There are few things that drive me as crazy as dog trainers undercharging for their services, and it’s something I absolutely have to address.
Undercharging is Taking the Easy Way out of Hard Conversations
The idea that many new trainers have is that in charging low prices, potential clients are more likely to say yes to working with them.
It doesn’t work.
You can’t avoid charging what you’re actually worth. You need to build up the guts to ask for what you need to survive, pay the bills, run your business, and then some.
Do you want to be the most affordable, or the best? You can’t be both—you’ll burn yourself out. You have to focus on the quality of your work and the income will follow.
Common Pricing Mistakes
The trouble with pricing is many trainers don’t know how to determine their rates and end up making things hard on themselves.
Don’t Rely on Your Competition’s Rates for Guidance
Don’t only look at your competition’s rates to help determine yours. It’s not helpful as anything but a starting point.
You aren’t selling your services to your competition, nor your competition’s clientele. Every trainer is different and has their own method of teaching and communicating, and a unique skill set. There are massive variables between every trainer!
Don’t Ask for Pricing Advice from Friends or Family
Unless your best friend is a dog training business consultant, don’t ask them for pricing advice. It would be like asking a veterinarian for tips on how to sell your home. People who don’t have a deeper understanding of your industry, knowledge, skillset, and occupational hazards will not be able to give you truly appropriate financial advice.
Charging Hourly Isn’t Sustainable
Though charging hourly rates can be a good way for businesses less than six months old to make money, it’s not sustainable long-term. Eventually, you will reach a limit on how many hours you can provide.You can’t manage your time if you aren’t charging for the whole service you provide, rather than just your working hours.
Remember that your rates aren’t just for the hands-on training time—your client is paying you for a professional consultation, learning materials, your education, and more.
So now that you know that charging more is worth it, how do you explain that to your clientele?
Communicate Your Value to Clients
You will, at some point, face backlash from a client with regard to pricing. People want the quickest, cheapest, easiest solution from dog trainers.
If your customers have qualms about your pricing, politely stand your ground and explain your value.
Many trainers are doing far more than teaching dogs to sit and stay. You are changing their family. You are preventing dogs from causing harm to people out of fear. You are rehabilitating animals. You are helping someone gain their independence through a working dog.
You’re making their dog more cooperative and happy. You’re making it possible for them to take their dog on a walk and enjoy it without fear of their dog lunging or snapping on leash. Your work is so valuable.
You have to be your own number one hype-man. It may be hard at first—being a salesman for your own services isn’t easy— but once you start understanding the process it becomes natural to you, and repetition creates muscle memory.
It’s okay to treat your business like a business. You can make money and help people and their dogs. And in charging the right amount, you’ll make it possible to focus on the quality of your work and your personal growth.
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After having the opportunity to talk to many other dog trainers over the years, I’ve discovered some trends that I want to bring to your attention.
Limiting beliefs are beliefs that are unconsciously inhibiting you from making the right moves to create your dream dog training business.
Here are a few I’ve identified that could be blocking you from growing your business.
1. Dog trainers (unfortunately) believe their work isn’t super valuable.
This one truly breaks my heart. Your work changes LIVES!
Not just dog’s lives. But PEOPLE’s lives. Families lives. Childrens lives. You are teaching people a new way of thinking. A new way of approaching problems. You’re teaching them stuff that they will literally apply the rest of their lives. Your work is literally life changing. You are valuable. Your information is critical to people’s happiness and quality of life.
2. You can’t make a significant living as a dog trainer.
If this is something you believe, guess what… You have the power to run your business however you want! You can work with whoever you want. Charge whatever you want. Structure your services however you want. If this limiting belief is stopping you from earning more as a trainer, it’s your turn to change how you’re doing things to make it untrue. Restructure your services. Increase your prices. Do whatever you need to so that you can grow your income.
3. Your clients don’t want to or can’t work with you in an ongoing manner.
There’s this beliefe that new dog trainers have that people just want to finish the one package they purchased and then never want to work with you again. News flash – your clients need more from you. Their lives will change. New people will join or leave their family. They will adopt other pets. They will move to a new area.
And their dog(s) will need help adjusting to all of those situations.
4. Your clients don’t want to talk to you post-training.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. If your client had a great time during training, they WANT to keep talking to you. They would love more tips or ideas. They would love to fill out a survey to help you learn and improve. Use that to your advantage to continue to stay in touch with them. Ask them about their experience working with you and then make improvements!
5. Your competition is the enemy.
There’s this old beliefe in dog training that all other dog trainers are the competition and therefore are the enemy. This really couldn’t be further from the truth. Your business is more limited by your beliefs and mindset than it is by your “competition.” I put competition in quotation marks because I don’t truly believe they are your competition.
You are different from your competitors simply because you are YOU. Maybe you communicate differently. Maybe you prefer to help certain case over others. Maybe you prefer working with certain types of people over others. You’ll have different specialities. You’ll have varying levels of experience and expertise. And who doesn’t have a dog these days? There is PLENTY of work to go around.
Focus on building community over competition. Make a network of like-minded trainers in your area like I did. Find others to mentor. Learn from each others’ experiences. Build each other up. This work is hard enough without worrying about “enemies,” too.
Now, here’s an opportunity for you.
If you have a dog training business and you’re not where you want to be.
You’re not working with clients you love.
Your schedule is maxed out but you’re barely making ends meet.
You want to have time off. You need more automation in your business.
This material was first shared via Facebook Live in our Facebook Group! Join the free group to see future presentations here.
As dog trainers, we often have a limited budget to start up and run our businesses. Fortunately, there are a few free tools available to improve your efficiency and make your business run smoother and faster without extra financial burden.
This Gmail add-on turns your inbox into a CRM system. A CRM, or Customer Relationship Manager, allows you to track your potential customers and existing customers so that you can easily follow up with them to continue the sales process to bring them on as new customers or offer them additional training services.
With this tool, you can see when customers open your emails, set reminders to follow up with potential customers, and keep your inbox organized. You may find that you might also want to store client notes in Gmail with the help of this tool. Take a look and see how it could help you stay organized.
