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How To Add a New Dog To Your Walking Group

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Woo hoo and congrats! You’ve got a new dog walking client!

If you’re walking singles, adding a new dog is usually a relatively simple procedure. If the new dog is particularly shy, you may wish to take extra steps, such as arranging a joint walk or two with your client, to help you ease into Fido’s inner circle. Following that with asking your client to be home once or twice when you arrive, but not walk with you, should do the trick in most cases.

But if you’re a group walker, introducing a new dog can make for a stressful day for all involved—you, the dogs you already walk, and especially the newcomer. Here are a few tips to help ease that stress and get Fido off on the right paw with his new walking buddies.

Ease The New Dog In
Many dogs find it overwhelming to meet multiple fellow canines all at once. That’s understandable. For most of us humans, it can be stressful to be the only new person at a party full of people who already know each other.

So unless you’re adding an unflappably social dog to your group, you may want to walk your new charge with just one other friendly, socially savvy dog to start. Taking this extra time for even just a day or two can make a huge difference to a smooth introduction to the full group. Building on the human analogy, imagine how much more comfortable you’d be at that same party if you came with a friend.

Extra Tip: If time is tight, you can keep these extra intro walks shorter—for example, 30 minutes instead of your regular full hour.

Avoid Tension During Transport
The biggest contributors to canine conflict are proximity and duration—two factors at heavy play in your vehicle. If you transport dogs as part of your walking service, plan to pick up your new dog last for at least the first two or three days to minimize the duration factor.

Your other dogs are going to be very interested in the newbie, which can cause stress and lead to conflict when the new dog has no way to get away from the pressure. To minimize the proximity issue, keep the new dog separated from the rest of your group via a crate, gate, or by having him ride shotgun with you.

Extra Tips: Create visual as well as physical separation, and for safety endeavor to have all dogs ride securely in a crate or via a safety restraint.

Get—and Stay—Moving
You’ve helped your new dog make one friend to grease the social wheels with the whole group. You’ve kept him separated during transport to avoid escalating tensions that can easily erupt into conflict during or shortly after the ride to your walking location. Now it’s time for the first group walk. Before unloading the dogs, be sure you’re ready to go. Have all your gear on, your bait bag loaded, etc. You want to be ready to start walking as soon as the last dog jumps down from your vehicle.

Speaking of which, you’ll want to unload the new dog last. The other dogs have had some time to adjust to his smell during transport, and now they’re eager to meet him. Remembering the dangers of proximity and duration, we want to avoid a situation where the new dog has to stand while everyone else noses in to investigate. That’s like the entire party gathering around you in a circle to grill you about where you work, where you grew up, where you went to school, etc. Ack!

So get yourself ready, then unload all your regulars and ask them to sit politely before finally inviting the new dog to jump down. Once he does, give the “Let’s go!” cue and start moving briskly so the others don’t have time to circle around and overwhelm your new dog with all that unwanted attention. Keep moving, cheerfully chattering to your group, until you sense that the initial wave of intense interest has passed and given way to “Huh. I guess the new guy is coming with us now. He seems alright.” This will usually happen after 5 to 10 minutes, after which you can stop for a moment to see how the dogs interact. Keep this brief—just 10 seconds or so—and then get everyone moving again. If you do this a few times during your walk, the new dog should be pretty well incorporated by the time you’re back to your vehicle. Still, it’s a good idea to follow this protocol for another day to a week depending on the body language you observe.

Extra Tip: Following this protocol can be challenging when dogs need to stop in the first few minutes of the walk to poop. It can be helpful when introducing a new dog to start your day a bit earlier to make time to give each dog a chance to potty before loading up.

Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce
Keep an eagle eye on all dogs and body language signals throughout this process, and actively reinforce polite interactions. If you’re walking on leash, use your voice to cheer the dogs on and keep the tone light and happy. If you’re walking off leash, reinforce polite interactions with food treats if you carry them, and also offer special treats to the new dog whenever a group mate approaches him. This will help create a positive association with all the attention.

