065- City Dog Pack with Miguel Rodriguez
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Summary:
Miguel Rodriguez, owner of City Dog Pack, comes on the show to give an indepth look at his dog walking business in New York, why he offered free services in the beginning, and some basic dog training skills all pet care providers should know.
Topics on this episode:
How he got started
Dog training philosophy
Common training mistakes
Marketing on social media
Growing your business
Main take away? Never stop learning! Even from people you don’t agree with.
About our guest:
Miguel Rodriguez Is the founder and owner of City Dog Pack established in 2010. City Dog Pack provides dog walking, dog boarding and dog training services in New York City
Miguel is a certified master dog trainer and behaviorist and teaches free dog training webinars via Zoom, and offers one on one virtual dog training sessions to anyone worldwide.
Miguel is also an advocate for small business owners and provides dog care business advice on his Instagram pages @citydogpack and @dogbiztv
Links:
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
dog, people, customers, walking, dog trainers, dog walker, business, dog owners, training, day, dog sitter, pet, instagram, pet sitter, marines, owner, problem, new york city, books, social media
SPEAKERS
Collin, Miguel
00:17
I'm calling and I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional. An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by
Collin 00:25
time to pet. Well, hello and welcome back friends and fellow pet sitters. A while back we had Miguel Rodriguez, owner of a city dog pack on to discuss what dog walking was like in New York City in the heart and in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, today we're having him back on for a full length much longer, much more in depth interview. Miguel is widely recognized for doing dog pack walks, as well as being heavily involved in dog training on today's episode Miguel shares where all of that passion came from. Miguel also shares some basic trading skills that every pet sitter should have in their tool belt, and how social media has been so critically important to him and how he uses it really effectively. Now, let's get started.
Miguel 01:17
So my name is Miguel Rodriguez, I started city don't pack back in 2010 April 2010. So this coming April be our 10th year anniversary. I was in the Marines prior to starting my business. I was an infantryman and a rifleman. But we had a lot of canine handlers attached to us. And now I was deployed to Iraq in 2007. We patrol with bomb dogs and I was always close with the canine handler. So we just hang out with them and they would just show me a lot of dog training techniques and how he took care of the dogs how they manage them every day. And prior to joining the Marines, I always had dogs and I was always upset. With dog training, I would train stray dogs I lived in my neighborhood because I lived in a really tough neighborhood in Brooklyn. They were a bunch of stray dogs in the streets, I would just feed them and train them in the street. And I haven't followed me to school every day. And so, once I got into the Marines already had knowledge of dogs, and they found out that I knew a lot about dogs. And they saw me hanging out with canine handlers every day. So they sent me to a course called combat handlers course, where he used dogs to track people down and find people. So I did that. And when 2009 came around, it was time for me to make a decision whether I wanted to stay in the Marines or get out. And I decided to get out the Marines because it was just I went on to combat deployments. I got hurt really bad when I was in Iraq. And I just had enough so I just wanted to get out and go to college use my GI Bill, but I still had bills to pay for when I got out and what's going on anymore income military. So I was figuring out a job that I can do to aid bills while I went to school. So I figured I'll be a dog trainer. So once I got out of the Marines, moved back to New York City, and signed up for a dog training school in New York and got certified as a master dog trainer, and I started offering to people dog training, no one knew who I was, at first, it was impossible to get clients. So what I would do is I would walk around New York City, and if I saw someone with a dog that was pulling them on the leash or someone with a unruly dog, I would just go up to them and ask them if they've done training. Explain to them my background, I would give them my card, and I told them that I would train their dog for free. They didn't like the results. They're always pretty happy with the results. So they would refer their friends to me and then it just kind of goes on from there. And from there, people would ask me for other services such as dog walking and Dog Boarding. So I picked those in and it started off as something for me to do while I was attending school. But then once I Graduated school. I was I was planning to be a canine handler for a police department. So I graduated from St. John's and I apply for jobs and there was one police department. That was a very high paying case upon this really cool place to work. They offered me a job. But I was kind of at a point where my business was growing and not a decision to make and decided to stick with city dog pack and grow the business and so far I don't regret it.
Collin 04:28
Wow, that is quite the awesome backstory. I mean, you've really been involved with and training dogs for years and years at this point. And, and you've been able to at each step, translate it into something new and I just love the fact that whenever you first started you were walking around just going up to people and asking them if you could train their dog like that's what what motivated you to just jump out there and ask people on the street because to me that like that sounds kind of terrifying for someone like Like me, like, I would think there'd be a little more intro or things like that. But that that that seems like a really big leap for somebody to take.
