Our Volunteers

Carla Coleman: Carla, one of the co-founders of 2nd Chance, has a wealth of knowledge in training service dogs, and working with client/service dog teams. She has trained many dogs throughout her career. Carla has a Master of Arts in Special Education and spent ten years working with students with disabilities. Service dog training and placement is a perfect partnership of her interests and skills. Carla currently lives with her husband and two Golden Retrievers, Zelda (5) and Barley (4). Zelda and Barley act as mentors for Kody who Carla is training and socializing to be an agent of independence and companionship for a future client.

Lori Rhodes: Lori, the other co-founder of 2nd Chance, has been involved in breed rescue for the past ten years (specializing in German Shepherds) and has literally had a hand in placing hundreds of dogs during her 'rescue' career. When she met Carla she knew that she wanted to branch out and get involved in the service dog training program! Lori's president of ARF's GSD Rescue http://www.arfrescue.com/ Lori lives with Rich and they number their 'dog family' at 3 with Cheveyo Maska Shumani (a long haired GSD), Tooney (a shepherd mix) and Nala (a french brittany/beagle or 'freagle'). They are both busy training Lukas - Lori & Rich have to speak German to their three, as the other three dogs commands are in German and remember that Lukas only speaks English!

Nicole: Nicole is an employee at the C. W. Carlson Company (http://www.carlsonco.com/) and currently has Basil in training as a service dog. Please see the Photo's area for a pic of these two! Also check out the Photo Gallery for more pics of Basil in his very own album!

Crystal Saxe: Crystal has been training dogs for 7 years. Crystal has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Associates in Landscape Design. She lives with a Labrador named Zodiac and a Golden Retriever named Ajax. Crystal and Ajax have been working as a Therapy Dog team the past 3 years for the Madison Fire Department. As a trainer of service dogs, Crystal is often asked how can she give up a dog after all the love, time and training she puts into it. She says it is never easy, but you have to remember the dog is not yours and your training the dog to improve someones life and allow them to be as independent as possible.