This Google Drive and Dropbox add-on allows you to edit, sign, and publish PDFs online. This eliminates the need to purchase Adobe which can be very costly for new businesses.
Not only is this handy for you, the business owner, but you can also share this with your clients so that they can more easily fill out and sign your PDF forms online.
MadMimi is a lesser known email marketing automation system. I use it to create and send emails for The Modern Dog Trainer. After using a variety of email automation tools over the years, I’ve found that MadMimi is the most user friendly and flexible to serve my needs.
Having an email newsletter is a minimum standard for most small businesses these days. An enewsletter allows you to feature success stories, share upcoming classes or training services with your clients, and it will help you stay top-of-mind with your potential and past clients so that they think of you when they’re ready to hire dog training help.
Additionally, you can use email automation to send new client inquiries a series of emails to introduce them to your business and give them the next steps for how to begin working with you.
Interested in more tips like these? Sign up for our email newsletter with the form below! (And don’t forget to check out our free resources here!)
Have you ever thought about adding dog training services to your grooming, pet sitting, or pet store business? Dog training is a crucial part of raising a new dog in today’s busy and social world.
Your clients are already looking to you for guidance when it comes to other aspects of their dogs’ care so why not provide an extra, special experience for them and their beloved canine?
Benefits of Adding Dog Training Services to Your Pet Business
Providing dog training services for your clients will help your pet business become the go-to place for all your clients’ dog care needs.
Value-Added Offering
If your business is already a hub of pet owners, adding dog training services will enhance their experience and help you become even more of a pet industry leader in your community. Offering dog training services is a wonderful value-add offering for your clients.
Key Differentiator And Customer Loyalty
Unlike veterinary services, dog training is unregulated so it is fairly easy to add these services to an existing business. This can help you differentiate your business from other pet businesses in the area.
Whether you’re a groomer, pet sitter, or pet store, dog training services can help your business stand out as one that truly goes the extra mile for their customers. This will help grow your customer’s loyalty to your particular business for the life of their pet.
Easy Sell
It is well known in the business world that increasing sales to existing clients is much easier and provides a better ROI than working to acquire a completely new customer.
You already have customers who may be struggling with their dog’s behaviors or who may have just gotten a new puppy that need dog training services. Why not offer services that your existing customers need?
New Income Opportunity
Without even having to acquire one new customer, you can increase your income by offering additional services to existing clients. When structured correctly, dog training services could help generate consistent foot traffic and sales for your pet business.
Hiring Someone vs Learning the Skills Yourself
Whether you should hire a dog trainer or become a dog trainer yourself will depend on how quickly you want to begin offering these services.
If dog training is something you want to begin offering this year, look for someone that can meet the needs of your clients in your community. Becoming a good dog trainer will take some time, education, and experience and there is likely someone else in your community with the right skillset and is waiting for this kind of opportunity.
You can hire them and then take some time to acquire the right dog training skills yourself. Rushing into training your customers’ dogs without understanding animal learning theory could be detrimental for the long term success of your business, your customers, and their dogs.
Qualifications of a Good Dog Trainer
Whether you choose to become a dog trainer yourself or hire someone to come in and offer classes in your space, there are a few things you should look for or acquire.
Like I mentioned above, dog training is not currently regulated in the US. This makes it difficult to differentiate qualified dog trainers from unqualified ones.
As a dog trainer with over 10 years in the industry, here are a few expectations I’d have of a qualified dog trainer:
Consistent Continuing Education & Certification
Regularly Attend Seminars – A great dog trainer will consistently attend seminars and conferences. This exposes them to other ways of training and expands their understanding of dog training. Just like in any industry, the best keep their skills and knowledge sharp!
Certification – The CCPDT is the leading independent certifying organization for the dog training profession. Certifications from this organization are often a good sign that a dog trainer is committed to education, experience, and choose to abide by modern and humane dog training practices.
Formal Courses – Many trainers opt to invest in formal in-person education through a variety of dog training schools (Karen Pryor Academy, Dog Trainers Academy, CATCH, etc). In my opinion, these are certainly a plus, but are not completely necessary to becoming a great dog trainer. They are often very expensive and do not necessarily prove that someone knows how to train a variety of dogs. Structured education based on the science of learning theory plus adequate experience is a perfect combination.
Experience
Dog trainers can acquire substantial experience through a variety of avenues. Working with a variety of dogs and their people is the best way to learn how to apply what you learn in a course, seminar, or book to real life situations.
Look for dog trainers with experience:
Working with rescue dogs – You’ll likely have many customers that adopt puppies and dogs from a rescue. These dogs often come with unique challenges due to their unstable upbringing and unknown genetic history.
Working with young puppies – Puppies will require consistent training for at least the first two years of their lives, so find a trainer that can set up your clients with a training program or plan for the duration. Puppies need different behaviors addressed as they progress through puppyhood, adolescence, and young adult stages.
Attitude
Finding team members with the right attitude might be the hardest piece. You want to make sure your new team members are on board with the way you want a training program implemented and find someone that can execute it to the best of their ability.
The dog training industry, just like the rest of the pet industry, has a high turnover rate due to the type of work and long hours. You’ll want to find someone that’s interested in working on your project for the long term.
Team Members
Many dog trainers get into dog training because they love dogs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t lend itself naturally to people that love spending time with other people. Be sure to evaluate your potential hires for personality and attitude towards others as well as their dog training and handling skills.
Customer Service
Training dogs requires patience, but often it is working with their people that is the most difficult part. Being a dog trainer means you are essentially becoming a teacher to people. People call and email you for help – not their dogs.
This should be a key consideration when building your dog training practice. Your policies on how to treat people and handle customer service issues should be clearly documented and discussed with potential employees. Set your employees up to be successful just as you would a customer!
Dog Training Insurance
Since you likely already have a pet business up and running, adding dog training services shouldn’t come with huge costs. It has a low barrier to entry.
I’m not a lawyer of any kind so please consult with your attorney for official recommendations for your business, but many dog trainers have the following insurances to cover their services and business.