Miguel 05:08
Yeah. What motivated me at first because my bank account I was I was just living off to my savings that I had from the to cut to the points on the Marines. Sure, I was living off of those savings. And I was just there was no money coming in and live in New York City. The cost of living here is just absolutely ridiculous. So you know, this wasn't knocking my door down. So I just know how to get out there and get people to notice me and even doing that wasn't really moving the needle very much. What really changed everything was I believe, in 2011. About a year after I started city dog pack. I figured I got to do something to to get more customers get people to notice me because there were a lot of dog training dog trainers in the city that make huge amounts of money like training companies and Dog Boarding companies. But they started off with millions and you know, the market Well, don't get the results that I was getting with a few customers that aha, I just needed people to notice what was. So what I did was, I was thinking about offering an activity for dogs that most people didn't offer in New York City. And when I was in the Marines, I used to hang out canine handlers. We did a lot of dog agility training in the canines we have there. And I just remember I just fell in love with it as soon as I did in the Marines, because just seeing these dogs jump over hurdles, wanter hoops, jump through hoops, scale these six foot walls, and it's just amazing. I figured, if I can teach dogs in New York City, how to do that and have pedestrians walking by and seeing that class. I knew I would get a lot of exposure though. Yeah, I didn't have any Yeah, I didn't have any money to purchase the equipment. So what I did was I had about 300 bucks in my account left. So I took those 300 bucks and went to Home Depot. I just bought a bunch of plywood and a PVC pipe. And I just made a bunch of makeshift Dog agility equipment, and I got a permit for a park in New York City. It gave me a wide open space to work with and offer the classes for free. I just took donations just to maintain the equipment. And I didn't make any money off of it, but it gave me a lot of exposure and that's what
Collin 07:17
Yeah, especially being able to find something with such high visibility as in a park because that was one of the things I was curious about is where you do the training itself. And it sounds like you're doing it in just open air parks and just on the streets that you're walking along. When you
Miguel 07:34
actually conduct the dog training. You want it to simulate their real life situations as much as possible. So if someone's having a problem with Leisha Kay with dogs pulling on leash, I want to train with the owners and a dog's industry to the dog normally walks in. I live about an hour away from the city and it's very country like why live so when it comes to leash Attica training I can train a dog On the leash where I live, but it's not going to do much when a dog goes back to your city and with all that stimulation or the cars or the pedestrians, yes different. So yeah, I do the training in the person's home, mostly, and industry to wherever the dog on normal, normal environment and I think it works best that way.
Collin 08:18
So so you you work both in kind of outside New York City, but you're also doing in in the city walks. How do you balance time between those two very different environments.
Miguel 08:30
So it's a challenge definitely. But the key thing is having a good team to help you. So for example, what I do is I do Dog Boarding in my home. I've reserved when I bought this home as a new construction. I made sure that I had an open space in the basement where I can have more dogs. So I have about 1000 square feet in the basement and the dogs pretty much had their own apartment down there. So I had the floor sanded and sealed so that the dogs make a mess. It doesn't like penetrate to the floor like it does with carpet or hardwood floors. I did that I put in good lighting, I had nice windows furniture. So I did that. So usually, if I'm very busy with Dog Boarding or if I'm doing a boarding train program with a dog, I stay home with the dogs and my team handles most of the walks, okay. And I usually go into the city about three or four times a week to pick up and drop off dogs. And while I'm there, I'll do some walks as well. And I'll do some training there as well
Collin 09:28
talk to us a little bit more about your team that you've surrounded yourself with over the years.
Miguel 09:32
Shortly after I started the dog agility course. I started to get very busy, but then I started to get very overwhelmed as well. And I was a very good dog trainer or very good a dog walker and I was very good at, you know, providing good care for dogs overnight. But I was a horrible businessman. I felt I felt like I could just do it all myself. I just had this attitude that couldn't trust anyone with my dogs. But the service Al's providing starts to decline this website What happened was I was showing up to dogs late. And I was overbooking a training session. So I had to cancel training sessions last minute. And I just realized that I wasn't offering my customers the standard service that I set for myself. So I just knew that the only way I can do this is if I surround myself with a good team. And so I started hiring different people on started to if I saw a dog walker in the street that looks like he was very engaged with dogs and he looks like he enjoys his job I'll just talk to him and say, Hey, you know who do you work for you happy there. And I would just tell him hey, I need a dog walker to join me up here this much be interested, let me know and they sometimes I get a call back. And that's worked out pretty well for me. Or also in the neighborhood. I was I was still living in Brooklyn at the time when I first started hiring people on it was just a neighbor that I had Angel. He's one of his one of my best walkers. I have now been walking dogs me for seven years. Well, I met with him and I asked him Do you want to work with me? I trained him. I showed him exactly how I wanted him to walk dogs and he did a great job. And there I just picked up five more dog walkers. And right now I have seven dog walkers work.
Collin 11:11
Wow, that's awesome over the years, what catches your eye about a dog walker that makes them stand out to you.
Miguel 11:18
So if I see a dog walking, it's always on his cell phone. Right there that I cross that off. I see that all the time. A dog walker, who has control of his dogs, if he's walking multiple dogs, he has control of them. They're not yanking him on the leash. That's a good dog walker, a dog walker who actually you know, I watched them if they're waiting to cross the street, and they're just kind of like not even looking at their dogs. I cross them off as a prospect. But if I see them looking down at dogs interacting with them, you know, giving them a little head scratcher once in a while talking to them, then I know that that's a dog walker that that's engaged and knows how to handle dogs and enjoys this job and desperately want a dog walker. When I try to recruit someone off the street,
Collin 12:02
Yeah, sounds like you're really looking for someone who's who's present who's engaged, and is really enjoying themselves. And it doesn't seem like a drudgery, but they have control at all times.
