She called dogTEC, announcing her intention to trade a life at Google for canine assisted swimming, massage, and training. She’d been spending much of her weekends and vacation time pursuing certifications and hands-on experience and was ready to take the plunge (pardon the pun).

We developed a transition plan, defined services, set rates, found a suitable location, crunched numbers and financial projections, and put together a marketing plan and branding.

the result?
The Rex Center has opened its doors for training and massage, and already the marketing plan has resulted in multiple newspaper articles sending clients in for alternative exercise and healing options for elderly, post-surgical, and athletic dogs. Cathy is confidently riding the front of a new wave of dog care services that is growing despite a troubled economy.

case study: erica nance
Erica’s training studio and boutique, Dogs of Hudson, opened just in time for that year’s holiday business. Getting to that point was a busy ride and dogTEC was along for the duration.

It began with the renovation of an old building to create a classroom space and storefront plus an apartment upstairs for her family (that’s Lucas in the dog bed in the window—and no, he’s not for sale). While construction moved forward we worked with Erica to develop services and an approach to merchandise that would fit with her area—a small tourist town with a large influx of people on weekends and during the Summer.

Dogs of Hudson offers the best in boutique items, each displayed with a witty card describing its uses. In addition to typical class and private training options Erica is offering in-facility day training and a range of short workshops and playgroups, all catering to the vacation set with dogs in tow (and great fun for locals, too!). Another central area of work was developing a marketing plan rich with community marketing projects such as a newsletter.

the result?
A couple of steps into her marketing plan Erica has already enjoyed her first “Uh-oh—we might not have enough room!” moment. Here’s to many more of those!

case study: caroline spark
Caroline brought us a unique challenge. Ready to move to full-time dog training, she wanted a sustainable business she could run while living part time in Portland and part time at her cabin in the woods on the Oregon coast.

After some exploratory discussion of what she most liked about training and working with dogs and their people, we helped Caroline design a dual life—day training in the city and board & train in the country—and a marketing plan to make it work.

Thus City Dog, Country Dog was born.

Caroline’s schedule allows her two weeks in Portland to work with dogs in their homes and then two weeks on the coast where she takes a small number of city dogs to work on manners, behavioral issues, and obedience in a home setting.

case study: deborah grodecka
Deborah came to us with a quandary in the Fall. Demand for her services was growing and she wanted to respond, but Deborah was already overwhelmed with the training and administrative work from her existing clients. She was too busy—and not yet breaking even.

Together, we went to work to change all that. We raised her rates, fine-tuned her services to the needs of her clientele, and developed a transition plan that would allow opening a training facility. With a facility Deborah could offer lucrative classes and work more efficiently one-on-one by cutting out hours of travel.

The crucial thing was to have tools in place to handle the extra administrative strain a new facility brings. We designed a master schedule to make the best use of Deborah’s time and put her in touch with a web design team to build online class registrations into her website. We also updated the content and marketing message to reflect her new direction.

Certainly it’s been a lot of work and not without frustrations along the way. Database development, for one thing, is rarely as straightforward as you hope. But only nine months after Deborah made that first phone call, Every Dog Can has opened its doors, or “floodgates” as Deborah calls them.

the result?
The response has been powerful (50 registrations in the first 10 days and hundreds of phone calls) and Deborah is excited about the “greater professional credibility with clients, referring veterinarians, and the community at large.” The most meaningful reward, she says, is “the freedom to create and teach scientifically sound, positively-based behavior and training programs that will help keep my community’s dogs in loving homes forever!”

case study: carla jackson
Carla Jackson’s boarding business, Jackson Ranch for Dogs, was flourishing. Carla was thrilled—and running ragged. She called dogTEC because she wanted more time off, less stress, and hey, if she could boost her earnings in the bargain, that would be okay, too.

With our assistance, Carla made a number of changes, beginning with an overhaul of her policies. Systems that had grown organically with the business had now become impractical, with clients coming and going at all hours, fees depending on a wide range of variables, too many last-minute cancellations, and a time-draining intake procedure.

First we addressed Jackson Ranch’s rates—which had remained unchanged for years. But with boarding slots consistently full it was time to raise prices to reflect Carla’s standing in the local industry. We devised a simple rate system in which all clients paid the same fees for the same service, regardless of their dogs’ size, age, or length of patronage.

Because with space for a finite number of dogs, focus has to be on maximizing the income from those spaces. And given the level of service and luxurious setting Carla offers (the dogs have expertly supervised run of a gorgeous ranch, and loads of human attention and care), it was a safe bet that owners choose Jackson Ranch for more than its rates.

Next on the list was ironing out inefficiencies in the policies: pick-up and drop-off, intake, cancellations, contracts, and payment.

Raising rates and generally changing how things are done always rattles a cage or two. To soften the impact we helped Carla craft a warm but firm letter to Jackson Ranch clients, explaining the need for a long overdue infrastructure revamp, but avoiding apology or any call for questions or argument. The letter emphasized the benefits to clients—including the long-term survival of their favorite boarding ranch.

the result?
Carla reports that almost everyone accepted the changes gracefully. A few cantankerous clients left over the rate increase, as we had expected and accounted for—“a relief, I might add,” Carla says. Best of all, Carla now has more free time and makes more money—two surefire cures for stress.

case study: mark holly
Mark worked for several years in Phoenix, AZ for a large retail chain store teaching public classes before starting his own business. We met at an APDT conference in San Jose, where he confided his desire to someday strike out on his own to teach classes the way he thought they should be done.

Together we devised a plan and by the end of Fall Mark was out of his old job and busy renovating his garage for a class space. By the time next year’s APDT conference opened its doors in Kansas City Mark was sporting groovy logo clothing for his business, House of Hounds.

the result?
Mark now teaches classes his own way and on his own terms.

case study: christine hibbard
Christine Hibbard called dogTEC in November, a year after graduating from the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers. Her business, Companion Animal Solutions, focuses on dogs with fear, aggression, and separation anxiety, and while CAS performed impressively for a start-up, Christine still worked full time in her old software job. The income necessary to make a complete transition just wasn’t there yet.

To change that, dogTEC and Christine created tailored transition and marketing plans, a key part of which was to establish strong veterinary relationships. Partnering with vets supported Christine’s difficult case work and boosted her referrals.

the result?
By November the following year Christine’s training business employed not only herself but also a trainer, a behaviorist, and several interns. CAS now serves animal guardians in Seattle and Portland.