Our Story

Hello , my name is Ashley and I am the Founder of SIssa‘s Foundation . Watching my sister , Melissa struggle physically and mentally for many years then ultimately passing away in 2017 was EXTREMELY difficult on our family . We knew the power of a dog and wanted to share that with many. Access to a Service dog has many barriers and we wanted to break those down. When Melissa passed away , we began our mission .  I became an AKC CGC evaluator and Service Dog trainer.  We now Breed, Raise and train Service , Therapy and Facility Dogs and donate them to Youth , Veterans , First Responders and School Districts in Melissas honor . 

 Lovie was a Pitbull that Melissa had rescued. Although lovie was not a trained service dog, she was a genuine support system for her. Lovie would stay by Melissa's side through the good and the bad, always showing her loyalty and endless love. The big problem with Lovie not being a service dog was, Melissa spent about 50% of her time in the hospital and in and out of Dr. Appts etc. Unfortunately, Lovie couldn’t show melissa the power of a dog when they were apart. For years, we tried to find a service dog trainer that would take on the team but there were many barriers that the two of them faced. Age and breed of Lovie, Cost, Location of training facilities, finding the time to actually train her in between appts/ hospital stays etc. 

• Illness does not only affect the person diagnosed. We at Sissa’s Foundation understand that . Our family has suffered tremendous loss and along with that comes PTSD/Anxiety. Years of ups and downs with Melissas health and her very sudden passing was extremely difficult for everyone involved.
• We have made it our mission to help  as many people as possible by Providing Service , Therapy and Facility dogs at NO COST to Veterans ,  First Responders, School Districts and Youth in need.