Miguel 12:12
Absolutely. Because the thing is when it comes to this job, whether you want to be a dog walker or a dog sitter, rehabs love dogs, you can't just like dogs or just tolerate them. You have to love dogs, because this job will, you'll become miserable because the dogs will drive you crazy. If you don't really love them. You don't have a passion for dogs. Yeah. And I see it all the time. And even when I first started hiring people, I figured if I could just get someone with a good work ethic that's willing to show up every day, I can train them up, and you'll do well, even if they don't really like dogs too much. But I learned very quickly, that's not the case at all. Because if you don't like dogs, and you're around multiple dogs every day and they're on top of your time, you don't know how to handle them, they'll drive you crazy, you become miserable and you're not going to provide the amount of service that I want to buy So it's very important to really love dogs and have a dog yourself. That's one thing when I, whenever I hire someone, or if I'm interviewing someone, when the first questions I always ask is, do you have a dog? And if they say no, I always ask them why, if they can't have one because of their apartment or something like that, understand that, but they don't have one for no reason. Then I kind of raised the red flag.
Collin 13:20
Sure if they respond with Oh, could you imagine being around them all the time? That's probably a fairly big. Exactly. So that's, that's a really good question. So what do you have dogs currently?
Miguel 13:32
Yes. I have two dogs. My dog who was my best friend for 14 years. Boomer is 100 pound American Bulldog. I got him when I was in the Marines and he was actually supposed to be a marine dog. But he turned out to be way too friendly. Yeah, there's a funny story with him. But he passed away Memorial Day, earlier this year. Oh, sorry. So now it's fine. You get a very interesting life that dog can use. It is a great dog. So right now I just have a seven year old Yorkie
Collin 14:04
that I inherited from my wife. Oh, you're very active in your writing a lot on blogs on your Instagram. And one of them that came up was that you wrote about having a significant other that's also a pet entrepreneur. How do you guys balance work and family life? And then Do you guys ever find yourself working together?
Miguel 14:25
Yeah. So she actually she wasn't involved with dogs professionally until she met me. She was actually a model for many years prior to meeting me. And now she goes to school to be a nurse and she helps me with the business as well. Okay, she handles most of the bookkeeping. I hate doing bookkeeping. And her dad owns a big accounting firm. So she she stayed what became so she does all the bookkeeping. Whenever I have to go into the city to pick up drop off dogs train dogs to walk dogs. She takes care of the dogs that were born here in my house. And pretty much you know, if I get sick, if I get injured, she handles everything. So we just have a really good partnership, it can be a little bit tough when you're in this industry, especially when you work with dogs so intimately, dogs are in your house every day. It can be tough. If once again, you don't, if you have a significant other that's not into dogs like you do, it can be tough. So it's really important that I'm married someone that loves dogs as much as I do, because you have to deal with the barking you have to deal with the dog here. You have to deal with having to stay in the weekends is I would imagine doing with your dog for you probably most busy on the weekends as people travel. Yeah. So on the weekends, we can't really do much we understand. So there's a lot of sacrifice involved, but you have to be with someone that once again loves dogs as much as you do, understands the business. And then from there, it's just it's just a partnership. Of course we bicker sometimes, but we get through it.
Collin 15:59
Yeah, no, I I like that picture of, you know, it is a sacrifice on both ends and doing it for the love of dogs and and together for the business you share a lot of experiences together when you when you work, especially in the pet business and pet industry. And and you, you do develop just a lot of really neat, interesting stories. And and when you're both so invested in it, it really helps out in the long run.
Miguel 16:28
Absolutely, definitely. Because if she, you know, she didn't like dogs at all, and she wants to know part of the business. I really don't know how to do this by myself. So sure, yeah, it's essential.
Collin 16:39
You mentioned that whenever you get injured Do you have a dog walker injuries pretty common or what what are some of the things to watch out for whenever you're walking dogs as far as preventing injuries.
Miguel 16:51
So with that, there's a lot of different ways you can get injured with me. I've been walking dogs for almost 10 years and prior to that I was in breed Where you gone he's crazy 20 mile hikes with 80 pounds a year on so my feet are pretty jacked up at this point. I have small stretch stress fractures in my feet. So that's an injury. Another you know, dog bites every once in a while you can get just recently I got a dog bite that got really affected by hand I got very sick. With dog bites with experience, you could really reduce the chance of a dog bite. It was I was just in a situation where two Yorkies done to a fight and I just didn't want them to bite each other. So I put my hand in between them and one of them latched on to my hand and put a deep hole in my in between my knuckles. Yeah, um, so when it comes to injuries, just most of the injuries from dog walking are stress injuries from the constant walking, especially on the pavement in New York City. But other than that, during many, many injuries involved usually it's just stress injuries and dog bites, but that's very, that's very rare as well. As far as
Collin 17:57
the dog training goes. How would you describe Your training philosophy or how you how you work with them.
