A young teen whose dog Diva has given her purpose in life, is pursuing a Girl Scout Gold Award to serve those who would benefit from having an emotional support animal.
What Kira—who enters ninth grade next month—has in mind is twofold: She wishes to start a program training emotional support animals, and create a non-profit which helps pay for costs related to the dogs’ purchase, food, training and vet care.
Kira, and Diva–a personable Lhasa Apso purebred–have mastered agility, showmanship and obedience courses through participation the past year with Happy Hounds 4-H, and have earned several awards in the process. Diva and Kira were featured in a story written last year about Jerry Lloyd’s dog agility class. At the time, Diva and Kira were beginners. The pair have come a long way since then.
Kira first learned about joining 4-H through her friend Naomi, when they volunteered to take care of animals at Clinton’s Critters & Co.
Diva is Kira’s first dog. Competing for the first time at the 2024 Whidbey Island Fair, Diva won Grand Championship ribbons and a trophy. She also qualified as a 4-H entrant in the upcoming State Fair in Puyallup Sept. 11-22.
Pairing her success with Diva’s accomplishments, along with skills gained while selling Girl Scout cookies, Kira is focused on earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. The criteria include: being enrolled in high school, being a Senior or Ambassador Scout, having completed two Senior or Ambassador journeys—or—have earned the Girl Scout Silver Award and completed one journey.
One of Kira’s ‘journeys’ may be to start and manage a nonprofit.
Girl Scouts have been an anchor—in addition to dog training—for the young teen, who was once advised by her school ‘coach’ Patricia Maddux, a SWSD teacher, three years ago, to enroll in Girl Scouts and eventually “Go for the Gold.”
Joining Donna Riley’s Girl Scout troop, Kira was grateful for the experience she learned as part of the team. Since Donna’s retirement, Kira is pursuing the gold as an independent Girl Scout with the help of her family and other community members who support her project.
Kira has followed the scout’s business model for success. Prior to selling cookies, the Girl Scouts are tasked with creating a presentation of their business goals.
“Every seller creates her own video, decides her goals, figures out her market, and comes up with a business model,” said Andrea Anderson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Western Washington, in a previous story. “Other skills Girl Scouts learn through selling cookies include interactions with the public, learning ethical business practices, individual and team decision making, and money management skills.”
Kira was a top cookie seller along with Kristin Riley, Donna’s daughter. Kira’s troop used its proceeds earned from two years of cookie sales to fund an Alaska cruise. Kira and her mom Kathleen went on the cruise in June 2024.
Parlaying the learned business skills, Kira, and her grandmother Elizabeth Derrig—“Mimi,” is what Kira calls her—are focused on creating a non-profit 501c3 that enables future tax deductions. They are exploring funding possibilities through the Nonprofit Association of Washington, and the Whidbey Community Foundation, which “connects people who care with causes that matter.” At the same time, a number of other organizations are actively being courted for funding sponsorships as well. It is a labyrinthine and complex process, Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth is a high-energy force-of-nature woman—a lawyer with experience litigating for civil rights, anti-discrimination, and an advocate for fair housing. She got Kira interested in Girl Scouts and dog training, and is now her cheerleader for the next step in earning the gold.
In many texts, Elizabeth said one of the goals of the non-profit Kira wishes to create is to attract support families who could raise American Kennel Club puppies for Kira to train as ESAs—emotional support animals. Kira wants puppy training to be hands on and begin early, so the dogs learn how to be in their future owner’s home safely, not damage the property, and be a good citizen, according to the AKC puppy training program, AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy.
Kira is seeking sponsors to help her develop her project she has named ‘Hand and Paws,’ which could help by donating to raise money, and starting a 501c3, which takes about a year.
Lhasa Apso breeder, Tia McLaughlin, shows dogs at American Kennel Club competitions. It is through Tia that Kira came to own Diva, and the teen intends to train other dogs of Tia’s in the future. Elizabeth Derrig said there’s already interest in raising the puppies.
“We have already identified one family, which will be a good match for raising an ESA,” Elizabeth said. “We’re also thinking of partnering with the Sno-Isle Tech Vet Assistance Skills Center. We already have a few people asking for consideration of these ESA puppies and will be getting the application criteria together, working in collaboration with 4-H soon. It takes careful evaluation to make matches we can be confident of being successful for both the humans and the dogs.”
Kira’s school coach Patricia Maddux encouraged the teen to enroll in the Sno-Isle Tech program, which Kira enrolled in last June, following her Girl Scout-sponsored cruise.
Another part of Kira’s goal is to provide ESA dogs for young people who could benefit from having a dog to support them. She envisions training others to create a community of ESA-focused dog trainers. She would like to see landlords be willing to accept tenants with AKC-trained emotional support animals without charging high premiums for rent. Well-behaved and trained dogs are assets for their human owners, and shouldn’t be penalized, Kira believes.
In a letter on why Lhasa Apsos in particular are good support dogs, Kira wrote: “Well, for starters, Lhasas are easy to travel with and they don’t shed, due to having real hair. Lhasas are also usually really good with kids and other dogs also. They don’t bite, pee or scratch things in your home. They can’t talk back. They’re good listeners, so if you were having a rough day, you would have your dog to vent to. And they would lay their cute little head on you as if to say, it’s going to be OK…and that is why you should get a Lhasa Apso.”
Besides dog training and Girl Scouts, Kira is interested in art and in music.
Kira recalled “singing her heart out” at Bible camp when she was 4, and is currently taking violin lessons with Gloria Ferry Brennan, a talented young musician. She has also trained the past seven years, taking singing lessons with Bekah Zachritz of Bekah Bee Music.
I’m looking forward to follow up stories on this rising star.