and first responders may still struggle to pay even this reduced amount, and to combat this, Forgotten Coast K9 also provides fundraising efforts for veterans who are unable to afford a necessary dog. Chris and his team are heavily dedicated to pairing dogs with the handlers that need them. As a 501(c)(3) organization, they rely solely on donations to make this possible. They have multiple options for donations.
Donations are tax deductible, and can be sent to Forgotten Coast K9 directly, located at 137 SW Shelby Ave. in Madison, Fla., 32340. The organization also accepts donations through CashApp and Venmo and can be found under the name $forgottencoastk9 (CashApp) and @forgottencoastk9 (Venmo). They also accept donations through their website, Forgottencoastk9.org and on their Facebook page.
Since 2021, Forgotten Coast K9 has steadily grown, and many other groups and organizations have come forward to show their support. This year, Forgotten Coast K9 is the beneficiary of a country music festival in St. Louis, called Freedom Jam. The festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 30, and will be a major fundraiser for Forgotten Coast K9. For updates of this event, follow @freedomjamusa on Instagram.
Additionally, Forgotten Coast K9 will be featured on the trunk of a car that will compete in the Aug. 12 NASCAR Xfinity Series race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Forgotten Coast K9 will be featured on the trunk of car #44, with driver Sage Karam. To follow this event, follow @sagekaramofficial on Instagram.
In December, a man named Michael Koprowski will be running 100 miles from Orlando to Tampa to spread awareness and raise money to benefit Forgotten Coast K9. To follow along with this event, follow @Mkoprowski_ on Instagram.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in America. According to statistics from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 48,183 Americans died by suicide in 2021. Each day there is an average of 131 suicides that take place, and while these numbers reflect the entire population, veterans and first responders are a significant portion of at-risk individuals. However, ninety-four percent of adults that were surveyed in the United States believe suicide can be prevented.
“Whether it be through us or through any another charity,” says Chris, “people need to get involved and stop these suicides. The suicides people don't talk about aren't always the veteran suicides, it's also the active duty guys. That could be cops, that could be firefighters, that could be active duty soldiers, sailors and airmen. We would love for it to be us that helps. We would love to be a part of that, but we really just want to urge everyone to get involved somewhere, and help stop this. One a day is too many, but we are still averaging more than 20 a day. We've gotta stop it, and this is the way to do it. Service dogs, counseling, equine therapy, whatever it takes, just get there.”
When talking about forgotten Coast K9, Chris quoted Mark Twain, who is credited with saying, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you figure out why.” To this sentiment, Chris adds, “I figured out why.”
Anyone wishing to apply for a Forgotten Coast K9 service or emotional support dog, or anyone wishing to help them reach their goals for the upcoming year can reach Chris and the team online at ForgottencoastK9.org.