Extra Tip: It also helps to keep all interactions with the new dog brief, unless you can see very clearly that he’s super interested and having a great time. Do this with distraction. For example, when one of your regulars walks up to your newbie, cheer this on for a brief moment “Yay! How fun you two are making friends!” and then break it up. You can call the regular over for a treat, for example, or throw a ball. This keeps the double stressors of proximity and duration from stacking up and leading to tension.

Get a Great Start
A little extra care and time when introducing a new dog to an existing group will get your new dog off on the right paw with his new friends. It helps set you up for success, too, avoiding conflict and incident, the need to adjust group composition, or to have to lose and disappoint a new client.

Business Smarts: What Dog Pros Need To Know

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We all know the importance of being dog smart—of keeping up-to-date on solid, scientific knowledge of dogs and dog behavior. Not only is knowing dogs critical to our success, whether we’re training, walking, or otherwise caring for them, it’s also critical to taking responsible, professional care of these creatures we all love.

But what about the importance of business smarts? If loving and working with dogs is how you make your living (or how you dream about and plan to do so), developing business smarts is just as important. After all, without business smarts you have far fewer opportunities to put your dog smarts to good use.

So what are the basics that make up dog business smarts? What do you need to know to be successful as a dog pro?

How To Value Yourself
Too many dog professionals set their rates without true strategy—and the result is usually to undervalue themselves.

Most dog trainers, dog walkers, dog daycares, and the like set rates based either on the lemming strategy, the “No one will pay that” strategy (also known as the “I couldn’t charge that” strategy), or a combination of both. The lemming strategy consists of looking up other local dog pros’ rates and copying them. The problem with this approach is that most businesses copied haven’t set rates with good strategy, either, so we perpetuate an industry where our services are undervalued.

The “No one will pay that” or “I couldn’t charge that” approach to rate setting simply projects our insecurities onto our clients, and turns those insecurities into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because serious dog owners look for the best trainers, walkers, daycares, etc. in their area, they’ll assume the cheaper businesses aren’t the best and look right past dog pros who are afraid to charge their worth. (If you doubt this, just look at the traditional compulsion trainers in your area. Most likely they charge far more than educated, reputable positive reinforcement trainers. Which group has the most businesses in your community?)

One key to dog pro business success is setting your rates with strategy, both so that you make what you actually need to stay in business and live a financially safe and stable life, and so that you draw the clients who are the right match for you and your services.

How To Protect Yourself—Legal Protection
Protecting your business has two central components. The first is protecting yourself legally with solid professional service contracts, a professional insurance policy, and if you and your CPA feel it’s warranted, by organizing as a limited liability company or LLC. Though the last decade has seen much improvement, too many dog lovers still provide services without these steps in place, putting themselves at personal liability risk and also contributing to the perception of dog pros as hobbyists rather than professionals.

We also see too many dog pros seeking to cut corners and save costs in this arena. It’s common, for example, to see trainers and walkers post on online forums asking if others have service contracts they’re willing to share. This is a potentially dangerous practice in an industry known for its lack of business acumen and rigor. It’s also common to see forum conversations about who offers the cheapest liability insurance, instead of asking the question that really matters: Who offers the best?

If you are serious about running a successful professional business and making your living as a dog pro, cutting corners on your business foundation undermines that professionalism and your business’ solidity.

How To Protect Yourself—Policies
The other component of protecting yourself is setting—and enforcing—strong policies. Many dog pros either do not set policies, or set them by copying others. The common policy approaches in our industry are generally not worth copying, as they do not do the job they’re meant to do. And then there’s the issue of enforcing policies, which so many of us are uncomfortable doing, and so simply do not.

Your policies should do several jobs for you. They should protect your revenue by guarding against cancellations and by requiring clients to use your services as intended. For example, dog walkers and dog daycares often struggle with wildly inconsistent income from month to month due to cancellations as well as clients using the service on an as-needed instead of regular, consistent basis. The right policies remove this stress, putting the business on safe financial footing.

Good policies don’t just protect and stabilize your income. They also set clients up for success. For example, clients are much more likely to see the impact of your dog walking service if their dogs are getting regular exercise with you instead of joining you intermittently. And dog training clients will enjoy much stronger results if training is consistent—i.e., if they aren’t losing ground due to cancelled training sessions.