Professional Liability Insurance also known as errors and omissions (E&O) insurance – This insurance covers you and your business in case a client claims that you did not fulfill your promises when they hired you. Find company that is used to servicing dog trainers since trainers have unique circumstances to consider.
Updated Property Insurance – Notify your existing insurance provider of the new services you’ll be offering and make sure they are covered under your existing plan or update it so that it is.
Dog Trainer Liability Protection Coverage – Since you or someone in your business will be working with a variety of dogs with different behavior issues, this particular coverage is important. This insurance covers claims for bodily injury, personal injury or property damage to others. A good policy will include coverage for damage to property in your Care, Custody or Control including the Pet.
Consult with an attorney that is familiar with the unique situations that dog trainers come across to help you decide which insurance policy is necessary for your business.
Structuring Your Dog Training Services
Training services are usually delivered in a few standard ways:
Private Lessons – These lessons are held one-to-one in the client’s home or public place. Private lessons help clients get precisely the assistance they need with their dog’s particular challenges.
Group Classes – Group classes are typically held once a week for a few weeks with a start and end date. You may decide to customize the structure and implementation of your group classes to better suit your clients by making them open enrollment (on-going classes that anyone can join at any time).
Day Training – Day training services typically supplement private lesson clients to help them make progress more quickly. With this service, the dog trainer works directly with the dog several times a week without the owner present.
Board & Trains – A board and train program is when you host the dog in your facility for a few weeks to complete it’s training goals. It is an intensive program that is beneficial to dogs that can handle the environmental change from living at home. Board and trains are usually followed up with private lessons at home to make sure the dog maintains his new behaviors in the home environment.
Recurring or Drop-in Classes
Many trainers start off by offering single lessons for purchase or one group class at a time, but this is not a sustainable way to generate recurring income month to month. It also does not serve your customers in the best possible way because, in reality, they will need ongoing support and training throughout their dog’s life.
In order to better serve clients and their dogs, you could offer initial foundation classes followed up with recurring group classes or drop-in class memberships to come in for a training skills brush up when they need it.
Package Services Together
Since your pet business already has services and products to offer, you could easily transition to offering special packages or memberships to your clients that include dog training services.
For more information on packaging training services for the best results, consistent income, and how to set your pricing, check out the lesson:
Guest post graciously submitted by Megan Wallace B.S., CPDT-KA, CNWI, owner of Dogs Deciphered LLC.
Dog training is a people-centric business, which can be a bit of a shock for new trainers who got interested in the field because they prefer dogs to people. I’ve yet to meet a dog with a checkbook, which means that our clients are the people, and we are providing them with a service, which is educating them in how to train their dog. I am totally obsessed with dogs, and think they are the most amazing creatures ever, however I got into dog training for the people. The way I see it, if my goal is to help as many dogs as possible, I will never achieve that goal on my own. I can’t keep enough dogs in my own home to make any significant change to the dog population as a whole. So, I have to connect with the guardians of my favorite beings on the planet, people. In helping them to find understanding with their dogs, I have helped more dogs, because their current and future dogs will benefit from that information. If they cannot process the information, or aren’t successful with it, I haven’t accomplished my goal.
I wanted to take my goal a step further and help other trainers be more successful, thus helping even more dogs. I came to recognize that other trainers are not always successful in connecting with clients. This leaves them feeling frustrated with their jobs, as they are unable to help the dog. Sometimes, this leads to blaming the client – they aren’t compliant, they don’t practice, they don’t listen, and so on. I believe it is up to us as trainers to discover why they are struggling, and take on the challenge of helping them to succeed. People are complicated beings with a variety of circumstances, experiences, and motivations. Your job is to help with one aspect of their lives, their dog’s behavior.
What Can You Gain?
There are several benefits to improving your feelings toward your clients, starting with greater job satisfaction. The more you like your clients, the more you want them to succeed, which makes you work harder at your job. You will improve your client communication, because you are working toward gaining empathy with your clients. Again, the better you communicate, the more success your clients will have. This is a positive feedback loop that benefits everyone, you, the client, and the dog(s). All of this will result in better results, and increased word of mouth. People don’t tell their friends and neighbors about services that were just satisfactory, they tell them about services that shined in client communication while providing results. Being able to work with, and succeed with “difficult” people, whom others might struggle with reaching, gives you a competitive edge in your market. By using the framework described in this article, you can become comfortable with conflict, which is a special skill set in working directly with people.
Understanding Your Clients
There is a reason a prospective client contacts you, and these reasons vary greatly. The clients we all tend to love are the proactive sort. “I just adopted this dog, I’d like to start training right away” sounds so much more inviting than “If you can’t help us, we will have to get rid of the dog!”. It’s important to remember that many people have more reasons not to call than to call. People wait to reach out for help for a number of reasons, finances being the top of the list. Other reasons that might delay first contact include:
Scheduling restrictions
Embarrassment
Unsuccessful attempts to contact a different trainer
Have tried training before and felt unsuccessful
Lack of resources (no one to ask who to call for help)
Disagreement within the family regarding the dog
Health issues
Belief they can solve the problem through internet advice
Clearly there are a lot of reasons people may choose to delay seeking professional advice in helping their dog. Very rarely is the reason “doesn’t care about the dog”, yet that seems to be how some trainers perceive this delay. The information given to you at first contact can shape your attitude toward that client, but you should be cautious to let it do so, because it often doesn’t tell the whole story. Remember that upon first contact, your client may be under a good deal of stress. Be forgiving of any information they give you, including actions they might have taken against their dog. They are currently operating with a lack of knowledge, and you are just the person they need.
Depending on whether you do in-home training, or facility based training, you may be able to tell more or less about your client’s life circumstances. I have found this to be absolutely no indication of how dedicated a client will be, so this information is to be taken in without judgement. However, having a feel for whether a client has a limited income vs. money to spare can help you to communicate in a way that is empathetic toward their situation. Suggesting cost effective options for some of the equipment and enrichment items they might need will go a long way to helping someone who saved up for your training package feel like they can accomplish their goals. Other clients may be more than willing and able to buy anything that might help them, and will appreciate you suggesting the top products on the market.