Miguel 18:03
Sure, when it comes to dog owners, I stress how they interact with their dogs, how they manage the dog's environment. And for the obedience part, I use operant conditioning, and operant conditioning is essentially rewarding the dog behavior you want. And sometimes when there's a bad behavior that's developed into a really bad habit that's tough to break. Sometimes you have to introduce a deterrent to break that habit. A lot of dog trainers disagree with that. And you can read in books and you disagree with that a lot of dog owners disagree with that as well. When I mean a deterrent, for example, a good example Okay, if I had a dog that I was working with, I was walking and boarding country, a rabid dog but a dog was an escape artist. He had an apartment in New York City and had a house in the suburbs. And any opportunity to his dog would get to get away from its handler or its owner or run out the house it would take and it would just go chase after anything. So it kept happening. So the dog got out of his collar like two or three times with his honor and almost got hit by a car those three times in New York City. And then there was another incident where she went to her summer home and she was and there were some deer outside of her fence and she had a six foot fence. So this dog sort of deer, somehow scaled a six foot fence and chased after the deer Oh my God, I hit by a sim got hit by a semi, but it just it just nicked the dog in the tail, so that the dog barely got away. At that point, I hadn't started training the dog myself but I knew about the dog trainers that were working with this dog. And they were using you know positive only methods you know, food rewards toy rewards. But I told that told her that she may have to use it and defense to protect the ball. Of course she was resistant towards us was resistant towards it and she didn't listen and eventually the dog out the gate again and got hit by a car and broke broke woman's legs. So I told him, Look, he's got away from you about half a dozen times already. He's already been hit by a car. You know, what are you waiting for? At this point is, it's not if he's gonna get hit by a car is when it's gonna happen eventually, one day, he's going to get off the fence. So he didn't get away from the industry and you'd be picking pieces of him off the floor industry. It's gonna happen. Yeah, sometimes you have to, you know, paint that picture in someone's head for them to wake up. So I explained that to her on. She talked to her husband, they got the fence and it was never an issue after that it was gone on. So sometimes you do have to provide the train when there's a really bad habit. It's very hard to break. Sometimes you have to do it to save the dog's life.
Collin 20:40
Yeah, and it's not it's not an always kind of situation. You know, as you as you mentioned, there it is. It's a case by case it's a situational thing that you make that judgment call of what you're wanting to do, based on what the what you know, what you're actually trying to break and how severe it is.
Miguel 20:57
Exactly. Because when it comes to your I've been in dog training industry for almost 10 years now. So I've seen all kinds of situations occur. So when you're a dog trainer and you're trying to figure out what's the best way to train a particular dog, you have to take a lot of things into account. For example, say if I have a customer who has a dog who's barking like crazy. And they've received numerous notices from their building management that they've had to get their dog to keep quiet, or else they're going to have to leave or give it a dog. Yeah, I've seen this situation happens many times. So then I asked them, have you had a trainer come in here and work with your dog? usually say yes, I've had about two or three trainers, but it didn't work. And I asked them what kind of methods they use if they tell me that they'd use positive rewards, you know, food, I tell them, okay, we can try that. Again. I can try my method, but we may have to put a bark collar on this dog. A lot of people don't like the bark call it but I've seen so many situations where I didn't even offer to use the bark collar. The dog didn't get any better and then they end up in a band up in a shelter and We all know usually what happens the dogs end up in shelters that have severe behavior problems. Yeah, and I've seen so many dogs, you know, get put to sleep when I could just tell them, Hey, you know, give this a try, you know, it's not a permanent solution, it's just to get them to the point where they're not barking so much. And then we can use a positive reinforcement. And then we get to the point where your dog doesn't bark anymore, and it works. So sometimes you have to figure out what's the best thing for the dog, not necessarily owner for the dog
Collin 22:28
to kind of on that same vein is is how much of the training is training the dog versus training the owner?
Miguel 22:35
I would say it's 75%, the owner and 25% of dog The hardest part is training humans because it's almost like a American culture. And I wrote a post a blog post about this on my Instagram recently about the differences of behavior of dogs in Europe and America. If you go to Europe, usually don't see dog Yankee people on leash you know lunging out of the dogs lunging Other people, because people manage their dogs and interact with the dogs differently there in America, we tend to humanize our dog treats my little babies. Yeah. When you do that these are the stocks that are super spoiled to have no structure. They had no schedule. They had no rules and boundaries. Those dogs are nuts. But it's almost like American culture to treat your dog that way. I mean, how many times you see the young lady holding a little teacup Yorkie and little Chanel bag and dogs don't even walk on the floor. For example. I recently had a customer who had a teacup Yorkie severely overweight and had no muscle development and his legs. She will carry him around his bag everywhere and he was biting everyone. She had two kids, the dog bit everyone in the household every every time anyone came near her. The dog was just attack and by and just recently I was hit by a Yorkie and I got very sick or you got very infected and you know it could be a serious injury. So actually You need to start treating his dog like a dog. She doesn't want to be a human, she wants to be a dog. And then she realized that what I was saying was true. And she started taking the dog on walks, they can fall apart, give him some mental stimulation. She was socializing him with different people and different dogs in the dog is great. Now, Dora In fact, we walk the dog every day, he walks with dogs every day.
Collin 24:21
Just that mindset difference of a dog as a dog, and you can, you know, love it, it can be part of the family, but when you start giving it and treating it like a human, you start breaking some of the structure that the dog needs to be a dog and behave properly and and mind and make it so that it behaves the way we want it to when you're training it. And I like I like thinking about that as you as you were talking
Miguel 24:51
people tell them your dog doesn't want to be a human dog wants to be a dog. They assume that nice saying you need to treat your dog like a dog. They assume that you don't spoil The dollar you can't get a dog expert, my dog's name, he's expensive orthopedic Bezier they sleep on everyday I sleep on a regular spring mattress. You know, my dogs they eat, I cook for my dogs every day. I don't feed them dog food actually cook for them. We go on, you know, great hikes, we have a lot of fun. You know, they're not a lot of my furniture. They don't have a lot of sleep on my bed. But they have a nice bed right next to me to see my next thing every night. So they're still spoiled, and they still have great lives and everything. But I make sure that they have everything they need as a dog before they get, you know, all the spoiling.
