Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maria Huntoon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maria, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Many people don’t know that a dog trainer and a behavior consultant are actually different positions – they are different types of certifications and different levels of experience. What I do as a behavior consultant is offer a holistic approach to addressing your dog’s behavior concerns by looking at all the factors that affect a dog’s behavior and working there at the root to affect change from the inside out. There are always reasons why a dog is doing what he is doing. My approach is not focused on just obedience – not to say that doesn’t play a part, but what we do is go deeper than that. Some of my clients say I am like a therapist or marriage counselor for them and their dogs – I help both ends of the leash understand one another to foster a harmonious relationship based on mutual respect and understanding. For example, often times when a dog is exhibiting aggressive behavior this is not just an obedience issue that a good sit and stay will fix – there are often deeper-seated emotions and conditioned physiological responses at play that, if not addressed, will never really improve the behavior. It may become suppressed, but the suppression of behavior does not mean the driving forces behind the behavior are not still there and, if left unaddressed, they often come out in other unproductive “side effect” behaviors.

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 was fortunate enough to know from the time I was very young that I was meant to work with animals – I could never observe them or learn enough about them, and that is still just as true today. While I love all species, I chose to focus on dogs because they truly are our best friends and millions of Americans share their homes and lives with them. I have happily worked in various capacities in the dog field over the past 22 years, including training guide dogs for the blind at a school in NY, but I then discovered my true calling was to help pet parents understand their pet dogs better to create a more harmonious relationship and life. It saddened me that way too many dogs were being abandoned or euthanized every year just because people didn’t understand them. I wanted to make a difference, to help keep more dogs in their homes and to bridge that gap of understanding, much in the way a translator does for people who speak different languages. I love when clients come to me with a young pup because they want to get ahead of behavior problems before they arise – these proactive pet parents deserve extra kudos in my book! But of course many people come to me once their dog has already developed a strong behavior problem that needs fixing – anxiety, aggression, fear – sometimes after having already worked with a traditional trainer that focused on obedience (and the dog responded well but it just didn’t fix the emotional problem). This is where these pet parents deserve kudos too – when a person truly wants to understand their dog, and they learn things from our time together that they wish they had known sooner but then they start applying that information and see their dog changing – that is one of the most rewarding feelings for me. I always say you cannot fault yourself for something you didn’t know before, but knowing differently now you can change the future. And when pet parents commit to that, and they can find harmony again with their dog, that makes my heart happy!

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

With clients we are always talking about how the relationship we have with our dog isn’t unlike a relationship we have with a significant other, friend, parent or sibling – it’s still all about respect, understanding and connection if we want to make it work. I feel like that’s how I approach my business as well. Yes, being a behavior consultant is how I make my living, but it is also my passion to focus on relationships and bring out that relationship’s best potential. While with my clients we are focusing on the relationship between canine and human, I follow that same mentality when I build that relationship with my clients, or with rescue groups and veterinarians who may refer clients to me for help. I believe that positive reinforcement is not only crucial when working with our dogs but when working with humans as well. I want to build my clients up, so that they can feel successful (because then they will actually be successful) – I do not have a “tough love” kind of teaching style. I know many people working in the animal field who are good with animals but not so good with their people skills. That puts off the client and is going to make them less likely to buy in to what you are asking them to do to help their dog. But it also makes them feel like a failure, and I know from experience that nobody likes to feel that way so I don’t want to make my clients feel that way. I approach each session I have with my clients with love, humor, positive energy and humility. While there are some clients who find me online, etc, much of my business is from word of mouth – people who have formed a relationship with me that want to share that with someone else in need of help.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I remember how it felt when I first decided to leave my secure career in the guide dog industry to set out on my own to build my own canine behavior consulting business. Many of my coworkers and friends thought I was crazy because if I was doing well where I was at, why would I change that? They meant well but they were coming from a place of fear – a place of facing the risk of failure, or what if you didn’t know what you were doing all by yourself, etc. I felt something in my heart pushing me though and I couldn’t ignore it. I left the guide dog field and took a job working at our jeweler until I could build up my business. I saw private clients outside of work hours at the jewelry store, which meant sometimes working 12-hour days and not being home for dinner with my husband and pets. But I knew that if I just kept at it I would build myself enough of a following to make my consulting business go from a side hustle to my full-time career. And it happened! By the close of 2015, I was ready. I took a month off to focus on building my website, work with a life coach, and build my confidence enough to push through the questions of “what if”, and opened my full-time business in February of 2016! It was wonderful and I loved it! Then in March 2017 my husband and I decided to move our home and businesses to Pooler, Georgia (right outside Savannah) and I had to start building my business ALL OVER AGAIN! While this was also scary, I had learned a lot my first time building it up in NY so it was easier this time to work out all the kinks. I didn’t now if I was going to have to get a part-time job to make up for any income as I made the transition. But as if a sign from my universe that things were going to be alright, I already had two clients signed up to work with me before I even moved thanks to social media! Once in Pooler I made some contacts with a couple of local veterinarians and rescues and built good relationships there – they started referring clients to me and I continued to grow from there! There is never a day that goes by that I’m not thankful that I politely ignored the naysayers and went out on my own. I am so grateful to live my passion every day!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mghcanineconsulting.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/mghcanineconsulting
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mghcanineconsulting