Starting a Dog Training Revolution

In this episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Biz Podcast; Kristen Lee and Maggie Christina share the BTS work that Dog Biz School has been working on to BETTER and unite the training industry.

What they covered:

• Fake Dog Biz Coaches: Rising number of fake dog business coaches exploiting the industry due to its lucrative nature.
• Industry Governance Issues: Discussion about the failure of governing bodies and associations in supporting business owners.
• Historical Context: Overview of the evolution of the dog training industry from the 1980s, highlighting key figures and the shift from old-school compulsion to positive reinforcement training.
• Infighting in the Industry: The detrimental impact of infighting among different training philosophies on industry progress.

Revolutionary Change:

• Dog Biz Summit: Announcement of a new event, Dog Biz Summit, aiming to bring together industry professionals to foster collaboration and set new standards.
• Open Door Meetings: Plans for open discussions on the future of the industry, involving all attendees.
• Focus on Quality: Emphasis on quality speakers with proven track records rather than popular figures.
• Financial and Operational Support: Offering financial guidance and operational support to help professionals attend the summit.

Dog Biz Summit Event Details:

• Date and Location: Austin, Texas, August 7-9.
• Agenda: Flexible and collaboratively built with attendees' input, covering finances, aggression safety, program design, pricing, and marketing.