Other questions that will help you to understand why a client might be frustrated, angry, or disengaged from the training process include:
How long have they been dealing with this situation?
What is their lifestyle, and how does the dog fit into it?
What is their previous dog experience? What about training experience?
How is the behavior affecting the client’s everyday life?
I find it is important when you meet a client for the first time to get a sense for how much time and energy they are able and willing to put into trying to change their dog’s behavior. Try to formulate an answer for this question without judgement. Remember, the reasons that limit people from committing more time or money to their dog rarely include “I don’t care about the dog”. If you can tailor your own expectations, and the client’s expectations to fit the amount of work that can be done, you will both be happier in the end. Be creative in thinking of options for those who can’t afford to buy a large training package, or have difficulty finding the time to train. Often, if you can get them started and they see results, they will continue to make training a priority.
Developing Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s experience by imagining yourself into that experience. This is a skill that most of us started developing as a child, gaining more understanding as we experienced more of the world. Some people hold the false belief that “you are who you are” when it comes to your ability to empathize with others, but we know that dogs can change strongly ingrained behaviors, and so can we! Learning to empathize takes a willingness to change, and think past your own experience.
The most important thing about using an empathetic approach is listening to what your client has to say. Listening is also a skill that needs to be developed, and active listening is important to empathizing. Acknowledging what your client has told you, “It sounds like you are feeling very frustrated about Fluffy’s behavior” helps them to feel heard. If you don’t understand what your client is saying, ask them to clarify. The easiest way to understand someone else’s experience is to ask them about it! Watch their body language to see if they feel comfortable or concerned, so that you can respond appropriately.
If you find yourself disagreeing with a client, consider their perspective, and evaluate your own attitude. It may be that they don’t have enough information to make an informed opinion, or their personal experience is clouding their ability to understand the bigger picture. However, it could also be that you are overly focused on being “right”, and that by opening your mind to other possibilities you could reach some understanding. An important part of empathy is recognizing and accepting that your perspective is not shared with every other person.
Our clients are not purposefully doing things wrong. There is a ton of information, and misinformation, out there about changing dog behavior. We can’t expect our clients to be masters of wading through this information to find only the best sources. Often people’s choices are influenced by friends or family member’s recommendations, or the top results brought up by a search engine. What they have done in the past should not influence our feelings about them as people, because they didn’t know they were following bad advice.
Developing empathy with our clients includes active listening, considering the other person’s perspective, keeping your self open to new ideas, and recognizing that people’s behavior is based on the information they have, which may be incorrect or limited. Your goal is to help the client feel heard, and to approach any disagreement from an understand place.
People Are Fascinating!
The human race is incredibly diverse in culture, experience, and attitudes, and as dog trainers we get to see a decent cross-section of our communities. There are so many different stories of how people have come to live with dogs, and despite their struggles, they are really trying to do so successfully. Allow yourself to be fascinated by the people you meet. These people have invited us into their lives, their homes, and their struggles. We can honor that by being interested in their lives, and helping to improve things as they relate to the dog.
Many trainers love to solve difficult problems with dogs, and why should more difficult clients be any different? Our job is to change behavior, and the same principles apply to people learning as to dogs. We are quick to break things down for a dog who is struggling to learn a new task, so we should do the same for a struggling client. You will get the same feeling of accomplishment when your client performs a difficult skill as when their dog does the same. Give your clients achievable goals, and don’t make them goals that you could achieve, they aren’t dog trainers! With clients who are struggling to make training a consistent habit, here’s an achievable goal – ask them to count out 5 treats before each meal (it could even be pieces of kibble) and practice one of the exercises 5 times. Learn about habit making and make it your goal to help your clients start new habits.
Lastly, people are very complex, which often means our first assumptions can be way off. This is especially true with email or text contact, because meanings can easily be misconstrued, and inflection is lost. Give people the benefit of the doubt, and allow yourself to get to know the person over time. Sometimes we get stuck in the idea that a client is going to be difficult because of something they said in their first contact call or email, but there are so many reasons that could be a poor representation of them as a person. Often people don’t reach out until something bad has happened, and they are likely processing that event. Other people are just not great at communicating by phone or email, but do much better face-to-face. Don’t hold on to your preconceived notions, there is a lot at play here, most of which doesn’t relate to you.
In Conclusion
Dog trainers are also people trainers, and we need to take that part of our job seriously. You should be spending time learning about interacting with people and developing your own skills. Your communications will improve when you understand your client’s circumstances, what they have been dealing with, and how it is affecting their lives. You aren’t going to agree with everything a client says or does, but you have to accept that you aren’t going to change their views on everything. Giving them as much information as they can digest gives them the tools they need to do better. An empathetic approach helps you to navigate these waters of changing or influencing human behavior. By considering your client’s perspective, you can work through conflict, and more effectively recommend solutions to their problems. Finally, take a moment to appreciate how fascinating people are! Just think about some of the stories you’ve heard in your time as a dog trainer, it’s likely you have some doozies. Find delight in the differences between people, and in finding creative solutions to helping them. You will find yourself more satisfied with your job, less stressed, and more successful by finding the joy in your clients.
About the Author
Megan Wallace, B.S., CPDT-KA, CNWI, owner of Dogs Deciphered LLC, has been training dogs since age 11 when she attempted to certify her family dogs as therapy dogs. While the family dogs were a bit old to pursue new careers, being 11 and 13, Megan was at the start of a lifelong passion for dogs which eventually became her career. This passion led her into the world of dog behavior and training, and started a quest for knowledge that has been never ending. With a gift for relating to people as well as their pets, Megan strives to find solutions to behavior problems that work as well for the owners as they do for dogs. She stays up-to-date with the most progressive dog training methods by attending seminars, reading training books, and taking classes with her own dogs. Megan believes that training should be fun for the dogs and the owners, and strives to help every person find the joy in dog training. She does this by teaching straight-forward, dog-friendly methods that cater to the needs of all dog owners. Megan is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers, and is a Certified K9 Nose Work Instructor (CNWI) through the National Association of Canine Nose Work. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Colorado State University. She is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the National Association of Canine Scent Work.