Finally, setting, explaining, and enforcing smart policies encourages clients to respect you as a professional service provider and expert in your field, rather than merely a dog lover-turned-hobbyist. Not only do you deserve this, establishing such rapport with your clients will also mean fewer client service conflicts, and clients who are much quicker to respond to your requests, whether to pay an invoice or to take important action regarding their dogs’ health, behavioral wellness, or emotional well-being.

How To Market Yourself
This is such an area of discomfort for most R+ dog pros that we simply don’t do much of it. And what we do generally isn’t particularly effective. Between this and the rate and policy issues we struggle with, it’s no wonder there’s a pervasive (but entirely untrue) perception that you can’t make a good living as a dog professional.

Most dog pros are altruistic by nature rather an entrepreneurial, and the idea of selling ourselves feels tacky and distasteful. Add in the human fear of rejection and it can be a tall order to get a dog trainer or dog walker to throw themselves into serious marketing efforts.

But without marketing there are precious few dogs to serve. The good news: There are approaches to marketing in our industry that are entirely consistent with an authentic desire to do good for dogs and their people. These ways of marketing focus on community education rather than self-aggrandizement, and on doing for others instead of asking for favors.

Learning these approaches to marketing, along with a solid understanding of the principles of marketing, including branding, marketing messages, and message delivery, are the difference between the stress of waiting for inquiries and the stress of too much business. (Which problem would you rather have?)

How To Pace Yourself
Most dog pros are driven by their passion for dogs. That passion generally starts at home, with our own four-legged companions. Which is why it’s such a tragedy when dog pros—we see this especially among dog trainers—wake up one day to realize they don’t have the time they want with their own dogs.

Then there are the other goals you may have had in starting a business—the freedom, the ability to spend more time with family or friends or on hobbies and other interests. So many of the pre-consulting questionnaires we receive share frustrations and stress around impossible schedules, lack of downtime and regular time off, years without a break or vacation, and the guilt around not having more time and energy for one’s own four-legged best friends.

None of the rest of this matters—the rates, the policies, the marketing—if you don’t create a sustainable business and existence. Learning efficient business systems and time management strategies is critical to the longevity of your business, which is critical to helping as many dogs over as long a career as possible.

How To Set Yourself—and Your Clients & The Dogs—Up For Success
And all of this—the rates, policies, marketing, and scheduling—must be predicated on what it is you actually do for clients and dogs, and how you package and deliver those services. Dog training services can be provided in all sorts of ways, as can dog walking or dog daycare or pet sitting or boarding.

Take private training as just one example. There are the high-level questions, such as whether to teach clients how to train their dog or whether you’ll do the training for them via day training or board & train. But there are so many levels below this. How will you package your services, and will those packages be customized or pre-set? What will your pre-set packages be designed to address—which types of situations, behaviors, dogs, clients? What will the support component of your packages look like? Will you hybridize and combine services, such as a program combining private training and a group class for leash reactivity, or a weekend socialization/proofing field trip class for your private puppy training or puppy day school clients?

The options are endless, and what you choose to offer will have significant impact on which dog owners—and how many—take you up on those offers. Too many trainers copy what others are doing instead of learning how to assess their community and make strategic choices to set themselves up for success.

Getting Business Smart
While it may never be as exciting as learning dog smarts (or as wriggly and slobbery), deliberately building your dog business smarts is every bit as important if your goal is make your living helping as many dogs as possible.

Just as responsible dog professionals do not leave their dog smarts to experience alone and the vagaries of conventional wisdom, instead seeking quality education through reputable schools for dog trainers, dog walkers, etc., it is equally important to seek quality dog business education.

 

Ready to cultivate your dog biz smarts?

Take a look at our services and toolkits to kickstart your dog training aspirations.

… And Repeat. Using Repetition to Help Dog Owners Succeed

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Dog trainers have an interesting resistance to repetition. I’ve noticed this pop up in many places—in our conversations with dogbiz business consulting clients about their training programs and classes, in chats with trainers at our trade show booths at conferences, in online Facebook and forum conversations. I hear trainers bemoan having to repeat concepts to clients during private training programs. Or worry about boring students by repeating directions or exercises in their classes, particularly in open enrollment formats.

