Starting your own dog training business

Author: Andre Yeu, founder of the “When Hounds Fly” dog training school, has successfully grown his business, which now covers more than five locations across Canada and a team of 20 experienced trainers and dog behaviour consultants. He is known for his broad knowledge and expertise in dog training.

“Every year I meet many people who dream of starting their own dog training business. There are many reasons why someone might decide to go it alone and become a professional dog trainer. I started my business, When Hounds Fly, in 2010 and it is still going strong. Looking back, it is easy to say it was a great decision to start the business when and how I did. But at the time, I was just another dreamer with, statistically speaking, a 50/50 chance. I was fully convinced I had a good chance of success because I had thought it through seriously and prepared well for the challenge of opening my own dog training business.

1. Is there enough demand for dog training?
The reality is that you have to go where demand is high. Population density and the percentage of dog owners must be high enough to support a business. A related fact is that demand for dog training services grows with population density. City dwellers need well-socialised and trained pets in order to get by. My advice is to start your business where the dogs are. The denser the dog population, the better! The only exception to this advice would be someone who is already an extremely well-established and successful trainer. People will come from all over the county, the state, the country, and even cross international borders to see a famous professional pet trainer. If that is you, you can open a business anywhere and you will be fully booked.

2. Can you beat the competition?
Maybe you are lucky and have identified a market with lots of dog owners and pets who need training, and not a single dog trainer has set up a business in that area yet! If that is the case, what are you waiting for? Get going! The reality is that where there are dogs, there are trainers. Those trainers will be better positioned than you, since you are only just starting out. What is important to work out is how busy those trainers are and whether you have a unique offer you can use to stand out. My advice is to focus on a high-quality service at a premium price.

3. Budget

Assuming you are starting the business on a tight, strict budget, you will not have a pile of money to hire a web designer, a marketing agency, an accountant, a lawyer, a builder or a cleaning service. My advice is to bootstrap your dog training business as much as possible, and that means you have to learn all of these skills or find people who can help you, so that you keep your start-up costs low.

4. How strong are your dog training skills and knowledge?
Believe it or not, I often get emails from people asking whether I take apprentices because they want to learn how to become dog trainers. When I ask them about their experience, a few have told me they have never even had a dog! Most have had a dog, but have never been to a dog training class themselves!

Because dog training is not regulated by law, anyone can be a dog trainer. That opens the door for unqualified people to actively advertise their services and spend the public's money. Let common sense prevail. How can you run classes effectively if you have never been a student in a class yourself? Or, how can you help someone with an aggressive dog if you have never helped an aggressive dog yourself?

5. You love dogs, right? But how are you with people?
My love for my dog drew me to dog training as a hobby, but make no mistake, my love for leading, mentoring and helping motivated people succeed is what brought me into the dog training business. To survive in the dog training business, enjoying helping others must have real value for you. That is what will keep you motivated in the long run. All my life I have been drawn to mentoring and teaching others. I love doing it. Unfortunately, too many would-be dog trainers have only the dog in mind.

My advice is to practise teaching and coaching others, and to ask them for honest feedback on how effective you are. If you make it easy for people to understand how to train their dog, you probably have what it takes to succeed in dog training.

If you are starting a business and do not know where to begin, there are plenty of free resources available to guide you along the way. Your local council probably has resources available for starting new businesses (both online and in person). My advice would be to take advantage of every free resource available to you; you may even find that free business planning services or financial grants are within your reach!

Starting a dog training business is not for the faint-hearted or for those who are afraid of risk.”