Registration Link:
https://yourdogbiz.mykajabi.com/dogbizsummit

Episode Links:
Dog Biz Summit

Work with Dog Biz School

Dog Biz School Website

Instagram - Kristen Lee

Instagram - Dog Biz School

Transcript

0:02

You're listening to the mind your own dog business podcast. I'm your host, leading expert in dog business strategist, Kristen Lee. Guys, get ready for your journey, your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a standout kick ass dog business brand, along with mastering your mindset, that's going to smash. All of those glass ceilings that have been holding you back and catapult your dog business to the next level with actionable steps you can take right away. We're going to empower you. We're going to grow you as you step into your authentic self, not only as a dog trainer, dog walker, or whatever slice of the pet industry you find yourself in, but as that badass entrepreneur. My mission is to disrupt the current norm. Cut through the noise, cut through the bullshit, and empower the incredible women of the dog business industry to step into the spotlight. reclaim control and transform not only their businesses, but their lives. It's real. It's raw. It's uncensored. And it's what this dog business industry needs. Let's do this guys. Hello, everybody. Welcome to today's episode of mind your own dog biz. The last episode we did was. The hard hitting one about sobriety. And I kind of left y'all hanging after that. And it's interesting because the team and I have been trying to call, not necessarily trying to collaborate, but we, we always have a really good stock of stuff that we need to talk to dog trainers in the industry and other pet business owners in the industry about, but nothing has really felt right to release the masses. If that makes sense. And. I know y'all have known me. I've been on here since like 2018, 2019. One thing I've always said is like, I'm not going to just phone in for content. Like if you want phoned in content, like. Quantity versus, you know, good quality. Like that's just not my thing. So today I, we all came to an agreement to have a really important conversation. Um, also it's not that we kind of dropped in, like left you all hanging, but we've been working on some really deep seated shit. I don't want to say shit, but a lot of deep seated work that is going to impact the industry as a whole. Uh, we've had the conversations. It's it all started. Let me just kind of preface this. And Maggie, Maggie's here with me again. Hey, Hey, there's a con we've been talking about a lot of the rise of the fake dog biz coach guru and everything else like that. Right. We had that. I think it was like a webinar a couple of weeks ago, a month ago, and we were starting to talk about it a little bit more. And then we had the realization of why are there so many fake business coaches or the not even fake business coaches at this point, but like all these opportunistic people that are starting to pray in the industry, uh, because they see big dollar signs. And it came to Maggie during the webinar. If you were there, it was awesome. It was like, it's because. And so, um, Our governing bodies. Are not even are the governing bodies, the organizations, the associations are initially failing a lot of business owners. So, yeah, I think that's a good intro to the conversation. Revolution has begun. Be gone. At first we called it anarchy. Yeah, we were talking to Clarissa and she was like, probably not the word anarchy, but close to it. And, and I'm probably more excited about this episode. We're talking with you guys and any of the other ones that, you know, we've done in the past together, or even you've done solo. Cause I think this is one of those things that impacts every single person that's out there listening and folks that are going to be listening later. And like, I kind of want to take you guys through a little bit of a timeline. I mean, there's so many folks that are new ish in the industry, or maybe you're not newish maybe, but around for 15 years, there's still like you, we have this beautiful industry that has sprouted from basically like cute little cottage businesses back in the eighties, right? This was during a time where people weren't even bringing dogs inside of the house. Then you had Barbara Woodhouse. Right. You got, and some of you guys might not even know who we're talking about. She was the first, the first trainer internationally to, to educate people that like taking their dogs to class. To get an education around dog training for pet dogs was a thing that you can do. Yep. And that was the first time pet dog training was introduced to the, to our industry was not that long ago. We're talking about mid eighties. Right. And then you had, uh, what we kind of lovingly call the old pioneers, some of which are still around the pioneers of the industry. You've got people like Ian Dunbar, right? Uh, John Rogerson, uh, Terry Ryan. I mean, there's, uh, so many, People that kind of initially founded training for pet dogs in the nineties. And, and one of the things we're going to be talking about guys is this whole, um, fight between trainers in the industry, which I think is going to be really important as far as like telling you guys what we're about to do and what's happening in the future. You've got like this positive reinforcement brigade versus now balance trainers. And in the nineties, it was straight up old school compulsion. Yep. People beating dogs. Right. Then you had the formation of people like Ian, you know, that decided, Hey, let's start doing it positively. And Ian starting APDT was the first thing on the map for professional dog trainers that we've basically ever known. And it kind of went crazy after that. I mean, the concept was good. It worked for a little while, but then you started to see the infighting and then you had. Um, I A C P come out of that from Martin Daly, and then you had I double A B C and then you had the P P G and all of these. Places have kind of formulated based on and then you have to do