The truth is, repetition is a powerful key to learning. We get that when it comes to dogs. No R+ trainer I know would ever fault a dog for not “getting” a behavior after a single trial or one training session. We understand how long it takes for real learning to happen with dogs, and seek to provide the rich repetition necessary to support that learning.

Though our human brains are far larger and more complex, we aren’t that much different when it comes to mastering new skills or ideas—we need time and repetition, too. That we understand English, hear something and nod, parrot it back, or do something once, doesn’t mean we’ve internalized a concept or acquired a skill. It’s easy to forget this when we’re sitting in the instructor’s seat teaching something we’ve had down for a long time. But step out of that seat and become a student and you remember the value of repetition. Think about a time you endeavored to learn something new—a tennis serve or a mathematical concept or how to train a dog. It’s never a one-and-done process.

So not only is it okay to repeat yourself with clients and students—it’s imperative to their success. That said, it’s not simply a matter of saying the same things over and over. As teachers (a core part of every dog trainer’s job), we must learn to use repetition skillfully and with purpose.

Embrace that less really is more.
I think part of the resistance to repetition is the desire to cover more ground, be that in classes or private training. We love what we do. We’re eager to share all that we know. We want to arm students and clients with as much knowledge and skill as we can. But that eagerness ultimately undermines us and the people and dogs we seek to serve.

Trying to cover too many behaviors in classes inevitably leaves students with a large collection of unreliable, half-proofed cues. Downloading our database of conceptual knowledge of dogs and how they learn tends to leave clients overwhelmed. In our quest for breadth we fail to produce depth—depth of understanding and skill that dog owners need to experience real change with their dogs.

We have limited time to make a positive impact on our students’ and clients’ lives. We have to recognize this and learn to work within our time constraints. Doing so becomes much easier when we narrow our goals. Rather than trying to turn students and clients into dog trainers, ask yourself: Which subset of concepts and skills will have the most positive impact on the relationship between people and their dogs?

I don’t know where we picked up the idea that we must teach so much in a six week class or equivalent private training program. Why do dog owners need stay and wait when one would do the trick? Is teaching stand really so critical to the relationship between dog and human? Don’t come, watch, target, and leave it all serve essentially the same function (i.e., to ask a dog to disengage from something in favor of engaging with the handler)?

Providing students and clients with a few multi-use behaviors (what we call universal cues in our dogbiz curriculum) and helping them discover all the myriad ways they can put these cues to use in their daily lives has several meaningful advantages. First, you free up time for proofing the behaviors for strong reliability. Doing so means clients will actually use them—and be rewarded for doing so, creating a powerful positive feedback loop between owner and dog. And you simplify decision making for your handlers, increasing the likelihood that they take positive action. Why set novices up to have choose between a large number of cues for any given situation, delaying their response time? Universal cues set people and dogs up for stronger, easier success.

Simplify your message.
Simply put, we’ve got to get better at lay speak. Not just avoiding fancy industry terms, but learning brevity. We’re just so passionate about what we do and know that we forget we’re not talking to fellow training enthusiasts. I’m not talking about dumbing things down. I’m talking about learning how to encapsulate them. If we’re going to have to repeat ourselves, we need to find shorter, quicker ways to do so. Otherwise we really do risk boring others not as into this stuff as we are.

For example, in our curriculum packages we use the phrase “working at the dog’s level” to encapsulate the idea of criteria setting. We create an experience that allows students to experience the difference between setting appropriate criteria versus setting criteria that’s too high. We use that context to explain the concept in lay terms. Then we come back to the concept repeatedly throughout every session of class, using the phrase “working at the dog’s level” to remind and help students to employ this skill. This phrase relieves us from the need (or temptation) to repeat the in-depth explanation every time the need for the skill arises.

After all, it’s not just the behaviors we’re teaching that require repetition. The skill sets—like criteria setting, situational awareness, and problem solving—are far more important than the behaviors you choose to teach. If your curriculum and private training plans do not center deliberately around teaching dog lovers these key concepts and skills it really doesn’t matter what behaviors the dogs learn. It’s these keys that allow students and clients to handle whatever real-life situations they encounter with their dogs.

