So...  When I started my career, I'll be honest, it was completely by accident.  I started working at a big box store on the Cape when I was 21.  I'll admit it was just another job application of about a dozen I'd filled out.  Because I grew up with all manner of animals - fish, mice, rats, birds, dogs, cats, etc. - and actually had a lot of knowledge and a specialty in REPTILES, of all things (large pythons, mostly), that same big box store was good enough to help a kid out and gave me a job in the Pet Care department.  There, I was exposed to all these crazy things I never thought I'd fall in love with, including, at the top of the list, parrots and exotic fish. 

What's the significance of that in an article about dog training?  I learned that if I didn't try something, how would  I ever know if I was into it or not? Needless to say, I fell in love, with parrots and fish-keeping and the whole art of it...  As I said, I'd grown up with all manner of animals, but never considered a career in exotic pets!  Providing amazing enclosures, stimulation, socialization, time, affection..  It's a balancing act to properly keep and enrich an animal that is not domesticated. That being said... one day, an amazing man by the name of Fred, a district services manager at the time - (a position that doesn't even exist in that company anymore - not to date myself!) - approached me when I had put in a request to transfer, because I was moving off-Cape.  (To all you Cape Cod folks out there, we all know only two realms in the world actually exist: "On Cape" & "Off-Cape.")  I got sat down in the managers' office, and Fred said "Ya know, they need a part-time dog trainer up there, and we think you'd be great for it."  I was like, "Fred, I don't have a DOG.  Does that matter??"  The reply was, "We don't care. You got the personality, we'll train you the rest."  I said.. "Uhhh.. Yeah, ok. Sounds good.  I never would have known I loved parrots if I hadn't  been exposed to them in this kind of environment...  So let's do this."

So I did.

I transferred to my new store and had a few weeks of down time before I went off to "accreditation."   But the moment I got there, my whole life changed forever...

I fell in love with the craft of dog training from the moment I got my hands dirty.  Everything.  From ethology, to the craft of modifying animal behavior (free-shaping to luring to negative reinforcement): whether or not I agreed with any or all of it, I found it all fascinating.

I was also incredibly fortunate at that time to be mentored by a diamond in the rough that that big box store found.  She'd only been training for a year and a half at the time, but had that type of "knack" or incredible energy that lends itself to one being "a natural" at something, truly talented, and I was sold.  This particular trainer also incidentally had PIT BULLS, among her five or six dogs.  She brought them up with her to check in with me after I'd been accredited and was a part-time trainer at my new store, and I just about lost my mind; needless to say,  I WAS in fact accredited :).  I'd never really INTERACTED with pit bulls at that point,  and while I thought they were BEAUTIFUL (who wouldn't?? ;), I had no pre-conceived notions about them.  I wasn't afraid.  I wasn't in love.  They were one type of dog among hundreds that I was putting my whole heart into learning about.

I saw her dogs, and not for nothing, she saw something in me...  Her dogs were extremely well-trained, (obviously), and when she went into the office for a second, she handed me their leashes and asked me to watch them for a sec.  I was hooked after that.

I worked at that same big box store for years as a dog trainer, moving up the ranks from part-time dog trainer, to full-time dog trainer to Area Trainer (I'd become the trainer who TRAINED trainers, just like my mentor who'd trained me and caused me to fall so desperately in love with the art!), and eventually the time came where I felt boxed in (how ironic).  

I remember seeing one time before I ever left the Cape store to go to Bellingham, a sign at my original store: DOG TRAINER WANTED.  I also remember distinctly thinking "YEAH right.  That's SO much pressure!!!  You're in charge of human safety, canine safety, memorizing a curriculum, SALES... NO way."  Now... it's almost funny, but it also may give a bit of insight into how well you know your own self!

So the day came where I decided to take the plunge and start my own company.  Never thought I'd ever do that.  I'd been so engrossed in the industry for so long, especially in pit bull "advocacy," (a term I'm not especially comfortable with, but that's another article), that my options had run out and I was like "OK.  It's this or take up another career."  My heart isn't IN another career, however, so HEX was the answer.