it and you and then you have to do it And god We love trust me, we're we've got meetings and stuff with them too, but they were formed in 1965 Strictly from an obedience instructor perspective and this is for people doing like competitions and confirmation and stuff like that not pet dogs um, although the Majority of people that have gone through their certification program recently are pet dog trainers. Um, but, but basically here's, here's, here's the gist guys, you know, as well as we do, there's a lot of infighting, which has not helped us as an industry, right? And then you've got all these organizations that were formed essentially based on infighting. And now here we are. You know, 20 plus years later, and we haven't, our industry has grown from a tiny little few million dollar industry and pet dog training to now it's multi billion dollar international industry, um, when it comes to pet services, right? Yet as a professional community, we've been stuck and there's, thank God. There is more and more and more and more people raising their hands going, Hey, We're tired of it. We're sick of it. We're not moving forward. We need to have access to good education from both sides that everybody's growing together. We need access to some kind of a conforming body that can say, Hey, look, here's, here's best practices for doing things, you know, with aggression, for example, or whatever. And we don't have that currently. Um, so we've been in Essentially negotiations and, you know, uh, secret conversations now for weeks with some key players in the industry. And we've all agreed that we're coming together and we're going to be producing dog, this summit. Yeah. And it's not, this is, it's not going to end there. It didn't just start there. Um, but we did want to talk to you guys about, Hey, shit is changing for the better really fast. And I think it's kind of an all hands on deck. No dog professional left behind movement. That's currently happening. And there's, I think you can, you yourself probably in your heart are going off. Thank God. Like this feels, this just feels like the right direction that we need to be moving in the industry right now. Um, and we're really, really honored and proud to be part of that underlying movement right now. Um, yeah, there's so much good shit to say about all of these things. And one thing I want to make it really clear as we get into this conversation is you've probably seen like, oh, the business summit or are all these different summits going on where there's the same speakers and then the day they don't really give a shit. They're kind of telling you some things like That makes it like you're making mood, uh, movement and needle and moving the needle in your business. Sorry, it's late for me and my brain's like, uh, and then they're there to sell you shit. This is not what it is essentially at all. Well, the, the problem that we've seen is in, in mind you, like, I've always known Dealy, uh, president of the founder of IACP. For years before he passed away. I've had many conversations with him in private about concerns about the direction things were going in the popularity contest that's essentially happened. Um, the, we don't have any quality control over our speakers, a lot of the speakers that have been kind of promoted in recent years. Our recycling information. It's not it's if we were doing a better job as a collective whole, if all these organizations were doing a fair, legitimate job, we would not have so many professionals struggling, whether it's new business owners and you're so overwhelmed by all Guys, 20, 30 years ago, it was, you, you had like two things to do to market your business as a pet dog trainer. Now you've got like 30 fucking million things. It's overwhelming. It really is. And no one's talking about it. The people that are are disseminating really poor, bad practices. So we're seeing people like, Just slowly slipping into burnout. The way that we are teaching dog professionals is the thing that's leading to burnout right now. And that's a whole nother issue. You have young. Professionals that are, you know, striving to do the best possible job. So they have a good, bright future that they don't burn themselves out. They're aware of these things, but the way that they're accessing information and the information that they are getting access to is garbage. On the other flip side, you've got some amazingly talented trainers. That have been in it for a long time that have incredible things to teach, and they're also burned out and their legacies are, are basically dying off right now. And this is also a major issue that collectively behind the scenes we've talked a lot about like, you know, we, you, you guys may or may not recognize his name but john rogerson john was one of the great. Model trainers of, of our time period. And he, he passed away. Um, I think it was last year, a little over a year ago. And, you know, it makes me sad because you think of people like, like John or Chris Spock, which again, not a normal household name for, for trainers or dog professionals, but should be all of this incredible knowledge and information is at risk of. Disappearing right now and in its place is very low grade. No, I mean, it's stuff that is not helping move the industry forward. So our, you know, it's interesting because this has been like the core of our conversations recently is we want to see the change in, you know, in our community with you guys. And of course it's like, what do they say about people that want to see you got to be the change. Like I have, we've kind of waited for years for somebody else to do it or somebody else to kind of kick it forward. I think all of us are done waiting. We're done waiting. You know, the sponsors of these other organizations, they're done waiting. Um, that's a whole different conversation, which I will save for later. Um, but we're really excited. And some of the, the, the people that have kind of pioneered the industry are also going to be at Dogmas Summit in Austin and in