Repeat experiences, too.
That’s why it’s so valuable to present your students and clients with do-overs. They need opportunities to repeat exercises, particularly ones designed to mirror real-life experiences. This is where real learning happens, in the repeated application of new concepts and skills. No matter how many times you repeat yourself, it’s not enough to tell someone how to do something, or to list all the ways one could use a behavior or concept or skill. Learners must experience these things for themselves to internalize them. Without that, we aren’t as likely to see progress in class transferring to the real world outside of it, or clients able to function as successfully when the trainer isn’t around as when she is.

For example, every session in our open enrollment puppy and basic curriculum packages wraps with a real-life challenge designed to emulate the challenges students face in their lives with dogs. They’re asked to apply what they’ve learned in that session and any previous sessions they’ve attended. They’re asked to make decisions at their dog’s level, to set him or her—and themselves—up for success.

In meeting these fun challenges, students aren’t told what to do. Instead, they’re guided through a thought exercise using discussion questions like “What do you think will be most challenging about this situation?” and “Given what you’ve learned so far, the concepts and skills and behaviors in your toolbox, what will you try?” and “What is your plan for working at your dog’s level to help her be successful?”

After the exercise we come back together to debrief with another series of questions aimed at helping students to reflect on what did and didn’t work, and why. They’re asked what they would do differently should they encounter the same situation. And then they’re given the opportunity to try that out by doing the exercise again. In short, we’re systematically teaching students to think a little more like dog trainers. The results are amazing.

We also build in opportunities to revisit experiences or exercises over time. If the results are amazing when you let students or clients apply their learning to the same challenge twice in a row, imagine the progress when they’re given a chance to try again two or three weeks (or training sessions) down the road.

Hit repeat!
Put down your worry about boring your learners. Set aside your frustration at having to repeat yourself. Let go your concern that somehow you’re failing to get through. Human learners, just like canine ones, require repetition to internalize new concepts and skills. The trick is to use this knowledge with skill, deliberately building it into your class curriculum and private training plans. If you can embrace repetition and learn to wield it as the powerful tool it is, you’ll see stunning results.

If you want to nail your training curriculums and business success, check out THRIVE!

Share the Good News: Using Milestones to Market Your Dog Business

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Marketing probably isn’t your favorite topic or task. You may feel uncomfortable tooting your own horn. You may not be sure what exactly to market about, or when, or how to go about it. But you probably also know that marketing is the key to your business success. Think about it this way: Marketing is like the training homework you give your clients. Not doing it means not achieving your best possible results.

marketing with skillWhether you’re a pro at staying on top of your marketing, or marketing remains a line item gathering dust on a “someday when I have time” to-do list, here’s one way to give your business a boost: Leverage your milestones.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time you’ll encounter milestones, or moments of significance, for your business. This might be a business birthday, such as your 1st or 5th or 10th (or even 20th!) anniversary. It could be a new certification or educational achievement as part of your pursuit of professional development. You could also count the addition of a new service as a milestone worth celebrating and sharing.

These moments provide built-in, ready marketing opportunities if you’re willing to take advantage. Milestones can be used as an opportunity to create new referral contacts, to deepen good marketing partnerships, or as an excuse to get back in touch with referral relationships you’ve let go stagnant. You can also use them to draw new clients or invite old ones back into the fold with a special offer or discount in celebration of your big news.

How To Share Your News
There are myriad ways to get the word out, and the more channels you choose the more results you’ll see. Tell people about your milestone through your print and email newsletters, on your website, and through your social media. Share it in print materials distributed to physical businesses like vet clinics, shelters, pet supply stores, and dog daycares. Though not something we typically teach at dogbiz, a good milestone can be a good excuse to break the no advertising rule.

If you’re up for going all out, put out a local or online press release and also contact your local media. A local print or online publication or news channel may be interested in a feel-good story about a successful community business. Or you may be able to pitch an angle related to your milestone. For example, if you’ve just achieved a new certification, you might suggest a piece about how to choose a dog trainer or dog walker that includes understanding the implications of an unregulated industry and being careful to choose certified dog pros.

Look for ways to draw out your good news. A one-and-done announcement approach is unlikely to get you much notice. In addition to getting the word out in as many ways as you can, work to keep it out there. You’ll probably only send one press release or get your news into the local paper once, but plan for 1-3 months’ worth of shares via social media and email, and look for opportunities to keep in touch around your milestone with your current and desired referral partners.

