Meet the Team

Mike Lorraine photo

Mike Lorraine

At the age of 19, Michael attended the National K-9 school for dog trainers, where in order to graduate he was required to train and certify his personal dog “Blondi” as a fully functional service dog. After graduating, Michael worked as a dog trainer in upstate NY for several years.

He then moved to Florida in 2001 where he bought his first working dog a Belgian Malinois named Sepp. He was immediately propelled into the competitive dog sport of IPO. This is a 3 part sport which includes Tracking, Obedience and Protection: the dog must pass all phases in the trial.

After 9/11, when there was a dramatic increase in the need for highly trained service dogs, Michael made it his personal mission to build the most comprehensive service dog program ever created.

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Matt Kleemann

After graduating from Martin County High School in 2011, Matthew joined the Navy and became a Navy Diver, ND3. He was stationed in Groton, CT, working at the Submarine Station when he was in a car accident in 2012 that left him a Paraplegic. He spent several years dealing with medical complications after that.

In 2016, he met dog trainer, Mike Lorraine, owner of Lorraine K9. Mike invited Matthew down to begin training with a service dog that he was preparing to donate to him. Since Matthew was local, he was able to get involved with the training at a much earlier stage then what is typical. It all went very well, and Matthew continued to work with his dog Charlie Brown, as well as helping to train the other dogs. Matthew has been working with Mike since October 2016.