Texas this summer. Um, I really, really want to encourage those of you guys that, that know in your heart that like, I'm in this for the long run. I want to be the best version of myself. I want to see the industry be the best version of itself. You need to get there. You need to be part of, of this, this, you know, kind of new emergence of stuff. The other thing too is we need to get back together physically. Yeah. All of the virtual, this virtual, that everyone's like moving shit online. It's not, it's, there's a time and a place guys. And I think, I think I can feel. Those of you listening already, even though this is being recorded right now, I can feel you guys listening back to this going, Oh my God. Yes. Like everything is moving virtually digital webinars, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We need to not go so far into that direction. There is a reason why we're, we're spiritual, social animals, pun intended as dog professionals. And it is. It is imperative that we spend time with each other building our relationships with each other. I mean, this is where our industry started. This is people don't think about this, like How did APDT come to, to play? Right. It was a group of phenomenal trainers that knew and learned from each other that would get together every single year at Mary Lee Nitschke's place. And they would, you know, learn together and grow together and they would go year after year. And finally one year, everyone showed up. Ian Dunbar was there and Ian pulled everyone aside and individually was like, Hey. I'm thinking about doing this thing. What are your thoughts? He got feedback from the people that he knew and trusted in the industry and then went and built a thing Those are our roots guys That's our roots. We need to find our roots again. Yeah, and we need a fucking restart. Yeah also too, you know There's so many closed doors meetings at these At these organizational like gatherings and conferences, conference or whatever, where it's just the boards or the volunteer boards discussing the future where there's no input from the members. There's very little input from the members, not only that, but you have in, there's some lovely people out there that have been on boards. So what I'm about to say is not shit talking, but they're all volunteer boards. You don't have anyone who's full time jobs have been like, Kristen, you and I, our full time job is looking out for the best interest of the industry as a whole. And then our individual clients and staying 10 steps ahead of the market. And when you don't have that in an organization, you end up with very watered down, piss poor Group of, of, you know, events and speakers and the information, right? And there's some great speakers out there. Don't get me wrong, but again, don't trigger anybody. Well, so, so the other thing too, that we've discussed a lot, and we've talked to other people that have been at the majority of all these meetings and. Um, associations and trade shows and conferences, whatever, is they're overly packed with information. Even if it was good information, the delivery is like, it's, you're an overload. Yeah. So like there's a conference, newish conference coming up and some of the speakers are great, but it's three days and what, 17, 28, 28. You can't. We, our brains can't handle that. We also, as professionals, we, we need to have access to experiences and education in a way that doesn't overwhelm us. And it's like, you know, information's in one ear and out the other. So you go home overwhelmed, feeling good that you did something, but you look back six months after getting home and you're like, oh shit, I didn't really. Apply anything or didn't know how to apply stuff. As what I was going with when I first taught her to talk about like the closed door meetings We're in this particular dog this summit We're actually on the second day. We're gonna have an open door meeting about third day third day Sorry the third day We're gonna have an open door meeting for everybody To talk about the future of the industry and be a part of that discussion panel with other people that have been in it for a while Yeah, um because we you know It's it is all of You Our livelihoods. Yeah. Right. So we, we need to know the right information. Um, we, so for example, I just got back from, um, the, uh, Barclays dog boarding and daycare expo and trade show, and they had a lot of speakers, a lot of stuff. And I've, I finally started asking around. I was like, okay, are you guys being taught that boarding and daycare is about to have a 30 to 40 percent drop off? And people were like, what? Like, yeah, that's, that's like on the not too, it's already started to happen. And it's just going to steamroll. And like, no, one's preparing you guys for that stuff. It's like, okay, well that sucks. What about teaching you guys what an average healthy price range is for your daycare and boarding fees? And people are like, what, like, these are very basic pieces of principle information that everyone should know easily and have access to very easily. No one's teaching it just by the software. Oh, Lord have mercy. Oh yeah. The software wars was hilarious. There's so many people there wanting to pitch software and look, there's a time and place, but when you've got really good systems in your business, it's, it's actually not as important as you might think. That's a whole different conversation now. So. So yeah, we're, we're quickly, uh, gaining allies and joining forces and partnering and gathering sponsors. And, you know, it's one of those things, August, I mean, we know a lot of incredible people that are going to be there. Um, this is going to be an opportunity for folks to also like Be able to meet each other and figure out who's who and who, you know, who is a good person to learn from, or is a trusted source of information or services, whether it's for your own training, your own training mentorship or education in that way, or the business side. That's the other thing is like, we really need