Make Yourself Useful, Not Just Newsworthy
The way to keep your news newsworthy for longer—and to make it more relevant to clients, potential clients, and referral partners—is to find ways to be useful to them, related to your milestone. This is the content or community marketing angle we so often talk about: Sharing your knowledge and expertise as both community education and marketing.

The idea is to pass on some of the new learning from your recent certification or educational achievement, or a taste of the expertise available via your new service, or some of the wisdom you’ve gained and shared with clients over your 10 years in business.

Just graduated from Malena DeMartini’s Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer program? You might share new insights into that devastating condition and its treatment. Just added a puppy day school program to your other training services? This is the perfect time to put out some good tips on puppy socialization or house training. Celebrating a business anniversary? Take the opportunity to tell dog lovers the three most important training tips you’ve learned over your years of walking dogs.

Get your great tips and insights out via your social media, newsletters, and blog posts. Give branded tip sheets to referral sources, offering them for free to share with their clients, possibly along with any special celebratory offers you’ve created. Pitch articles to local print and online publications.

The point is to give, to be generous. Part of what makes marketing uncomfortable is the idea of asking others—often strangers—for help promoting us when we aren’t particularly comfortable promoting ourselves to begin with. Celebrating a milestone gives you a built-in opportunity to give to others—to referral sources, clients, and your community. By doing so, you build good will, awareness, and brand loyalty while doing something of true value.

You work hard for your achievements. It’s a shame not to make them work hard for you. And if you’re not yet convinced, consider this: Marketing doesn’t have to be about tooting your own horn. When you make it about educating your community, marketing is about helping more dogs—through what you share and by the business doing so brings.

Help Your Dog Business By Helping Shelter Dogs

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One of the best things about content marketing, what we at dogbiz sometimes also call community marketing, is that it allows you to do good in the world while promoting your business. The concept is to share your expertise so referral sources and potential clients get to see you in action, benefit from your knowledge, and thus imagine themselves working with you. It’s education as marketing—a win for your business and a win for your community and the dogs who live in it.

Shelters and rescue groups are an obvious target for community marketing. But proceed carefully to make sure they—and you—experience the full benefits of your efforts. Here’s how:

Assess their needs.
Your offer to help is more likely to be taken up—and appreciated—if it meets the organization’s needs. Before jumping in to offer your services, get to know the shelter or rescue a bit. Learn their processes, observe where they’re shorthanded or struggling to meet goals or missing an opportunity. Reach out to ask them about their needs, or begin as a regular volunteer to get a closer look.

Use your time wisely.
Community marketing tends to be inexpensive, but it is very time consuming. If you’re like most dog pros, your marketing time is tight. Look for ways to expand your impact to help the most number of dogs while getting the most out of the effort for your business.

Here are some ideas to give your volunteer time a much larger ripple effect. These projects also put your skills on display to more people—more shelter personnel, other referral sources, and the public—which means a higher likelihood of referrals and business for you.

Get the dogs out. Dog walkers and pet sitters, do what you do best: get the dogs out for some exercise. Kennel stress often leads to poor behavior which can reduce a dog’s chances of scoring a new home. Some one-on-one attention and exercise can help quite a bit. Push beyond the quick potty jaunt if at all possible. Run with the dogs, take longer walks, or play vigorous games of fetch or tug (always following the rules of the game) to help reduce excess energy and anxiety.

Train people rather than dogs. Trainers, you can help more dogs by training other people. For example, use your expertise to train staff to evaluate dogs. Or teach volunteers to walk dogs more safely or train simple behaviors to increase adoptability and kennel presentation. Teach foster parents simple protocols for instilling basic house manners and helping to avoid separation anxiety. Each staff member, volunteer, or foster parent you reach has the opportunity to apply your teaching to many more dogs over the course of their relationship with the shelter than you could get to on your own.

Create good publicity. As a rule, shelter and rescue staff are overworked. Many helpful tasks simply go undone, including reaching out to the public for help. Use your skills and professional network to help get the organization in front of your community. For example, trainers can offer to take shelter dogs on local TV stations to generate awareness and adopters. The dogs will show much better with you at the other end of the leash, and you get some publicity for your business, too. Walkers, volunteer to help wrangle dogs at adoption events—more hands on deck means the capacity for more adoption events and more animals at each one.

