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

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)? Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style.

When I was 16 years old, I began working at a veterinary office in the boarding portion of the facility. During my time, I was able to get a lot of on the job training and was exposed to veterinary medicine in a clinical setting. I gained valuable skills working for my mentor, Dr. John Otto. Dr. Otto taught me a lot about building teams, the importance of client care and a strong mission, and cornerstones of high standards for animal care.

Dr. Otto’s Associate veterinarian, Dr. Campbell, worked with me on the weekends and I learned a lot about compassion for team members and creating a family feel in the work environment. Dr. Otto’s leadership also taught the balance of professional boundaries and leadership with compassion, so I have always been very grateful for these early experiences in seeing what a healthy work culture looks like. He also instilled a sense of serving community by including his staff on volunteer cleanup days and encouraged our participation in shelter programs as veterinary technicians. These early experiences have heavily influenced Sea Dog Animal Training’s business model and mission.

After a little over a decade of working part-time for Dr. Otto, I was able to begin volunteering at the Oklahoma City Zoo. There, I met yet another mentor that influenced my leadership style. Shannon Charles-Ray was the Supervisor of the Pinniped Department (Sea lions, seals) when I began volunteering. She taught me the art and science of Animal Training using positive reinforcement and trust based methods. All of my practical skills application came from my early days of watching (in awe!) as Shannon trained sea lions a variety of behaviors. Shannon taught me leadership by modeling curiosity and communication. In jobs that are competitive and the stakes are high, there is also sometimes healthy amounts of conflict. I learned so many conflict resolution and relationship building skills for team members under her guidance as well.

Later, I attended graduate school for my Masters of Wildlife Science. Dr. Jane Packard agreed to serve as my committee chair. Dr. Packard inspired and influenced me to be a better behaviorist. I learned about the functions of behavior and used this critical skill acquired and now apply it daily in my Behavioral Consulting work. Dr. Packard was always a big supporter of any endeavor or dream I had as related to animal behavior and conservation. Her leadership style was humble, yet powerful. She has a way of influencing people and moving them from awareness to action. I found networking to be the greatest skill and gift her leadership imparted to me. She shaped my belief in shared knowledge as one of the most powerful forces, community, and collaboration.

Though I am fortunate to say I have many mentors beyond those listed here, each of these have played critical roles in making what I have built in Sea Dog Animal Training, LLC possible. Each mentor had different qualities and approaches, but all shared anecdotes for the importance of a strong moral compass, strong beliefs, and mission/purpose driven work. These influences are what I believe to be the driving force behind any success I build for myself and my team.

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 am a former marine mammal trainer and worked with Sea Lions for 12 years before dedicating my full efforts to Sea Dog Animal Training, LLC. I started training dogs as a side business when I realized a parallel between the wild species I worked with in the zoo setting and the feral street dogs in Houston. As my reputation for rehabilitating feral and aggressive domestic species grew, the demand for my services reached maximum capacity. Before too long, I had a wait list. I began receiving so many phone calls pleading for me to help save lives with my behavioral consulting services and at one point, I ran out of room in my home to safely continue taking more animals. I felt a personal responsibility to help provide our community with behavioral resources to save more pets. When I could not take an animal that had behavioral challenges, they were euthanized and it weighed heavily on my heart.

While I am not the first marine mammal trainer to realize the skills are transferable, I am one of the few who choose to specialize in rehabilitating feral or aggressive animals due to the time it takes and highly specialized skill. Sea Dog Animal Training began filling a niche that our rescue community desperately needed. We believe “Training Saves Lives!” both through our rehabilitation services we offer and our proactive training programs we offer well-adjusted, owned pets.

What sets us apart from other trainers is our background and our skill. The skills we offer differ from training because we also offer complex behavior modification plans to troubleshoot and solve complex behavioral issues. We study the behaviors the animals are exhibiting and work to discover the function (what is causing, contributing, or motivating) of those particular behaviors. Many of my Associate Trainers also have a background in the zoo field, so we understand behavior intimately. We keep our pricing affordable so we can position ourselves to fulfill our mission of being a community resource through the training and behavioral consulting services we offer. Additionally, the types of cases we are willing to take also sets us apart. Everything is driven by our mission to reduce the pet overpopulation crisis through training, so clients can feel good knowing they are supporting a business that is having significant positive impacts on our community and the animals.

I am most proud that every action we take is anchored to our mission. Our brand represents saving animals, community, collaboration, and promotes philanthropy to support our rescue partners and affiliates. Every client that chooses to invest in our services is directly and indirectly supporting our rescue partners and affiliates as we do give back in other ways as well. For example, we donate to the street feeder programs that provides food for hungry pets; we donate services; and we always offer 30-minute complimentary phone consultation to any person that has adopted or rescued a pet.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Earning the trust of our clients through our actions and commitment is what I believe has built our reputation within the animal training market. We offer constant contact, which allows pet owners to contact a trainer outside of their scheduled training sessions for support and guidance. All of our packages also include a lifetime commitment to the pet. This means that even if the pet transfers to a new owner, our commitment to the pet’s behavioral needs remains. We believe these efforts have built trust and provided solutions to common pet owner needs.

We thank our clients for word of mouth recommendations, which have always been the fuel behind our company’s success.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Coming from the animal field, which is well known for its low compensation/high education requirements, I did not have a significant amount of capital that most entrepreneurs might have. I relied on my husband’s astute business and financial management skills that put us in the position to leverage the assets we did have.

We also were incredibly fortunate to find a lender that believes in our mission and guided us through the SBA loan process to secure the capital required to purchase our 16,000 sq. ft. training facility now located and open in Cypress at 10831 Woodedge Dr. Houston, 77070. Texas Advantage Community Bank has been a phenomenal business resource. In addition to helping us secure the capital required, they go above and beyond by answering new business owner questions that arise. If you are considering opening your own business and need assistance, I highly recommend Texas Advantage Community Bank for all of your lending needs. Community is as important to Texas Advantage as it is to Sea Dog Animal Training, LLC and this common value created the ideal environment for collaboration on this project. When challenges arose with the buildout process, I was able to communicate my needs and we pivoted together to be successful. I am extremely grateful for this entity that made expanding our capacity for offering our services possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.seadoganimaltraining.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeaDogAnimalTraining/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-crane-2a822289?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Image Credits
Sea Dog Animal Training, LLC