We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ian McClellan . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ian below.

Ian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I learned how to train dogs while being incarcerated for 10 years in the TN Department Of Corrections, T.D.O.C. When I was released from prison, I was 41 and had nothing but the love and support of family. I had no job, no savings, no 401k, no insurance, and no way to provide for myself. I took a dog trainer position at a franchise pet box store. Then Covid happened and wasn’t able to train dogs because all training was stopped. I was able to remain employed because the stores was deemed an essential service to feed pets. I seen the need for dog training to be at its highest because everyone was getting puppies during this time but no businesses were training. Once life went back to “normal” and we resumed training, I realized I was giving so much more of myself to this corporation than I was receiving. Seeings how I had only been out of prison for a year, I knew that I really had nothing to lose so I took the leap of faith with courage and trust in God to start Set Free Dog Training.

Ian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In 2009 I was a drunk driver who caused a wreck that took an innocent young woman’s life. I was sentenced to 22 years in prison. When I went to prison, I was angry, bitter, full of angst for everyone, and everything. I had gotten sober and felt that I didn’t deserve what I was sentenced because it was an “accident” and I’d gotten sober, and was changing my life. While I was in prison, I went to an institution that was in the same county where I grew up and went to high school. I knew faculty and staff members because of our small of a population our county has.
I had a few people suggest that I get into this “dog program”. I resisted at first. Then seeing all the extra benefits and perks of this dog program, I asked to join and if being totally transparent, it was for all the wrong reasons. While I was being woke up at 2:00am to go cook in the kitchen, the dog program guys got to go outside almost all day, got to got workout, and go to the ball field and gym every time so I joined for selfish reasons for myself. Once, I joined the program and began my dog training journey, I found that I was good at training these dogs. We trained service dogs for recipients of multiple types of disabilities. It was a way that I could give back and do some good while being incarcerated. This is also coming up on the 5 year mark of me being gone. I hadn’t got to see my daughter for 5 years. She was 5 when I was incarcerated and her mother and I had agreed that she was too young to come visit me. After 5 years of growth and maturity, her mother agreed that she was old enough to come visit me. About a week before the first visit in 5 years, I was sitting in my bed one night crying my eyes out, the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment of what I had done, the pain I had caused so many people, the thoughts of being a failure of a dad, of a son, of a member of society was kicking my butt. The condemnation was whipping me. As a man, that doesn’t want to cry in front of others, especially in that type environment where you can’t appear weak, there was not an audible noise made as I cried. My cell mate was asleep above me as these tears were shed, and my dog got out of his crate, jumped up onto my bunk, and licked the tears from my face. That’s when I knew I was all in! I hugged that dog and promised to give him my best.
I learned there in that moment, that dogs don’t care about my past, how much I do or don’t have. They just love you!!!
Apart of this program that is the most important is that we only use positive reinforcement. I knew right there that LOVE is enough. That’s why in my business we only use positive reinforcement. Fear and pain have no business in any relationship and that’s what new pet owners are building with their new fur babies.
At Set Free Dog Training, we teach people how to train their dog. It doesn’t matter how well a dog behaves for me if, once I leave it goes back to misbehaving. So, in all reality, I train humans how to teach their dog. We also have a model designed to teach dogs how to make the appropriate decisions, rather than having to be cued or told what to do every move. Life is busy enough that micromanaging a dog is the last thing we have time for. We teach you how to get your dogs to live around you, not you living around your dog. We want our clients dogs to do things for their owners because they know how to make the right decision and they want to please them, not because they’re scared of their owner.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Word of mouth!!! Set Free Dog Training started as a side business to my 40 hour a week dog training position at a nationwide pet store corporation. I would do a client here and there for situations that people needed help with, that the company I worked for didn’t provide that particular service. As I worked with more and more clients, social media recommendations for myself and Set Free Dog Training in neighborhood, city, mom, dog, ect. Facebook groups grew to the point that I had more clients coming in than just a side hustle. Set Free Dog Training doesn’t advertise. We have done interviews in magazines, radio, boosted post on Facebook of training clips, and made post about the benefits of well trained dogs. A client of mine encouraged me to make posts on Instagram and Facebook sharing pictures and videos of my clients in action with their dogs and we did. The way we approach our business is that any salesman can tell you what you want to hear, but the proof is in the customers and their satisfaction. We firmly believe in being honest, transparent, and real with people. Life happens and operating Set Free Dog Training with a heart for people and their dogs is what has made us so successful. We care about the people and their dogs, and building the pet parent and dog’s relationship over just making money.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Every client has my cell phone number and my email address. They are encouraged to text or email any time they have questions or issues that arise. We don’t treat our clients as customers, we treat them as friends and family. We share stories of our families, our past, our faith, and life. We know that people have more than just dog training issues happening in their busy lives and we help them navigate how to incorporate training their dogs to live around them, rather than having something else to have to micro manage in their day to day lives.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/setfreedogtraining
• Facebook: Facebook.com/setfreedogtraining
• Other: [email protected]