We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anyssa Newcomb a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Anyssa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

One of the most important things I learned at a previous job was to value teamwork! Being apart of a team at my prior company really helped me appreciate having an extra set of hands to help. Doing every single aspect of the business from inventory, training, client relations, social media etc is a lot. Now being a business owner and not having an extra set of hands whenever I need it is difficult. My husband helps me when he can which is super helpful! Being apart of a team, you are able to assign people to do certain aspects so you don’t feel overwhelmed with all the aspects that a business entails.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into the Dog industry about 9 years ago. Started working at a doggy daycare then adopted my first dog shortly after working there. She was a dog that needed some help out of my capacity so I reached out to the company who eventually I started working for. I worked there for a few years and then decided to go out on my own and continue to learn from others and grow my craft. In 2021, my husband and I moved to TN so I could open up my business and fulfill my dream of living in TN and being a dog trainer.

I’ve been training dogs professionally for the last 6 years. My favorite types of dogs to work with are the owners! haha. But in all honesty, dog training isn’t just about “training a dog”. anyone can do that. Dog Training is about teaching the client how to have a relationship that gets addressed through biological and genetic fulfillment! My areas of expertise include: puppy training & moderate reactivity!

I want people to know that becoming apart of our 4PCT family you’re family for life. We will always be here for you for anything you need!

One of the things that sets us apart from other trainers in the industry is our ability to GO SLOW! A lot of the time, trainers just want to rush things and make the dog go faster than what they comprehend and thats just not the case with us. I really iterate to my clients, that taking your time with training is important. Especially with you’re dealing with Behavior Modification work where we have to rewire the dogs brain and how they feel about certain things. Another thing is all of my boarding and board and trains are run out of my home. So because of that, I prefer to take a small amount of dogs rather than a bunch to make sure quality control is happening and people are getting what they pay for!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media presence is difficult. I think a lot of my small success on social media has to do with connections in the community, If you connect with certain accounts and build relationships with those accounts that have a higher following than you, It can really be beneficial!

Trending sounds for reels, the proper hashtags etc. All of that stuff is important too! Find a set if hashtags that draw in a good amount of engagement & use that for every video/photo you post!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

the best source of new clients for us has been Facebook groups! People are always asking for recommendations for dog trainers, so its nice when you’ve got clients who will comment your business name & give their unbiased opinion if needed!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.4pawscaninetraining.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/4pawscaninetraining
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/4pawscaninetraining

Image Credits
Emily Williams