Collin 25:32
I think this is kind of leading into something as far as common mistakes that people make when they're training their pet. So other than treating them as a human. What are some pitfalls that people fall into, either intentionally or unintentionally over time.
Miguel 25:48
I think people don't socialize their dogs enough. And when I mean socialize, I don't only mean with people and other dogs, I mean different areas. You want everyone wants to A dog that they can take with them anywhere. And they don't have to worry about their dog's behavior. But if you stay in your apartment all day, just take your dog on, you know, fix a minute walks around the block. And then you know, you want to go visit your friend, you want to go to your friend's pool party that allows dogs and you take your dog and your dog poops in your kitchen is something that's going to be a problem. So near take your dog, you know, expose your dogs to different people, different dogs, different areas, different homes, public places, need to expose them to everything, so that they're ready for it whenever they do come across a situation. Another thing people don't manage their dogs environment well enough. Say for example, I get a lot of calls from people who tell me a dog is very destructive in the house and they're peeing and pooping everywhere. And they can sit there making it not managing the dog's environment. And if you have a dog that has a bad chewing problem, and you leave every day to work, and you get an access to all this stuff to chew in the house, you're rewarded To rewarding the behavior, you're never worrying them directly, but you're working them through their environment because you providing an environment with them as suits their children. So what you have to do with a dog like that, you have to restrict their access, you have to puppy push your house completely, which is very difficult to do. Or you can just restrict them to a smaller area where they don't have access to that. And just doing that alone without any like formal training, not giving them access to to those things for about 30 days will make a huge difference. But a lot of people don't even do that for 30 days,
Collin 27:30
as far as expectations of time if you're 30 days. Is that a pretty standard time when you start really working and being intentional about training? Do you see results within 30 days?
Miguel 27:44
Yeah, I always tell people would not from my observation with dogs and training dogs all these years, I noticed that bad habits really develop after about 30 days of doing that particular habit. And usually it takes about 30 days to break a habit. So save For example, you have a dog who, once again the chewing everything in the house, if you just keep them in an exercise pen or crate, of course, you're gonna have someone come in and give the dog walks. If you're at work, you know hours. But if you just don't give them the access to chew on things for 30 days, and after 30 days, you start to wean them off with the plate panel, the crate, you'll see the dog naturally be less inclined to chew after not having access those 30 days. So 30 days is usually a marker that we use some dogs is more some dogs is less, but that's usually the rule of thumb that I give people
Collin 28:32
as a pet sitter, maybe someone who's just getting into this, they genuinely love dogs, and they're very passionate about working in in it. What are some basic training skills they should have before they start either doing dog walking or daycares or boarding that kind of thing?
Miguel 28:49
I don't think they have to have any formal training skills as far as obedience. But one thing one big piece of advice I give to people who want to do Dog Boarding especially out of their home Have a system that you follow. So you should have a schedule for walks, proceeding playing for arresting, should have a schedule for that. He should have rules and boundaries for dogs when they come into your home and be really consistent with them. dogs love structure and he loves a schedule because they love things to be predictable. When things are unpredictable. That's when a lot of behavior comes to surface. If you have dogs in your home important dogs in your home, and the dog knows that Around this time, these times they get walked to the sun, nice time to get playtime these times they get walk, they get fed, everything's predictable, so they're not anxious, they know what's coming. You know what's going to happen. And you'll you as a dog sitter, you'll have a much better time and you know, the dogs you care for, and a dog should be safer and safer, happier as well. Now, every dog person whether you're a dog groomer, a dog sitter dog walker should always learn some dog training. Is this going to help you all So say if you're a dog sitter and you just learn how to teach dogs, you know, the stay command and the compliment, if you're home with the dogs practice with them. And when you take that dog back home and you tell the owner, hey, I taught your dog how to stay and you show them. They're gonna love that. And they're gonna tell their friends about you, they're gonna come back to you, and they're gonna brag about you're gonna show off to their friends and say, Hey, I left my I left my dog with this guy for about a week he taught them all this stuff. Of course, they're gonna tell their friends about you and you need a lot of phone calls. That's what I did when I started my so you should read books, you know, listen to podcasts like this, watch YouTube videos, this online second webinars, you can go to learn about doctrine, you should be doing all that work with
Collin 30:41
the system, having a system and making it predictable. Like when you're boarding in even if you're doing pack walks and that kind of stuff. You'd be surprised how short of time it takes for new dogs when they get added to that to catch on and get in with the group. If you've got two or three other dogs that are no your schedule and then you just add one that that time it takes for them to learn what's going on and where things are and how that works is really cut down significantly.
Miguel 31:13
Yeah, so truly, it's funny because a lot of times we walk, I get people who call me to inquire about our walks, and they're so concerned because they know that dog pulls on the leash a lot of dogs a little bit rambunctious. So they're so worried about having a dog join pack walks, but they just don't understand that their dog behaves like that with them. But when you have a handler that that provides a dog structure and rules that other dogs that are like mentors for that dog, it within days, within just a few days, you'll have a dog that gangster owner all over all over the place and within like three days of walking with us, they're walking the dog in a pack and they're just behave out and I always always joke with people that if you walk around New York City and you see you always spot a dog owner from dog walker, the dog walker usually has control of the dog and they're not bringing a dog to other strange dogs that they don't know without asking permission. But you see these dog owners? Most of them are just clueless. Hilarious.
