We were lucky to catch up with Alyssa Schafer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alyssa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started you own firm sooner?

I think Tri-Dog Solutions came out of a need to continue growing a passion that my current role was beginning to douse. I had graduated with a degree in Agricultural Education and spent time teaching high school before transitioning to training dogs professionally with a local training company in 2016. This transition, out of public education which had its own dousing effect on my dedication to education, reignited my passion to connect with people while sharing my knowledge with them about a topic I loved, dogs. With this role I found myself, not only, educating humans about their four-legged companions but also enhancing my knowledge of dogs and their training, growing as an educator and teammate, and gaining hands on practice running and growing a small business.

6 years later, the team I had grown with, had learned from, and had connected with was at a tipping point. Leadership was MIA, support was lacking, and policies were pushing quantity over quality of service. Simultaneously, in my personal life, I had two family members receive worrisome medical diagnosis.

I knew that my life was about to take a hard left turn and I left my role without a concrete plan of my next steps.

Without the stress and pressures from leadership in my old role, I felt myself again drawn to the dog world and the joy seeing owners connect with their dogs brought me. I connected with 2-3 families who were struggling with their dogs and offered my help. These sessions inspired me to take the leap into founding Tri-Dog Solutions as a full time career. I invested in the LLC, the business insurance, the continued education and myself in the process and have not looked back!

I think TDS started at the perfect time in my life. I knew I loved working with dogs and their owners, I had the background knowledge of growing a business and I could make decisions for the business without having to clear it with others.

Had I stayed in my former role longer, I worry my passion for this career would have been squashed and I cannot imagine my life without this company and the community it’s built.

Alyssa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Alyssa and I am a professional dog trainer in the Philadelphia Suburbs. I founded Tri-Dog Solutions: Dog Training + Human Coaching in 2023 to help dog owners calm the chaos of life with their dogs. Our goal is always to help families do MORE with their dogs through training, enrichment, and play. We don’t offer bandaid, quick fixes, we offer training and strategies that promote communication and connection at a foundational level.

We offer in-home training lessons as well as day and overnight training camps for pet dogs across Montgomery, Berks, Bucks, Philadelphia and Chester Counties. We have families from the Main Line to Center City and beyond.

What sets us apart from others in the area is we take a whole-dog approach to get to the why behind dog behavior, addressing the root cause so families get lasting results. We provide empathetic, human-centric coaching for families who are ready to stop just managing the chaos and start truly enjoying the dog at the other end of the leash. All of our programs are custom tailored to that particular dog and family’s needs.

We are also unique in that we offer programs (day camp and stay and trains) at our specially designed facility; The Meadows which features 2-acres of fenced dog paradise. While here, we focus on biological fulfillment in a natural setting to really help dogs be dogs while prioritizing safety, structure, socialization and training.

Dogs and their owners are treated like family, we get to know each and every one of them as individuals which allows us to really personalize their care, training and education as a whole.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our reputation was built by treating each and every dog and their family as individuals and building a personal connection with them. Everyone wants to feel special and recognized so TDS strives to connect with each of our clients to really get to know them, their dogs, and how our services can support them living the life THEY want.

Our community of owners shares their stories with friends, family, and their social media accounts regularly. They talk about the personalized care and attention and how we really get to know them and their dogs.

We believe no one wants to feel like just a number to a business so we make it our goal to truly connect with our owners and dogs to help foster a relationship for life.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

You will never be the right fit for every client. It was hard to not feel personally hurt when a client chose to train somewhere else or with a different company but over time, and shifting my perspective has helped me see the bigger picture of helping as many dogs as possible, may mean referring them to other trainers.

We talk to dozens of owners each month; on the phone, over email, and even DM on social media. Getting to talk to so many different people, families and learn about their dogs and what they’re looking for from training and long term helped me clarify in my own head who our ideal client was and when to refer owners to a different trainer.

We are not the perfect trainers for every owner, nor every dog. We have our lane and we should be happy to stay in it.

When owners reach out looking for service dog training, we refer them to other trainers.
When owners reach out and want to compete in competition obedience, we refer them to other trainers.
When owners reach out wanting their dog to be a robot, we refer them out to other trainers.

We work best with owners who want a fun family companion who they love living life with, and helping owners who have different goals connect with the right trainer for them is all a part of helping the dog community as a whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tridog.solutions
• Instagram: @tridog.solutions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552130159924

Image Credits

Alexa Nahas