In her free time Megan enjoys spending time with her husband James, and their four dogs, training and competing with them in a variety of dog sports, and enjoying the wonderful local Colorado music scene. She also enjoys volunteering at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Center, where she is learning to handle the educational ambassadors. She continues her love of education by teaching the public about raptors, and how humans impact their lives. Her goal in life is to help humans and dogs (and all animals!) understand each other just a little better.
Being a professional dog trainer can be an incredibly fulfilling profession. You can work for another company, but most quickly find out that to make a sustainable living, it’s best to run your own business.
Being your own boss isn’t always something that comes easily, but it certainly can be learned and perfected over time. Below I’ve listed some important aspects of running your own dog training business that should be top-of-mind if you are pursuing this as a professional career path.
1. Take Yourself Seriously
You’ll quickly realize that no one is going to give you permission or an official “stamp of approval” to be a professional dog trainer. You have to claim the title of “professional” and start by respecting your own skills, knowledge, and experience.
While there are many fabulous dog training schools out there, in the U.S. there are no education requirements to begin a career as a professional dog trainer. That being said, getting a solid foundation on the science of animal behavior is something I strongly recommend and a dog training school is a great place to get everything you need in one place.
Getting an education before you get started formally training other people’s dogs for a living will increase your confidence, grow your expertise, and improve your ability to articulate behavior challenges with your clients. When you’re more confident, articulate, and skilled, you will take yourself more seriously and others will, too.
2. Charge What You’re Worth
With education and experience under your belt, you’ll also want to remember to charge what you’re worth. Running a successful dog training business doesn’t mean you’re going to be playing around with puppies all day long although that is a common perception when you share your career goals with others.
As a professional dog trainer, you’ll have a direct and dramatic impact on the quality of life of your clients and their dogs. Do not forget this. If your skills and knowledge are able to help someone through a frustrating and debilitating behavior challenge with their dog, that is extremely valuable (some might even say priceless).
If you’re just getting started, you probably won’t be working with severe behavior issues, but you’ll still be making an impact on your clients’ lives for at least their dog’s lifetime. Often, you’ll also be teaching your clients’ skills they will use with future pets for the rest of their lives. This impactful knowledge transfer is also incredibly important!
Your clients look to you as the professional. They trust that you have put in the time to learn skills and knowledge about dog behavior so that they don’t have to. Convenience is an additional benefit you’re providing and convenience should not be underestimated.
3. Listen To Your Customers
Understanding your clients, their needs and wants, and what they see as beneficial will help you stand out from the crowd. I’ve seen a lot of professional dog trainers that make the mistake of assuming what is important to their clients. Their clients then get frustrated and may not seek out additional services since their voices were not heard in the first round of training.
Listening to your clients will improve the quality of service you provide which can encourage repeat business and generate referrals. Understanding what your clients’ value can also help you improve your marketing message to attract more of the clients you enjoy working with.
Being a great professional dog trainer mostly involves solving your human clients’ problems.
Think about how you can improve your ability to listen to your clients and limit your assumptions. Sending out surveys and practicing active listening are some great tools and techniques that come to mind.
4. Have Processes In Place
In addition to taking your dog training skills seriously, you should take your business seriously. Having thought-out processes for situations like new client email correspondence, new client onboarding, accounting, and marketing will greatly increase your productivity. There’s something to be said for not reinventing the wheel everytime a new client knocks on your (virtual) doors.
When you’re first getting started, each time a new, but soon-to-be recurring situation arises, create a process for how you’ll respond and plan out what tools you’ll use to deal with it. Processes help with time management and allow you to take on more clients with ease.
Having a formal new client onboarding process with a New Client Information packet like I include in the Template Bundle makes you come off as professional and organized right off the bat. Your clients will appreciate your organization and timeliness throughout their experience working with you.
After almost 10 years in the dog training industry and 6 years running my own business, I’m able to help you better prepare your dog training business from the bottom up and give you a structured runway to launch successfully.
5. Have A Great Website & Get Found Online
If no one knows you exist, it will be hard to make an income as a professional dog trainer. Without a doubt, a website that is easy to navigate and is quickly found on Google is key to running a successful dog training business.
Your website is your virtual storefront. Would you want your storefront to be hidden behind larger, prettier stores? Would you want a storefront that isn’t attractive?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of editing and updating your website so that it is more appealing to search engines like Google. By utilizing best practices on your website’s design, content, and structure, your website is more likely to be listed on the first page of Google when people are searching for dog trainers.
Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions when it comes to SEO. It isn’t rocket-science and you don’t need to pay someone else to do the most impactful optimizations to your site.
Learning SEO and implementing it on my website has single-handedly contributed to the most income for my business. If you’re interested in learning more, I actually put my knowledge into a quick 5-week course that walks you through how to do your own SEO.
Once you learn it and understand the foundation, you can use the same knowledge to improve your own website for years to come!
6. Pursue Continuing Education Like It’s Your College Degree
The sign of a professional in any industry is the amount of time and energy they have put into their education. As your income allows it, actively pursue ongoing education to increase your skill set. The more skills you have, the more services you can offer and the more people and dogs you can help. Growing your skill set, including to animals other than dogs, will expand your understanding of animal behavior and the impact you have on the animals you work with.
Another benefit to continuing your education is the opportunity to meet all kinds of different people that are doing the same. You’ll make invaluable friendships that will refresh your perspective and give you emotional and professional support for years to come.
On this episode of The Modern Dog Trainer Podcast, we had Nick Hof on to discuss the many aspects of branding and marketing your dog training business as well as how to stay efficient and professional in your work. Nick has an extremely impressive business presence online and has extensive knowledge and awareness of how his business appears to others. Listen in as we discuss best branding practices and many other tips to help you look and work efficient and professional.
Nick Hof owns Paws Look Listen in Cincinnati, OH offering in-home training for behavior and manners. He is a graduate of the Karen Pryor Academy, the Vice Chair for the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, is a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer, a Certified Behavior Consultant-Knowledge Assessed, and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed. Nick enjoys working with other trainers, helping them to develop a better image and business practices.
