Therapy pup makes her rounds

By JORDAN VALLONE jvallone@liherald.com

The bond between Anna Dobkowksi and Finch, an American Labrador Retriever, was truly a match made in heaven — and one that wouldn’t have been possible without Dobkowski’s former teacher at Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Beth Johnson.

Dobkowski, 20, of Merrick graduated from Calhoun High School in 2021. She met Johnson when she was in 11th grade and taking part in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s Twilight Program. That late-afternoon program is designed for students who may need extra help with assignments, employment and other ventures, and who may succeed better in a non-traditional high school setting.

“We formed a really nice bond, and she became very interested in animal studies,” Johnson said. “She wanted to go to BOCES part of the day — she’s an amazing horse rider — and then discovered this real love of animals.”

Dobkowski told the Herald that in her youth, she struggled with mental health issues, and said working with animals helped her overcome some of the things she was dealing with. A self-taught dog trainer, now with a business called The K9 Warrior, Dobkowski has developed programming to help dogs at every stage of life become better trained and understand cues from their owners.

Her dog training efforts started locally, with Dobkowski helping some of her neighbors train their dogs. Then, Johnson introduced her to Finch.

Johnson said Finch was initially her son Greg’s dog. Greg unexpectedly passed away last year, when Finch was four months old.

“I decided I couldn’t properly manage this puppy,” Johnson explained. “I didn’t know what to do about the puppy. And then I remembered that Anna, who was close to me, was starting this dog training thing, so I reached out and said, ‘Can you help me?’”

Dobkowski stepped in and found an instant bond with Finch, she said.

“She was actually the first dog that I started training off leash, and it was perfect,” she said. “We had a beautiful connection, and it really helped me with my training methods and perfecting them. I would take her out to stores in the beginning, and I could see how she really wanted to work with me.”

Dobkowski said people around Merrick would see her and Finch and would compliment her on how well-behaved the Lab was. “I would say, ‘It’s actually not my dog, I am training her for someone,’” she explained. “Finch became my model dog, because if something really worked for Finch, I’d do it with another dog.”

Dobkowski’s name quickly circulated in her neighborhood. “There’s like 20 houses maybe,” she said, “and out of those 20 houses, I think like 90 percent of