32:14
So, so their recommendation dog owners get some basic training and animal handling skills. Because you you are noticeable.
Miguel 32:24
Yeah, but it's tough for God. I don't blame them either. Because there's just so much information out there. Yeah. As far as like how you should handle your dog, and how you should train your dog so you don't know who to listen to. Right? on. You know, for example, I have all this experience with dog training. I've worked with hundreds of dogs every year. You know, I've worked with aggressive dogs, dogs, former fighting dogs, so dogs who have been out of shelters, dogs who bark in all these situations that I've been through it, and I'll post a video on Instagram, you know, demonstrating how to train a dog how to train doctors say on Trying to dog to stay on behavior issues. And in the comments, you see, just like all these dog trainers just given their input and some telling me how I'm wrong, I don't I don't know what I'm talking about. So, you know, they see that and they say, you know, should I listen to this? Or sometimes I'll, I'll be working with a customer. For about a few weeks, we're making, you know, great leeway with a dog training, we're making great progress in order to improving and then to have a conversation with their neighbor. And their neighbor would tell them hey, you know, I noticed you switched to a collar from a harness. Do you know that collars can cause a wide one order that neighbor told him that a colleague give you a dog a stroke is a restricted airway and it can actually cause a blockage and give your dog a stroke. And she told me that what does your neighbor do for a living so he's a dentist and Okay, so when you come to me for dental work as a consumer, you have to do your research, and know who to listen to because if you get fooled by someone Shame on you, you should know and don't listen to this journey but someone has been doing this in your community for many years.
Collin 34:07
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, they don't go to doctors asking them how to fix their car mechanics what to do about their heart. And so, it I do find that in the pet care industry, this multiple and competing viewpoints on things, it seems to be very, so much more amplified, then than other industries and just how aggressive different opinions are, are pushed and placed on people and how quickly people sway from one to another. unless they've actually done their research. It's pretty shocking to see that happen. And just watch it in front of your eyes. Sometimes when people ask me my philosophy of dog training, I tell them right now, this is my philosophy. This can change. I can learn something new and completely changed. My entire philosophy is I've done that before in the past. And I always joke dog trainers are like,
Miguel 34:58
Democrats and Republicans They just do. They just disagree with each other on, on everything, even if it's an issue that if you just spoke about the issue non politically, you know, people would just come and since we just agree on it, but if they know that it's a position that the opposite holds, they'll just disagree with it. Yeah. And that's how dog trainers are, for example, if I, if I made a video on Instagram explaining the importance of bark collars and how they shouldn't be used as a primary training source, but they could be something you know, that you can use in conjunction with, with positive reinforcement that could be great for your dog. I'll have these dogs and say that's completely wrong. You know, they say that's wrong, you should do this, this and that. That's all Yes. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do those things that you're mentioning. I'm just saying that those things that you're mentioning, aren't working. And you you've been to a few trainers that told you that same method is not working. Try something else. That's why I'm saying I'm not saying you're incorrect. It does get very ugly. And that's one of the problems with using social media, especially when you're giving information You're gonna have all these people disagreeing with you but you know what can you do?
Collin 36:06
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Collin 36:26
we are able to monitor our team and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks. If you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try as a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months when you sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. So if someone is interested in pursuing a career dog training or becoming more fluent in it, where would you recommend that they start?
Miguel 36:54
Reading books there are a lot of great books. Just read a lot of books like mentioned before, on YouTube, there's a lot of great information, learn all methods, even if there's someone that you don't agree with. For example, right now, I've read so many books in dog training. I've been to so many seminars, I've been to training schools, I sit still so many things that I can learn. For example, I've recently read a book, the first chapter, he says something I completely disagree with. And I could have just closed the book and put it away and decide not to read it because oh, this guy's an idiot, he doesn't always talking about. But after the first chapter, I learned so many things, just from this book alone, that if I would have just been so stubborn and just discounted him, because I disagreed with him in the first chapter would have learned anything. Yeah. So you have to read all books on watch videos on YouTube, do some online seminars, you can go to that people sell training courses, use those as well talk to dog trainers. And if there's a good dog training school that you can attend, to go ahead and do it, you make the money, invest in it, and you'll make the money back from the service you can provide for people.