to create a fine balance between those two worlds. Where it wasn't important before, but now it's critical, right? Right. So, you know, we're, we're done waiting around for other people to fix their shit. And we're just giving you guys what we know you need. Yeah. I love to see all you there. That would be awesome. We have, we have, um, deliberately not. Selected the exact location yet because we're waiting to kind of see, you know, who's going to raise their hand. That's absolutely going to want to be there because, you know, we can end up with 500 people. We can end up with 25 of the most amazing people you'll ever meet in your life. Although there's already more than that RSVP, but nonetheless. I mean, this is going to be the first one of many, like I said, there's, we've got, um, corporate sponsors that have been sponsoring and, and supporting, um, the other associations that are also on board because they, you know, when the sponsors are like, Whoa, what's going on? Why are they not helping their members? Who's going to help these people. You know, when the sponsors get to that point, shit just got real. Right. And I would actually encourage, instead of saying like, Oh, I'll do the next one. Cause it's so easy to put off and do the next one. I would highly recommend to do this one. If you can. Oh, just because it's going to be the revolutionary conversation. We're starting. It's a real grassroots movement. And if you're worried about one or two things, I can't possibly step away from my business. Or I can't afford it. Do you want to tell them the cost right now it's fine. Yeah, it's three. Yeah, I was going to 350 super, super, super easy access point. I mean, that's the other thing we've been running private, we're, we've been running private events for years and our, you know, typical cost to come see us and learn from us live has 4, 500, 45 to 10 K. Yeah. 10 K. And so, you know, part of the reason why we're doing this is because we, we also understand that, you know, the folks we've worked with have done amazing. Their businesses are so much healthier, but when I look out in the greater part of the industry, I don't, I don't, we haven't helped. The majority, the masses, and that's really like our, our next goal, and that's part of the reason why we're getting involved. But the other thing that I wanted to mention to them is if you're concerned about pricing, you're concerned about not being able to, you know, peel yourself away from your operations, we will, we are available to help you figure out that price. The solution to that problem. So we're also going to be running a small, um, group of, you know, trainer companies and business owners that, you know, if you're concerned about the financial piece, we're going to help you earn more money than you have to pay to be there before you even get there. So all you have to do is reach out to us. Let us know TLC and, and we'll help you get all that stuff straightened out. Same thing with, if your operation is just so busy. That you're not sure you haven't been able to learn how to peel yourself away. Um, we've done that a bazillion times with clients over the years. We're happy to help you guys with that as well. So no dog professional left behind. Yes. Yes. We. There is room for everyone and reach out and grab the friend of your dog, Bessie, and drag them along with you because it'll be worth it. Yeah. Do you want to talk a little bit? Our, our agenda is not finalized, but do you want to kind of talk about the theme of the conversations or we're going to have? Yeah. Well, so, so that's an interesting, the agenda is an interesting piece of it because we've got a really good outline. We know what we're doing. We've been teaching this stuff for years, yada, yada, yada. Um, but we've left, we've left the doors open and flexible because we're going to be personally talking to everyone that's attending. So you guys actually collectively are getting the opportunity To essentially help build the agenda with us. This is, this is going to be your event, right? So it's like, yes, we have some bullet points and things that, you know, for example, finances, no, very few people are learning or even have fun learning about wealth creation and financial management and tools and dog businesses, but it's beyond accounting, beyond accounting books. Yes. We're talking about actual, like, here's how you, Here's how you do it well. And, you know, if you get caught with your pants down, so to speak, or like, you know, dear friend of ours had a stroke recently that you're not going to be one of those people that has to rely on a GoFundMe to survive that. So like preparing yourself to, to be financially stable is critical. So we're going to have, um, Patty. Um, just Patty, we're just going to call her Patty. Patty's actually registered, um, financial, uh, advisor in the state of Texas, and she's also married to a phenomenal dog trainer named Jose. So she's going to be leading the charge on that. Um, we're going to be teaching, um, Some other things around, uh, like aggression safety. We're going to be going through the 20 point questionnaire. I really want to teach that. It's a 20 point questionnaire that will immediately determine if you're dealing with an aggression case where, you know, the dog bite is on this very, uh, and the level, and then exactly like how to build out management plans and training plans beyond the bite scale, beyond the bite scale. Oh, I like that. Oh, good job. Beyond the bite scale. Um, and we're going to be covering program design and pricing like actual like hard knocks. Here's what you need to do to make your programs successful for the people primarily, and then also financially successful. Um, we'll be covering marketing. I mean, we're going to be covering basically, All of these things that you need in your business anyway, that are going to be refined. You're going to be walking away with a plug and play plan for your business. Not like, Oh my God, I learned a bunch of random shit. I don't know how to put