We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scarlett MacKenzie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scarlett below.
Alright, Scarlett thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I aim to help owners understand their dogs better. Communication is a two-way street, so by understanding that every living being has their own motivators, desires, and preferences, dog owners learn that it’s about being a team with your best friend. I hope the ripple effect of something my clients have learned with their dog stays with them, having a positive effect on other areas of their lives, and even other people they encounter.
I hope leave the world a little better than how I found it.
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’d be happy to! I’ve been a professional dog trainer for 19 years. I’m a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) and Fear Free Certified Professional. I’m the owner and head trainer of Nice Dog, Scarlett! and I’ve served a term as the Chair of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (2021-2023). I’m also a bite prevention educator, a Canine Good Neighbour evaluator, and Certified Pet First Aid Instructor. My focus is all about safety; preventing a problem is always much easier than fixing it!
Owning a dog training business is the perfect fit for me. As a military spouse, I’ve lived in five provinces over the last 20 years. Moving across the country every 3-5 years usually spells the end for a client-based business, but coaching people and their canine companions is a service that dog owners are interested in nationwide. 35% of households in Canada have a dog in their family, so there are plenty of families looking for training. The military community in Canada is relatively small, so even after moving to another province, during COVID, I had new dog training clients scheduled just days after moving to a different province, thanks to the word of mouth from clients who had worked with me in my previous location.
Some dog trainers have a training centre, where the dog and owner come to you for training. Sometimes I wish I had the convenience of being able to keep all of my training materials in one place, and of having an indoor, climate-controlled location where I could control all of the elements in the training area. But long term being a mobile trainer that goes to people’s homes, to work with the dog where the behaviours are happening, is a perfect fit for both me and my clients.
I’ve been very fortunate to find businesses to partner with in most of the locations I’ve lived. This usually takes the form of renting space from a dog related business like a dog daycare or a pet store. This way, I’m not competing with their business model, in fact, enhancing it by adding dog training services like manners classes or Canine Good Neighbour tests so that we can both offer more services to dog owners.
Diversifying the services I offer is another important feature of my business plan. Offering pet first aid courses online allows me to work with dog owners and pet care professionals from all over the country.
One of the biggest business challenges I encountered was living in Quebec, where I had to navigate operating my business, and offer all my training materials and instruction to clients in my second language, French. It was a steep learning curve! I met many wonderful clients and colleagues, but the most difficult time in my career was due to a change in animal bylaw, virtually overnight. Suddenly, there was an urgent need for a large number of dog owners to complete an obedience course with their dog within a very short period of time. In June of 2016, many municipalities enacted dog bylaws that targeted dogs based on physical appearance alone. Under the law, dogs with a set of physical characteristics would be banned if they did not fulfill all of the criteria the municipalities set out in order to obtain an exemption. Owners in the city of Longueuil were given only 88 days to have their medium sized, short haired dogs successfully complete an obedience course, or face having their dog seized.
I immediately started offering group obedience classes at a very steep discount for low income families in any location I could get permission to use. Several classes a day back-to-back, outdoors, sometimes even in the rain, because the deadline for hundreds of families was fast approaching.
I spoke at every city council meeting in my city, and attended several city council meetings in other cities to bring attention to the problem: discrimination based on physical appearance; and sharing the solution: bite prevention education for ALL dogs and responsible dog ownership incentives.
After years of protests, city council meetings and organizing with fellow anti-BSL advocates, I’m proud to have been a part of the group of advocates that succeeded in removing BSL in the cities of Montréal, Châteauguay, and Chambly. It was a huge relief when in 2018, the province of Quebec abandoned their proposed province-wide BSL in favour of a breed-neutral law that focused on behaviour, and responsible ownership.
The fight isn’t over yet though- I’m still hoping for a similar change in Ontario, where I now live. Advocates have been working for decades to remove the province-wide DOLA legislation that treats dogs with vaguely defined physical characteristics differently than other dogs. I continue to advocate for dog bite prevention, and dog behaviour education as the most effective ways to prevent dog bites, attacks and aggression.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Genuinely wanting to help people and their dogs. When you love what you do, and it makes other people happy, they will tell everyone they know about you!
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I always try to give my clients more than they give me. That creates a sense of abundance for everyone. I also feel it’s important to work with other pet care professionals and trainers in my area. No two business are exactly alike, so I see them as collaborators, not competition. I’m happy to refer my clients to other trainers that specialise in an area I don’t, and I’ve had several clients referred to me by other trainers in return.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nicedogscarlett.com
- Instagram: @nicedogscarlett
- Facebook: NiceDogScarlett
Image Credits
Scarlett Mackenzie, B. McKibbin B. McKibbin, B. McKibbin, Unknown, Scarlett MacKenzie