Collin 37:58
I really like what you said there. As learning even from the ones that you might not necessarily agree with, because there's something to be gleaned, even from those people, right, you're not going to disagree with them 100% on 100% of the things that they have to say, there's going to be other things in there that you can pick up. And as you gain experience, you can even take most things that maybe you didn't think worked or didn't agree with 10 years ago, and see, oh, if I do this little twist, or if I do it, in this scenario, I can get really good results. And you never would have been able to make that connection. If you didn't just read and go and learn from try and learn as much as you can from everybody with different viewpoints, so that you can be the one that assimilates that information. And when somebody asks you about that, why don't why aren't you using this method, you can, you know, have reasons for why you're doing what you're doing over and against something else. That's a
Miguel 38:56
good point to bring up as far as like having reasons for doing you know, expand your ration. Now as to why things should be this way to a customer, sometimes there's something that needs to explain to a customer. I don't know exactly how to articulate it to them. So they resonate with them, and they actually fall through what I'm telling you to do. But I'll read a book about that same topic that I was discussing with that customer. And the book will articulate it in a way. That's just so perfect. And I'll go run back to that customer and say, Hey, remember that conversation we had yesterday? This is the reason why I want you to do it, because I'll just go right off of the book. And alone, I'll just learn how to articulate something because dog training, like I said, 75% the owner, you know, getting them to buy into your systems, your philosophy and and resonating, right. And if you don't know how to communicate someone, you know, it's going to be a problem. You can be the best dog trainer in the world and be able to train any dog. But if you don't communicate with someone well, and articulate things to them in a certain way for them to understand. You're not going to get through them and reading these books. It teaches you how to do it the way they articulate it to you and the words that they write, you can use those same, those same words with the customers you work with.
Collin 40:09
Yeah, 100% I mean, I know the owners might not have time to do that digging and doing that research, but as the pet care professional, like, that's your job, you're always learning and, and trying to gather information and have it on hand to provide and give resources to your customers and your clients when they when they ask or when they need help. You know, you're the one that they turn to. And so, just being equipped and prepared is is you know, is part of it. Whenever you're dealing with with people in their path,
Miguel 40:38
why it's always important to constantly learn constantly or not, I mean, I even have people who aren't dog trainers, people on Instagram who recommend a book to me and I always read it I always do because even if I read the entire book and I don't learn anything, but on the last page we'll learn something. When you have people come to you and asking for help with their with their pet. What are some common behaviors concerns that come up kind of time and time again, and how do you go about addressing or overcoming those, most of the calls I get are for leash pulling, barking in the house, destructiveness in the house, housebreaking and cleanness, like dogs that need to be right next to their owner, or else they start freaking out like crazy. What I try to do with them is I'll sit down with them to have a conversation for about 30 minutes, and I'll ask them a lot of questions with about how they interact with the dog and how they manage the dog's environment. And from there, I'll just explain to them how they're interacting with their dog maybe actually contributing to the dog behavior problems. And I'll explain to them why. And I'll explain to them the science behind it. The opera conditioning explained to them my experiences that I've seen, I tell them, you know, I see this happen, this situation that this probably happened with your dog. I've seen this pattern so many times with dog owners not seen that these mistakes of these dog owners have made and I'm telling you now, you're making these same mistakes. So you need to reconsider the way you're interacting with your dog. And usually, you're open to it. But it's, it's a struggle. The toughest part, once again, is getting through to dog owners because it gets stressful. Sometimes we have I have dog owners who have a dog that they just are just completely out of control. They can't control the dog dogs peeing and pooping everywhere and destroying the house and I get phone calls 11 o'clock at night from dog owners crying, saying, I don't know if I could do this anymore. So you have to be a psychologist. Also, you have to tell them hey, you know, stick with it. You know, I know it's tough. You have to know motivate them and make them feel better. It's It's not an easy job. You have to know human behavior. Also, not just all you have to know human psychology and know what gets what motivates people. And also sometimes it can be someone's background. Yes, it could be someone who's a who's extremely lonely. Maybe they experienced a really bad breakup and they got it. dog and the dog to fill the void for them. So they spoiled the dog to treat the dog like a baby, the dog goes crazy. And then they have to get rid of the dog. And I explained to them, you know, maybe, you know, why did you get this dog asking? Like, why did you get this dog? And if I tell them, you know, maybe you got the dog for the wrong reasons, you need to like change the way you see your dog. A lot of times, that's when the magic happens. And they kind of get this and Tiffany and the dog's behavior problems gets a lot better after that.
Collin 43:26
Yeah, that really does sound like some some some psychology and some therapy sessions that go on when you're dealing with that. Because if if the behavior is being either exacerbated or encouraged or brought on by the owner, you know, they may not be reflective enough to see that and so to have you come along and kind of point that out in a concerned supportive way. You know, like, as you mentioned, I'm sure some of them don't take it very well, but that must be really eye opening to them. Interesting to be a fly on the wall whenever you have those kind of conversations. Yeah,
Miguel 43:58
and it's tough because you have to be careful You have to be very tactful with the questions you ask and the things you say, No, you don't want to run the risk of offending anyone. Sure. But sometimes if there's something that you see, there's something you notice as a dog trainer, and it's just so clear, you got to point it out and say, Hey, this may be the problem.
Collin 44:17
Some people take a wall, some people don't like I said, Boy, you can do it your best. How do you advertise these days? Are you still going up to people on the street and offering trainings? Or what kind of what kind of marketing are you? Are you doing?