it together. We're going to be doing that for you. However, it's up to all of you guys to help put the fine tune on it. Right? So this is basically your event by you. This is a collaborative event where, you know, you get to actually be. Physically and emotionally and mentally part of that change, right. Which is awesome. Yeah, because we all have good ideas, right? We can't wait for the next person. And if you're one of those folks where you're like, I kind of just want to be a little bit of a wallflower, that's fine too. Don't worry about it. We're not going to like push people and, you know, too outside of their comfort zones. But, you know, Lord, Lord knows that dog trainers do have opinions. So we are here to listen to your ideas and opinions. And it's not going to be a siloed event either. It's open to all dog trainers that are open minded and pet businesses too. Yeah. That's the other thing. It's like there's so many dog daycare and boarding business owners that don't necessarily understand the training side and vice versa. A lot of you guys on the training side. Don't understand how to get into your own facility, for example. Oh, okay. I can't, we can't announce that one yet, but there's some really cool shit. That's going to be going down at this. You guys don't want to miss it. That's all I'm going to say about that. Right. Yeah. And, and also we're screening everybody that's coming through the door. Yeah. And anyone that's going to be speaking guys and teaching you, Has a proven track record that is at the top end of, you know, whatever their, their pieces that, that top end of performance, um, not like, you know, mediocre, Oh, they said that they could do a thing once and people like them. So I guess, so we'll just have them for the next 10 conferences. Yeah. We are not bringing people in that have quote unquote followings. Just for the followings. Like we can't afford to do this shit in the industry anymore. We just can't. There's been too many people that have been promoted based on popularity and not their performance. And that is another huge line in the sand that, that we've drawn for you guys, because you, it's really hard. You don't know the difference unless, you know, a bunch of backend information and you're on the, you know, the inside of the industry. Like we, we are, Um, that's why we're like, screw it. We're going to help. We're going to help you guys filter out and then bring in the people that are going to be the most important for you. All right. I really, I want to see all of your mugs there. I'm really excited about this. I'm also bringing my original mentor down. Um, we've got some other kind of surprise folks we're going to be bringing in and really making this like a meshing of like, okay, here, here's Here is where we came from. Here's where we're at 20, 30 years later. Um, here's where we're going with the next piece. Cause Lord knows we've learned a lot about what to do and what not to do when it comes to organizing professionals in this industry. And we're, we're breaking, we're breaking all the rules now and we're restarting because the revolution. Has started has begun. It has begun. So if you're interested, um, I'm going to drop a link in the podcast notes. Uh, it's going to allow you to just put a deposit in and then we'll schedule a call with you and see if this is, this is a good fit or not. It's fully refundable to the deposit. And it's going to be in Austin, Texas, August 7th through the 9th. And yeah, well, Austin, Texas area can't say promise in Austin, but yeah, I'm excited. If you all have ever wanted to reach out to me or work with me or dog biz school in the line, if you've been following for any years, this is your fucking opportunity. Please, please, please, please. Don't you want to see me in person? Do you want to see Maggie in person? I love it. Do you want to pick my brain? Like come pick us. Yes. We're open. We're picking. Come pick, come pick. I know that's the thing I'm the most excited about. Like, I love spending time with people. Yeah. You know, I'm like, we need to, like I said earlier, we need to get back to those roots. So, Being with each other when we're with each other and we can have these conversations. We take all this bickering and, you know, and even like hiding out online. Some people are like, I just, I'm so over it that I don't even interact with other professionals anymore. I'm in my own thing. I'm just doing my own thing. And there's only so far, even that aspect can carry you because we all need, we need each other. We need each other. We do. And that's just the way it is. So come join us. Come join us. I'm excited. Come join us. Come ask us questions. Reach out to us. If you want to RSVP, like Kristen said, she'll drop the link in the show notes. Um, you can always fill out an application and just talk to us directly to whether, you know, you're interested in the event or not. Um, those of you guys that In dog by school currently, or looking to maybe become part of dog by school as more of a full time student, um, you get to come to the summit as part of your school spot as well. Um, so what, whatever y'all need from us to support and to make sure that you guys get there. We're we're all about it. We're here. All right, y'all we'll talk soon. And I want to see all my people there. All my people talk big game, but show up. All right. Talk to you later. Bye. Hey there. Thanks for checking out another episode of the mind your own dog business podcast. Mind your own dog business is hosted by me personally and produced by the unicorns over at the dog. This school team for more information on how to get in touch with me for more information on dog with school, or to learn more on how we can help you with your dog business. Feel free to visit our website at dogbizschool. com. Now, if you really enjoy this episode, do me a favor and leave a five star review on Apple. The reason why? Because we want to disrupt more dog training businesses and how people do the business of dogs. Till next time. Bye!