TAMPA, Fla. — A Valrico resident is competing nationally in American Kennel Club competitions, while managing her colostomy.

A colostomy is a surgical procedure that involves the body’s waste.

When part of the colon needs to be bypassed for medical reasons, surgeons make a new opening in the abdominal wall for waste to come out. The operation can be temporary or permanent.

For Melissa Weldishofer, it is permanent.

But not even that medical condition can get in the way of a dog’s day of work for Weldishofer.

She is a dog trainer who competes on a national level.

“A lot of it is playing, keeping them engaged,” Weldishofer explained as she played with a puppy. “Really working them.”

Weldishofer is also an award-winning dog trainer.

She took her 16-month-old Schnauzer puppy Veigar out for a training session at a Hillsborough park.

“And you have to have fun with them and play and sometimes it just means getting down and being crazy,” said Weldishofer.

Melissa Weldishofer is an award-winning dog trainer with multiple medals from the American Kennel Club. (Melissa Weldishofer)

Veigar brings Weldishofer a lot of joy.

But it is Noche or night in Spanish — named appropriately for her coat of fur who is bringing light into Weldishofer’s life.

“I fell in love with dog showing and I fell in love with training even more,” she said.

By the looks of it, one cannot even tell Weldishofer is training dogs and competing nationally while managing a colostomy.

A medical device is attached to her to manage her condition.

“A lot of people when I do share my story, you’re so inspirational you just still do all this stuff,” she said.

Here are some of her challenges:

She is training dogs which can be jumpy, and this presents a risk of damaging her device.

But she knows how to redirect their energy.

“It’s very focused on boundaries, respecting, not jumping up,” she said.

And she lives in the Sunshine State, which presents a challenge when it is hot outside.

“Summertime is probably my worst time of year with the worst anxiety with it,” she said.

There are the tricks the dogs must learn and the limitations that may come with that.

“Agility is where the dog jumps over jumps and hoops and there’s weaves and stuff like that. I haven’t done agility with the dogs,” she said. “That’s something I’m going to have to work through with my colostomy.”

She showed Spectrum News previous competition video of her in the past few months.

She and Noche have racked up 40-plus American Kennel Club titles.

They have not won any agility titles, but that could change due to a new device she will soon use.

“I’m going to try that for the first time,” she said. “So, we’ll see how that goes.”

Everyone knows it is a mutual benefit.

“Doing competitions, they see how excited I get,” she said. “They know I’m happy, so they work in those rings, and they give me back everything that I’ve taught them.”

And she is sharing her story for others to do the same.

“Live your life, like enjoy,” she said. “Because, even if you have a medical condition that does keep you back, there are ways.”