Ashley Talarico founded Fortitude Service Dogs in 2019 with the desire to offer service dogs to people with disabilities within her own community and near her hometown of Duluth, Minnesota.

Why Military Veterans? Ashley has nine years of service in the Minnesota Air National Guard as Security Forces (military police). Her husband, Derek – a disabled Army veteran – is paired with Fortitude’s first service dog, Jenga. Derek survived a brutal deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 where he served as a combat engineer. Between the affiliation Ashley and Derek each have to the military, targeting the veteran community has been a primary focus at Fortitude.

Why service dogs for children? Ashley started training service dogs in Germany in 2014. She accepted a 3-year internship with a German service dog organization, VITA e.V. Assistenzhunde, the first of its kind within Europe to offer service dogs to young children. Ashley loved the process of watching the dogs and the children (as young as 7-years-old) grow and gain confidence together; and she knew that children would be another facet of Fortitude. After finishing the internship, Ashley continued to work in Germany for an additional year before returning to Minnesota.

Dogs have been a focal point in Ashley’s life from a very young age. As an adolescent, she was caring for and handling her own kennel of 21 sled dogs. In her collegiate years, she was trained and worked several years as a professional dog groomer. Shortly after, she spent the four years in Germany training within the world of assistance dogs. Between all the different avenues Ashley has worked in involving dogs, she has over 15 years experience as a dog handler. Ashley has collected knowledge from a variety of diverse trainers, and is dedicated to continue learning.

“I am proud to serve my country. I am grateful I get to do what I love, and work with the dogs who continue to teach me new things nearly every day. I am passionate about the process of nurturing the human/dog relationship. Fortitude is the gift that has empowered me to be able to tie it all together, and to offer something positive for the world.

Spending quiet time in nature with the companionship of a dog has offered me solace no matter what life has thrown my way. I believe this combination to be helpful, and am excited to be able to offer this to others in addition to the functional support service dogs can provide.”