Worth mentioning at this point that from the time I began this career as a business owner, as well as a dog trainer, way back at that big box store, I fell passionately in love with it and immediately began to expand my education.   In short order, as quick as the requirements allow, I was certified as a Canine Good Citizen (and now Community Canine) evaluator through the American Kennel Club (AKC), certified through Animal Behavior College, certified through Do More with Your Dog as a CTDI (Certified Trick Dog Instructor), and received a diploma through Penn Foster Career School in Dog Obedience Instruction (https://www.pennfoster.edu/).  This year, in 2014, my dear friend, Kim Chatha, & I merged as partners and owners at HEX and moved into a brand new facility at Top Dog Daycare in Medway, Massachusetts.

It has been a wild ride since July 8th, 2007 when I started this journey, and let me tell ya, there is never a dull moment!  I am now the proud owner of four rescued pit bull dogs, and have fostered many others over the years.  They, starting with Spark Plug & Caruso, completely changed the course of my life, and without them, I have no idea how HEX may have been different... or myself for that matter... and I am so proud and honored by what we have become.  I encourage everybody to take the plunge, take a chance, take a walk and "follow your dreams" (just a little bit of cheesy thrown in there!), because if I had been too scared to take those chances, I'd never be where I am now...  

For the record, "where I am now" is not glamorous, it's not easy, I'm not a millionaire, but I'll tell ya this: I get to get up every day and do what I LOVE and there is no substitute for that.

Just a nostalgic moment for me (one of many this week for some reason...) and seemed a good time to finish this article!  If you'd like to write to me with questions, concerns or for the helluva it, email cassie.hexdogs@gmail.com.

-Cassie-Leigh Stock, ABCDT, CTDI, AKC-CGC, CDT

Spark Plug,

This is not a good bye letter.  This is a letter to articulate what people so often wait too long to say.  I am fully aware of the fact that I am a human being, and you are a canine, and you can't read English (yet!), but I will read this to you & you will understand me because you understand ME.

Do you remember the day I adopted you as a five week old 7.7 pound puppy from a shelter in Rhode Island?  Remember how I had basically no idea what I was doing with a puppy? I carried you around like a football... when I carried you around.  You did three flights of stairs within 5 minutes of being home.  You were amazing from the moment you entered this world.. and more amazing by the time I had the good fortune to have you enter my life.

You have been my constant companion.. my best buddy.. my training partner.. my assistant..  my heart.  You are all of that...  And you are my best friend in the world.

You are the catalyst for so many amazing things in my life.  When I brought you home, we went to look at a four-wheeler (with my boyfriend, who was quite surprised by the likes of you!), and do you remember what he said?  The seller of the four-wheeler said (as you you were playing with his kids), "hate to see that dog in a year" and right then, my life changed forever.  A passion blew up in me and I told myself on the ride home, as you slept in my lap... I looked down at you, and I told myself, "I will protect you always.  For as long as we are together, I will protect you.  And you will be with me until one of us takes our last breath."

Because of you, I live a full life.  I've started a company, a non-profit organization, and benefited an incredible community.. because of you.  I will always have a soft spot for you.  I delight in your happiness, and am eternally grateful for your love on a rough day...  You have woke me up from nightmares, laid on my feet in court, swam laps around the island with me, competed in dockdogs side by side, raised and rehabilitated countless dogs, assisted me in classes, traveled all over the continental United States, and been an angel with pit bull wings for our entire time together.

I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me.  You are precious to me beyond words.  I have loved many dogs, but you are in a realm all by yourself.  I weird my OWN self out with how much I love you.  I can't imagine the day that you leave me, because I'm pretty sure I'll have to be scraped off the ground.

There is a quote by an old school trainer John Holmes that says "a dog is not human, and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such."  I agree with that.  You are not a "furbaby," I am not you're "mommy," but you are the best friend I've ever had in my life.  I am privileged to have known you, thankful for your assistance, and forever grateful for your daily presence... you drivey, snobby little dog, you!

With love,
C