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Video versions of the podcast are available on YouTube. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Modern Dog Trainer for notification when a new video or episode is added!
2017 has come to an end, but we covered some pretty interesting topics this past year. Let’s take a quick look back at some of the most popular articles in 2017 to review and help us prepare for 2018.
It’s safe to say that primitive dogs have a passionate following. This article was our most popular article of the year. It spread like wildfire across social media and brought attention to the unique needs of primitive dogs. In this article, Molly Sumner shares some of her experiences living with and training several kinds of primitive dogs. This is a must-read for anyone that works directly with or intends to work with primitive dog breeds.
One of the must-have skills of a talented professional dog trainer that utilizes positive methods is to truly understand what motivates a dog. Each dog is different and is motivated by different rewards. In this particular post, our contributor Liz Wyant identified seven popular high-value treats that professionals or dog owners can use to motivate and train the dogs they are working with.
It’s clear that raising a puppy correctly helps prevent many behavior problems in the first place which helps to explain why this post is ever popular. Getting your or your client’s puppy out for socialziation during the critical early socialization periods is very important, but it can be challenging to do it without putting the puppy in health compromising situations. In this post, contributor Jorge Melara shares some professional tips for puppy socialization.
At the end of each year Kat Camplin, our long-time contributor and podcast co-host, rounds up a list of highly anticipated conferences for the upcoming year. It’s no surprise that this post is still one of the most popular posts of the year. Looking into 2018 conferences? Check out our Top Animal Behavior Conferences of 2018 post.
Professional dog trainers are always looking to improve their lessons and classes. One of the best ways to get students to utilize their newly learned skills is to have them play games with their dogs. In this post, Monica Callahan lists out several games professional dog trainers can use in their obedience classes to improve their student’s mechanical training skills.
Professional dog trainers are always on the look out for the best and latest equipment that might help them better manage a dog. Setting a dog up to make the right choices is critical in making lasting behavior changes. In this post, contributor Lisa White shared her thoughts about the Perfect Fit Harness.
Another trick professional dog trainers often use to improve behavior, increase confidence, and reduce boredom is to utilize toys and games to increase mental stimulation. In this post, Laurie Schlossnagle shares some of her favorite ways to mentally challenge dogs.
One of the first thoughts that goes through a new dog trainer’s mind when they decide to start their own business is, “what should I call my business?!” It’s an important decision because it cannot be easily changed so in this post Kat shares some critical things to consider before deciding on a business name.
Every trainer has their favorite harness. In this post, Lisa takes a look at several force-free harness options that allow better control over the dog without sacrificing the dog’s comfort.
Until I got deep into the science of dog training and animal learning theory, the thought that I could teach an animal to relax never crossed my mind. Since I’ve learned how to train this skill, it’s one of my go-to strategies when working with high-anxiety, impulsive, and reactive dogs. In this article, Monica shares three different strategies you can use to teach your dogs or your clients’ dogs to relax at home or in class.
Two species cannot coexist if their needs are identical. Competition for food, water, and shelter is bad enough within the same species, if you add another species one will out-compete the other. The ecological niche relies on the assumption that diversity will always give one species an advantage, no matter how slight. If each species has something unique, then no two species will occupy exactly the same niche. The species Dog Trainer needs to diversify in order to compete.
Dog trainers already occupy a niche by their service area. You cannot compete with a trainer in Ohio if you’re living in Oregon. But is location niche enough? If you’re doing exactly what everyone else is doing in the exact same way then someone will out-compete the other. There must be a difference for a dog owner to choose you over the competition. “When two species are in competition, the outcome will be either the exclusion of one species or the evolution of one or both species resulting in less or no competition.” Either one trainer will win all the resources or both will evolve so there is less competition. It’s time to evolve.
Who is competing with you for your resources?
If you are alone in your service area then you basically have nothing to worry about. Dog owners will call you for whatever they need. Your limitation may be your own time availability and resources, not competition from other trainers. If other trainers are in your area then you have competition over resources, namely dog owners. The people that hire you now have some choices, so who are they going to hire? How will they decide?
It is important to keep up with who and what your competition is doing and offering. Pretend to be a dog owner and do some internet searches for your location plus “dog training” and “dog trainer.” If you’re in a high competition area you may be surprised to find the top people in each search are different. Does their service area overlap with yours? Is it a multiple trainer company that can hit a wider audience? Are they also offering other services like pet sitting, dog walking, or transportation? Do they offer the same services as you? If you offer group and in-home instruction, do they do the same? Who are they targeting? What service is first on the home page of the website? This will give you a clue as to what they really want to concentrate on.
Finally, what do their reviews look like? Do they have any? Are they good, bad, or in the middle? Are they active on social media? Do their followers interact with them on social media? Do they have a YouTube channel with weekly videos? Or is there one video on their channel from 5 years ago?
Once you gather all this information you can see who your closest competition is and how they’re doing with it. You can then diversify.
The Price Niche
After location the next niche trainers normally use is setting their prices in comparison to their competition. Do you match them, undercut them, or charge more than them? The normal inclination is to match prices thinking that is what the local population is willing to pay. The problem with that is your competition may have set prices during a recession and never raised them, or set them during a boom and never lowered them.
Price comparison shoppers will always be there, but they don’t make the best clients. They chose you because you met their price point, not because you’re great and not because they like they way you do things. You cost what they want to pay, that’s it. The flip side is the shopper who wants the best and thinks the best costs more. There are fewer of these in your local population, but if you’re going to go after them you will need to be much higher than your competition. This isn’t a $10 more kind of thing. This is the $100 surround sound system vs the $4000 in-home theater system thing. If you’re going to go after this market the difference needs to be significant.
Unless your competition is targeting a vastly different customer you should never match prices. Matching services and pricing means high competition for the same target resource: dog owners who are willing to spend a specific amount of money on training services. If you feel the need to match prices then there must be something different about you to make you stand out.
