Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Beth & Wayne. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Beth & Wayne, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Have you even made a decision, knowing it would have a dramatic change on your life, but not realizing until later just how profound that decision really was? That is how we started Canine Companion Consulting; from a wild decision made a few years prior. We were camping in the mountains when we stopped for provisions at a supermarket. As we were entering, we found an adoption event being held at the entryway. We pondered the idea of adopting our first dog together. Then we saw who was to become our Mokah. He was about 6 months old, barking, and full of energy. When we showed some interest in this pup, the foster looking after him was very attentive to us and exceedingly happy to get him adopted. She hugged us and even gave us a big bag of tennis balls, rope toys, and other pet accessories which we didn’t think were normally given to new pet parents. The relevance of this did not occur to us until later.
We, of course, first began preparing our home, newly purchased only a few months before, for our new arrival. We purchased him a name tag, collar, a bed, water bowls, and toys; all the things a good dog needs. In our preparations, we left him home for a short time while we ran errands only to come home to a fully destroyed house, with many things chewed up. Our Mokah had Separation Anxiety! What were we to do? Beth, being a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, immediately put on her therapist hat and tried to figure this out. She called people, met people, read, studied, and trained. His Separation Anxiety was on the terrible side, so it wasn’t an option to leave him home alone. We even resorted to bringing him with us to places only to find that even in the car with the windows widely cracked, he would escape. A fact we discovered when we went to a store that did not allow dogs. While in the store we heard over the PA system, “Will the parents of….Mokah, please come to the front desk?” Upon our arrival to the office, Mokah was surrounded by people petting and loving on him.
After months of training, treatment, and having a local trainer on speed dial, we got through it and eased Mokah’s anxiety. However, Beth felt such fulfillment and satisfaction at having helped Mokah become a comfortable and confident dog that she wanted to learn much more. So she read all she could, attended conferences, and was mentored by several trainers who were experts in the field.
From that work and effort, Canine Companion Consulting was born. Since 2007, we have been training dogs one human at a time using positive, research-based methods. We still specialize in treating separation anxiety, but we also work with other behavioral concerns as well. Helping humans and dogs has been our passion and we are able to enjoy this “work” every day.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
When we introduce ourselves as Dog Trainers, the response is very often, “Cool! That must be so much fun!” While it is a lot of fun, it is also a lot of work and requires a tremendous amount of skill to do well. It is that skill and knowledge that sets us apart from most other trainers. This industry currently has very few barriers to entry so anyone can say they are a dog trainer, and in fact, that is how most dog trainers get started. The key difference is that we have put in the time, effort, and energy into honing our skills to be masters of our field. This involves lots of reading, study, practicing, certifications, and following the research being done to better understand canine cognition and behavior from a science-based perspective. We engage with other professionals in the field to learn and share best practices and to develop better techniques to help our clients. As with any technical field, it is important we know what to do but if we cannot teach it to others, we will be much less effective. We work to bring all of that training, knowledge, and experience to those who want to learn, like our wonderful clients. Our experience as educators, first and foremost, allows us to share our vast knowledge and experience in a simple and understandable way. We train dogs, one human at a time, using positive, research-based methods.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
In the early days of Canine Companion Consulting, it was more of a “side project” than a fully formed business. We primarily worked evenings and weekends as we both worked in executive-level positions. In fact, Beth held a C-Class position with a large healthcare company and Wayne worked in higher education administration. Both of these jobs were demanding but paid well. What we found, though, is that we both looked forward to those evenings and weekends, working with our clients and their dogs. Very quickly, it became apparent that love was far better than money. So we decided to make a dramatic life change. Beth resigned from her position and began dog training full-time. It was the best thing we could have done. Wayne kept his job as he worked from home and had a very flexible schedule, allowing him to work in higher ed while also managing office operations for dog training. Wayne quickly found himself in the same position, looking forward to working with the dogs and begrudgingly working for the university. That changed
when he left and also became a full-time dog trainer, loving every minute of it. We left those positions to dedicate ourselves full-time to dog training, a decision we have never regretted.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The term “pivoting” has been used exhaustively since the start of the pandemic. Everyone has had to “pivot” in some way or another, whether it is with their business, kids, family, friends, or even getting groceries has become a pivot point. Our pivot has been more about helping others pivot. To promote social distancing, we have been doing a lot of remote training via Zoom. The thing is that we have been doing remote training for many years prior to the pandemic, having worked with clients across the country and even across the globe. Our pivot has been working to convince others that it is not only as effective as in-person training, in most cases, but can actually be even more so. No one needs to leave their home or have a stranger come over just to accomplish some training which can eliminate any stress for the dog. We are really teaching you and want you to have the skills to train your own dog. For cases dealing with separation anxiety, doing online remote training is the gold standard. If a trainer was in your home, your dog would behave differently, the “trainer effect.”. In fact, we only do separation anxiety training remotely online. Also, it allows for us to reach a much broader range of clients who live in more remote areas and would otherwise not be able to get skilled, certified trainers to help. Whether it is for separation anxiety or basic manners training, pivoting to remote training has been extremely helpful for many people even if it has been what we have been doing for years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.caninecompanionconsulting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caninecompanionconsulting/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanineCompanionConsulting
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/canine-companion-consulting
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CanineConsult
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQc9sqin9-f0EKpVsIX77Q
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/canine-companion-consulting-fort-collins-4
Image Credits
Wayne Bolen