MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — In Manatee County, a dedicated dog trainer has taken her commitment to K9s even further when it comes to making preparations for hurricane season.

Julie Madison has owned Top Tier K9 in Bradenton for two years. She boards and trains dogs and can also prepare them to be service or emotional support animals.

She is also making sure her home is prepared for storm season.

“This is actually now a hurricane-rated shed as well. So both the house and this building are rated for like 150 mile an hour winds,” she said.

The upgrades to her home will allow her to take in more dogs this year during a storm.

“I spent, probably, about $20,000 in upgrades to make sure everything would be secure and safe,” she said.

During Hurricane Milton, 17 dogs stayed inside her home — including her own, her clients’, and 11 emergency take-ins.

“During hurricanes, I take dogs on an emergency basis. No matter if you could have the most perfect dog, they’re still welcome here. Just because I know that not all places accept dogs when you’re traveling,” she said.

Milton caused minor flooding at Madison's home, and she was without power for nine days. But now she’s got backup.

“I have the battery backup, which means now I will have power going forward. So the dogs will still have air conditioning, and I also have air conditioning,” she said.

She’s added more solar panels, repaired her fence, and upgraded all the kennels to be storm-ready. She even invested in water storage.

“These are two 350-gallon water containers. I need water for my dogs,” she said.

“I just love saving lives on the dog end and on the person end. And if I can do that, and I can change as many lives positively as possible, that’s what I would like to do with the rest of the time I got,” she said.

Julie’s on a mission — to help her four-legged companions and their owners.

Julie says she can only house between 18 and 20 dogs total in her home, so the number of emergency take-ins is limited.