Nyla and Niko after a recent tracking training session in Gulfport. –Photography and story by Anna Cooke.
I Am the Master of My Fate; I Am the Captain of My Soul.
– from Invictus P
Poet, William Ernest Henley, wrote Invictus from his hospital bed. He had contracted tuberculosis of the bone at age 12. In 1875, by the time he was 25, it had progressed all the way to his feet. Doctors told him they had to remove his most severely infected leg immediately, and that if he wanted to live, they would need to remove the other one as well. Henley gave the doctors permission
to remove just one leg, to the knee. The other one stays, he told them. Invictus is the Latin word for undefeated. Henley went on to live an active, productive life as a poet and a publisher. And...he kept his other leg. Life is filled with challenges. While it
might not seem plausible at the moment, life’s greatest opportunities are often hid- den in adversity. Nyla Williams is in the seventh grade
at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School in St. Petersburg. She has probably faced more hardship and adver- sity in her young 12 years, than many adults three times her age. Born into a woeful broken-family environment, her aunt Katherine and aunt Maxie took her in and brought structure, stability and most importantly, love into her life. What Nyla has been through in the
past doesn’t really matter. What she is doing now is defining her. The one part of her past that she does bring to her present life, is her love of dogs. “I have had dogs all of my life,” she
told us. She remembers her first dog, a Golden Retriever named Butterscotch. And even though the circumstances sur- rounding Butterscotch’s death are sad, that part of the dog’s life is in Nyla’s past. She simply accepts the circumstances, and
38 THE NEW BARKER
has been able to move on. It comes as no surprise to anyone
who knows Nyla that she has set her sights on a career working with animals. “I want to get a scholarship to attend
the University of Florida veterinary school,” she said. With her straight A record, perfect attendance, and college- level reading skills, she is well on her way. Her tenacity, poise and maturity (well beyond her years) should just about cinch it. After settling in with her aunts in
Gulfport, Nyla went in search of volun- teer work to get some experience actual- ly working with dogs. She called several Bay Area shelters, each time receiving the same answer: You’re too young. Undeterred, Nyla kept her eyes, ears
and heart open. One day she happened upon Pasadena Pet Motel, a daycare, boarding, grooming and training facility in South Pasadena. Kristen Triplett, co- owner of the facility, was beyond impressed with the tiny young stranger standing before her. “I remember thinking that she was
small, but there was such a large presence about her. She and several of the dogs we introduced her to, took to each other right away, which was really pretty amaz- ing.”
Nyla reminded Kristen of her own
daughter, Samantha, a dog trainer and the owner of St. Pete K9. For her school project in the Gifted
Studies Program at Thurgood Marshall, Nyla chose dogs as the subject matter. The project entailed creating a video and Power Point presentation. But first, she had to find someone willing to be her main interview subject.
She chose Samantha Triplett. “Nyla, whom I had never met, called
one day out of the blue, told me about her assignment and said that she wanted to interview me. We decided to meet at Starbucks for the interview,” said Sam. Nyla added, matter of factly, “I wasn’t
nervous about meeting Sam or doing the interview. I just dressed professionally, fixed my hair and came prepared with my notebook.” Later, after the interview, Sam could
not get Nyla out of her mind. “I told mom that there was something very special about her and the connection she had with dogs.” Kristen and Sam both agreed that
Nyla could spend more time at Pasadena Pet Motel, learning the ropes, helping out wherever needed, and especially being around dogs. Then, something remark- able happened. Nyla has a sixth sense about her and
an uncanny natural ability to read a dog’s body language. Sam recognized this, and under her tutelage, Nyla began working in obedience training with some of the dogs that Pasadena Pet Motel fosters. Fostering is something the Tripletts
regularly do to help out local shelters like Pet Pal Animal Shelter and rescue groups like Florida Great Pyrenees Rescue. One of those dogs, a Pit/Hound mix named Peanut, was a foster dog from Pet Pal. Peanut was uncomfortable with any-
one but Nyla. He had met his share of potential adopters over the last year, between the shelter and his temporary foster home at Pasadena Pet Motel. So Peanut had developed behavioral issues and for whatever reason, responded to no one — until Nyla.
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