The Certification Niche
A lot of trainers use certifications and education as a way to stand out against the competition. While education and proof of knowledge standards are great for the profession, they haven’t quite filtered down to the average dog owner yet. It’s been said many times that clients don’t understand all the letters after a trainer’s name, and if they did, there’s really no data on whether they’d care or not.
We know the certification niche works in some cases because there are quite a few organizations that are now offering them. More trainers are adding letters after their name, which means they are either viewing them as an industry standard or a marketing tactic. It’s probably more the industry standard view. A certification niche can work in some areas. College towns and areas with residents with advanced college degrees will see the logical benefit of education, even if they don’t value it as a choice selector. By all means, fly your certification flags and put logos on marketing material. You worked hard to get them and deserve to use them, they just probably aren’t helping people choose you over the competition.
The Method Niche
The nice vs. not nice training method niche is one we see often. Using “positive” and “nice” and “friendly” training as a way to find a market of people who want to be nice to their dogs is certainly a way to separate you from the competition. Unfortunately, most people want to be nice to their dogs. In fact, they think they’re already being nice to their dogs even if they’re throwing chains at them. People want to be nice to their dogs but they also want their dog to stop peeing on the sofa and refusing to come when called. They don’t particularly care how they get these things to stop, they just need them to stop.
That said, the “positive” and “nice” and “friendly” approach isn’t a bad idea when we switch it to people skills. The dogs aren’t writing the checks, the humans are, so if your niche is that you’re kind and friendly and supportive to people then you’ll have a leg up on the competition. This niche works when your goal is to be someone’s dog trainer. Your feedback for this niche is clients saying, “Let me give you the name of my dog trainer,” instead of “Oh, I have a great dog trainer.” This is the personal approach; the bonding of client and coach where you become “theirs” instead of just an “a”.
The Dog Type Niche
This is the meat and potatoes of the niche market that separates the girls from the Girl Scouts. This niche concentrates on some segment of the dog population such as breed, age, and problem behaviors. You love poodles, so go after the poodle owners. You love puppies, so go after the puppy owners. You love dogs that hide behind things, so go after the fearful dog owners.
Marketing in this niche can take some skill and some research. For instance, you need to be sure someone in your local habitat isn’t also a poodle lover going after poodle owners. If there are already three trainers targeting puppy owners you will either need to do things very differently or find another niche. Remember, the whole point of the niche is to lower competition, not increase it, so finding an untargeted market segment is the only way to do it.
Marketing language for this niche will move away from generalities like “dog trainer” to “puppy trainer” or “poodle trainer.” The problems you list will move away from a general list of behaviors to those more commonly found in your target market. Targeting puppies might use teething and jumping and sleeping through the night, while targeting poodles might move more to handling for grooming and curbing zoomies.
Once you find your market look at your previous clients who were your ideal customers and what problems they were having. Look at intake forms and emails from them to find the language they used to describe their dog. Make a list of terms and then compare. You’ll find that the language people use to describe their dog or problem are pretty consistent. These are also the terms they’re going to use to search for a trainer to help them. These lower competition keywords are your low hanging fruit to integrate into marketing materials. It really doesn’t matter whether you are targeting a breed or a problem or an age, there is a commonality to the language people use to describe their dogs. These words are how you target your niche.
The Human Type Niche
The alternative to the Dog Type niche is the Human Type niche. This segment targets specific human groups defined by age, family status, or special circumstances. Seniors, families, first-time pet owners, college students, and stay at home moms would fit in this niche.
Marketing language for this niche is focused on the human need instead of the dog problem. Understanding your targeted niche means understanding what problems they’re likely to encounter and how to help them. For example, college students may have problems with separation anxiety or how to deal with unruly roommates. A senior might walk slower, travel more, or need the dog to be okay when grandkids come over once a month. Understanding the environment and conditions each segment creates means you can sell personalized preventative training instead of problem solving. While problems will certainly occur, being the guru of a human niche means you’ll have the experience to solve them.
Getting your message in front of your chosen market segment can be a bit different than trying to tap the general dog owner. You need to find out where they hang out in your area, what they read or view, and how to reach them. Don’t discount senior centers and public parks and local neighborhood apps to reach these audiences. Be clear who you are targeting with keywords concentrating on the human need and experience instead of the dog’s.
The Activity Type Niche
The Activity Type niche is where the crazy people are. Okay, they’re not really crazy, but they’re usually goal driven and competitive. This segment isn’t so much about problem solving as it is about skill building. It also covers both ends of the leash since good handling skills are needed by the human to compete well.
Agility, scent work, obedience, tricks, canine parkour, hiking, kayaking, and herding all fall into this niche. For some of these activities interest and skill is not enough, clients want titles and a lot of experience. Experience does tend to include training multiple breeds to do the task, not just your own dogs.
This niche lends itself to creating communities, and you really should view part of your task will be community building. The human social aspect of classes and competing and engaging in the activity is part of why people do it. Being a great trainer in a sport or activity will allow you to introduce people to each other and build friendships just by the very nature of how you set up the learning environment. Clients who fall into this niche are usually in it for the long haul, so cultivate each one and you’ll have a repeat customer for a very long time.
While marketing to this niche is pretty straightforward since the keywords are built into the activity language, this segment lends itself to using a lot more visual images and video than other segments. Video of a calm dog enjoying a ride on a kayak, agility runs, photos of ribbons, and huge smiles will go farther than a website page called “Canine Kayak Training”.
This niche can be easier to reach by attending local events and taking part in the sport. On the plus side, all those entry fees and travel expenses are tax deductible.
Final Thoughts
Marketing to everyone is marketing to none. This is true in the ecology of every profession, but perhaps more so with dog training. Reducing your competition by doing what you enjoy for a price you can live on will bring you years of a successful career instead of slogging through clients you hate just to get by.
Did we miss a niche? What’s your marketing segment? Let us know in the comments!Save
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Ever wish you had a group of local, friendly dog trainers to talk to? What about a group of dog trainers you felt comfortable bouncing ideas off of?
A networking event, or better yet a Mastermind Meetup (otherwise known as a peer advisory board), can be extremely useful to gain traction when you’re first starting out or even if you’re stuck in a rut in your current businesses. Getting an outsider’s perspective from someone that’s been in your shoes can be the best way to open new opportunities for you and your business.