Trainers, offer to give a public talk about dog behavior—or even a series of talks—to benefit the organization. The talk might be held at the shelter or, if no adequate space exists, at a local daycare or pet store, etc. Ask that all involved help spread the word through their websites and email blasts, and provide the language and a schedule to make doing so easy. Charge a small donation fee at the door for the shelter or rescue.

Any dog pro looking to help homeless dogs and raise awareness of their own services can team up with local veterinarians, pet stores, or fellow dog pros to organize a toy or food drive over the holidays. This is good marketing for all involved, and a chance to cement or create new referral relationships for you, too.

Send materials home
Create branded adoption materials to go home with all dogs when their lucky day comes. For example, a flier about how to choose a dog walker or dog daycare, branded with your logo and contact information. Or a copy of your print newsletter or brochure along with a personalized letter about each dog you’ve spent time with, detailing personality and likes and dislikes you’ve noticed while hanging out. You can include a small discount card as well—perhaps a special rate for the first pet sitting stay or week of walks or daycare.

Trainers, create an adoption folder to go home with each dog. Put your logo on the front of the folder (a clear sticker label keeps print costs down), and then fill the inside with useful information to help get new dog parents off on the right paw. Put information about your business and services in the left-side pocket and 8-12 tip sheets in the right, covering topics like basic learning theory, tips for the first few days, house training, puppy socialization, a few basic obedience cues, etc.

For any dogs you work with individually, you can personalize the folders with an individual report card outlining what you’ve worked on with the dog and your personal tips for next training steps.

Before you begin.
As you can see, this sort of marketing is time intensive. So before you decide on shelter marketing projects, ask yourself three questions:

  1. Is the audience a good match?
    There are plenty of very good reasons to volunteer your expertise to shelters and rescue groups. But if growing your business is one of them, you must gauge whether the audience matches your target clientele. Who does the organization adopt to? Do a large enough percentage of adopters live within your geographic range? Do they have the socio-economic ability to take advantage of your services? Do their values around dogs match your marketing message and services?
  2. Do I have the time?
    It’s never a good idea to put all your marketing eggs in a single basket, so be sure that whatever you choose to do for an organization leaves time in your marketing schedule for other projects as well.
  3. What’s my scope?
    How big do you want to go? For example, training volunteers could mean anything from a 60-minute talk once per quarter to developing, implementing, and overseeing a comprehensive volunteer training program. Assess both the start-up and ongoing effort involved for a project to make sure you can comfortably sustain it over time.

Make it easy.
Tight budgetary and personnel resources mean most shelter and rescue staff are desperately overworked. They may find it difficult to take advantage of an offer to help, even when it could make their lives easier or move them toward a goal. When you’re struggling to get the basics done, stopping to do something new—no matter how valuable—can seem impossible.

Keep this in mind when you approach an organization. Put together a written proposal that clearly outlines not just the idea you’re sharing and the benefits it will bring to the shelter, but also explicitly what you will do to make it happen with as minimal work on their part as possible. Most proposals focus too much on what. Give the why much more weight—what will it do for them? And then make the how seem doable.

The document should be short and easy to read—no more than two pages, with headers, subheads, bullet points, and numbered lists. Make it easy to scan, with no bulky paragraphs. Remember that your audience is busy and short on time—a heavy document can make your project seem too big or complicated right out of the gate.

Don’t forget to market.
Your first step is to get in there and start making a difference. No need to ask for anything in return up front. But be sure to watch over time for opportunities to put your business forward by offering materials for the adoption counter or lobby, asking for a link on the organization’s website, and suggesting (and even producing) articles about your programs for their email or print newsletters.

And always be quick to thank the organization for resulting business. You can send a hand-written card or make a bigger splash by dropping in once per quarter on a busy day with lunch for staff or ice cream for all on a hot afternoon, etc. Be creative and have fun with it, always remembering the power of positive reinforcement to increase behavior. You’ll be spending a lot of time and energy creating this marketing relationship—be sure to nurture and protect it.