A mastermind meetup is a group of like-minded individuals that get together from time to time to share their goals, obstacles, experiences, and insights to benefit the group as a whole. You learn from each other, you keep each other accountable, and you support and help each other. There are many benefits, both tangible and intangible, to having a group like this to turn to as you start your own dog training business or grow a business you already have.
1. You Can Make Life-Long Friends And Partnerships
When you’re meeting with like-minded people that are passionate about the same things you are, you’re able to connect on a whole new level. You’ll feel like you’ve found “your people” and share business and personal challenges, goals, or experiences that are helping you succeed or inhibiting your progress. You’ll have an instant, reliable, supportive network to turn to as you start and grow your business.
Not to mention, the endless opportunities for collaboration and cross promotion that will result in having a strong support network of like-minded trainers in your area! Just because a group of trainers service the same area doesn’t mean you necessarily overlap in target audiences, skillsets, availability, types of services, and more! These days, there is usually more business coming in than many dog trainers can handle. The mindset you should have if you’re looking to network and find a mastermind group is that there truly is an abundance of business and dog training clients that need your help.
2. You Discover New, Creative Solutions For Your Business
The benefit of speaking to others who have been in your shoes and are like-minded is that you can collect valuable, honest, and relevant feedback about your business choices and initiatives. You can hear how others of similar backgrounds and passions would approach your challenges and generate ideas to overcome them.
When you’re surrounded by other like-minded individuals, you’ll feel validated that you’re on the right path to reach your goals and your dream. Seeing others succeed will help to motivate you to keep going as well.
Additionally, a facilitator or someone who hosts/organizes the mastermind meetup, also has a wealth of knowledge and resources to share with the group and is going above and beyond to help others grow and succeed as well. They bring their own skill set and experiences to the table.
3. You’ll Be Accountable To Make Improvements
Ideas are great, but taking action is better!
One of the most valuable aspects of having a mastermind group is that you can hold each other accountable so you all make progress in your businesses.
Mastermind groups are more than just a networking event. You actually sit down, share your goals, and work together to make actionable plans to make improvements within your businesses. When you share your goals and action items with someone else, you’re more likely to take those steps and reach your goals!
The connections you make in a mastermind group go much further than a handshake at a networking event. You’re truly in it together to help each other stay accountable so everyone in the group can succeed.
4. You’ll Gain Industry Insights Found Nowhere Else
When you get together with other people from within your industry, you can gain insights you won’t find online, in books, or in seminars. Each person brings their own unique learning experiences to the table for all to learn from. One person’s challenge becomes a learning experience for everyone in the group. There is just nothing like it! There is nowhere else to find this kind of knowledge.
5. You Find Relief In Knowing You’re Not Alone
Typically, when you’re starting your own dog training business, you’re considered a “solopreneur” or solo-entrepreneur. It can be isolating when you have no one to turn to or relate to. You have to figure everything out on your own and while you should always trust your gut and do what feels right, you don’t know what you don’t know. Speaking to others who are or have been in your shoes is a great way to build connections and find relief in knowing you aren’t completely alone in this adventure. Others might bring up experiences or insights that you hadn’t thought of or experienced yourself. Mastermind groups help you expand your awareness of what it takes to run a successful dog training business.
6. You Get To Work ON Your Business Instead Of IN Your Business
While learning how to post on Instagram or writing up thorough client notes is important, mastermind group discussions should focus more on the bigger picture. You’ll be able to take a step back, reflect, analyze, learn, and plan your next big business goals.
Many times as solo business owners we spend a lot of time working in our businesses – creating documents, sending emails, working directly with clients. This time away from the office allows you to refresh and reinvigorate yourself for your next business steps.
7. It’s Electrifying
When else will you be able to be completely honest with a group of people? Share the highs and lows of starting your business. Share your expectations versus the reality of what it actually is like. Vent about the challenges your experiencing or share your success with others who understand what it means! Finding your “kind” of people is invigorating! You don’t have to go at it alone.
One of my main missions with this blog is to help other positive dog trainers (or whatever you want to call dog trainers that follow Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) principles in training) succeed with their businesses. There is often a ton of focus on learning the science of training dogs with little acknowledgment of how to run the business side of things. However, if you’re in this profession for the long haul, you have to pay attention to both. Without a thorough understanding of how to run a business, you will not be able to take your passion for dog training full-time or be able to sustain it full-time for many years.
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After having the opportunity to talk to many other dog trainers over the years, I’ve discovered some trends that I want to bring to your attention.
As dog trainers, we often have a limited budget to start up and run our businesses. Fortunately, there are a few free tools available to improve your efficiency and make your business run smoother and faster without extra financial burden.
I wanted to take my goal a step further and help other trainers be more successful, thus helping even more dogs. I came to recognize that other trainers are not always successful in connecting with clients. This leaves them feeling frustrated with their jobs, as they are unable to help the dog. Sometimes, this leads to blaming the client – they aren’t compliant, they don’t practice, they don’t listen, and so on. I believe it is up to us as trainers to discover why they are struggling, and take on the challenge of helping them to succeed. People are complicated beings with a variety of circumstances, experiences, and motivations. Your job is to help with one aspect of their lives, their dog’s behavior.
Depending on whether you do in-home training, or facility based training, you may be able to tell more or less about your client’s life circumstances. I have found this to be absolutely no indication of how dedicated a client will be, so this information is to be taken in without judgement. However, having a feel for whether a client has a limited income vs. money to spare can help you to communicate in a way that is empathetic toward their situation. Suggesting cost effective options for some of the equipment and enrichment items they might need will go a long way to helping someone who saved up for your training package feel like they can accomplish their goals. Other clients may be more than willing and able to buy anything that might help them, and will appreciate you suggesting the top products on the market. 
Being a professional dog trainer can be an incredibly fulfilling profession. You can work for another company, but most quickly find out that to make a sustainable living, it’s best to run your own business.
4. You’ll Gain Industry Insights Found Nowhere Else