Miguel 44:28
So I do most of my marketing on social media, mainly Instagram and Facebook as well. So what I do with social media, I use it as an opportunity to show everyone in my community that I serve, what we do. And what sets us apart everywhere else, is when I first started this business back in 2010, social media wasn't very big. Now we'll see these companies had all these dogs and I knew that they were providing mediocre service because I would see the dog walkers and dog walks in the phone all day. Although they'll just sit in the park with a pack of dogs in the bench and actually walk the dog Meanwhile, me and a couple of dog walkers were out there and they've given these dogs, I'll send a box. And I always wondered, I wonder if those dog owners know what they're missing out on. With Instagram with Instagram, social media, you can show people for free. Yeah, pretty much it does. It does require work. So I use that I use social media mostly sometimes to do paid advertisements on social media. But I usually do that during the slow season. And during the busy season, I just document my time that I spend with the dogs and my dog owners. My dog walkers do the same thing. They just document the time that I spend with the dogs, they post videos, post pictures, and people see then we get a lot of clientele from there. But also, every once in a while if I'm out walking dogs and if I run into someone that wants to bring the dog over to say hi to my dogs, pet the dog asked me questions about the dog and I'll give them my card and say hey, if you ever need anything at all, you don't have to just say you need any advice at all. Um, shoot me an email. A lot of times people will they'll shoot me an email asking me about some training advice. Next, you know, there are customers. So I do that I'm also on social media, what I'll do is, I'll go, I'll type, I go into the location icon, I'll type in the location that I serve. And I'll look for someone that's in my target customer, which is someone between the age of 25 and 35, who's a dog owner. And if I see them on Etsy, they live in the area that I serve, I'll follow them. I'll comment on your dog. And sometimes I'll slide at the end, and I'll say, hey, you can eat anything at all, just let me know. And I get a lot of customers that way as well. I like that idea. I mean, that is
Collin 46:31
really super targeted. advertising. Advertising at that point great and aren't free. Yeah, super free. You know, if you're just going to a general Look, a location and going, who's posted about dogs here, you know, that. That's a that's such a very interesting and unique way, I think, to use these social media platforms. And as you mentioned, it's free because everybody's already on there. So why not use it to your advantage.
Miguel 46:59
So say say You have an Instagram page and you have these adorable videos and pictures of these dogs that you work with, you know, you show off like how you're so much better than everyone else. Because you know, you take your dog for hikes, you may slip in some free dog training in there when you take care of dogs. And then you go on to someone's page and you comment you follow, and you like their picture, you're going to say they're going to most people gonna see what they're gonna want to check out who liked their picture who followed them, they go on to your account, you see all this great work you're doing with their dogs. And as soon as you need someone who they're gonna go to, right, you're gonna go to you first. And it's free. It just takes you could just do that for about 30 minutes a day. Take about 30 minutes. Type in the locations that you serve. Search every person that has a dog, they're like their picture, you know, you can drop a comment, you can send them a direct message. Do that for about 30 minutes a day and that'll help you business substantially just let alone a lot of other things you can do as well, but that alone will help us attach to what kind of
Collin 47:58
pitfalls should People Be mindful of when they start really investing in getting on social media.
Miguel 48:06
Well, it takes it can take a lot of time. That's one thing. Another thing is it exposes you to criticism, ridicule and trolls. For example, I once posted a picture with me and I had about five dogs with me although I had another handle another dog walker mind, I was walking these dogs with me but I just wanted to take a picture of all the dogs because people like to see pictures with a bunch of dogs. Yeah. And then I'll you know, I'll have dog one, you know, competition in my area, they'll just see a comment or you walk so many dogs at one time, that's not safe. You're just in for profits when really we only walk three dogs per per handle. So you know, you get stuff like that you get trolls, but I feel like if you have trolls criticizing you, and you have competition, hating on you online, you're doing something doing something really good. So if you have haters, that's a good thing. Yeah. If you're doing something good, and the more haters you have, I mean, better job you're done. Right? So that's the only that's the only tip for sure. Another thing is a lot of people lose Little bit shy to be behind the camera usually got to get over that, you know, you want to show your face because you want to show that you're the face of the brand for your business. And people remember faces better than never remember, a business logo or business name, if they see your face, you don't have that doesn't have to be every picture like every five pictures. So show your face with the dogs or the faces of your dog walkers. In a stand out more, and people will remember you more and then if people if it's in your area, and they see you in the street and say hey, you know, I know you've been on Instagram and strike up a conversation that's a potential customer.
Collin 49:34
Because once again, you know, you're you're targeting the owners, so they're gonna they're searching for who's behind this, you know, and you're trying to humanize it a little bit by showing your face showing that you're interacting and showing somebody the skills that you have and your techniques and some videos and really putting yourself out there so that people know Oh, that's the person I need to go to.
Miguel 49:54
It's just a great tool. And I just love the fact you have this because it gets because especially nowadays in businesses Hard, having a small business and competing with these big companies, social media kind of evens the score up a little bit, because me personally, if I wasn't in the pet care industry or a dog trainer, if I had a dog, I don't, I don't want to take my dog. If I'm going on vacation with my dogs, I don't leave my dog with some huge facility that has that's caring for 100 dogs at a time. I rather leave my dog with a professional in their home or have someone come to my home and stay with my dogs a lot more personable. It's safer because it's less dogs that are being managed. And it's more one on one care. I know my dogs were liking. So I would rather have that than to have some huge facility. You just stick a bunch of dogs in because in New York City you see that all the time. You see these little doggy daycares with a really small space and you'll have like 20 dogs in a small space. Me I rather have a small business, someone who's really going to have a relationship with me and my dog take care of my dog and social media. gives the small businesses that power. And it's the only upper hand that we have against these huge businesses like wag to being wag. Well, I never actually like so what the process is, like, when I heard you just have to pretty much fill out a form they do, they do a quick background check on you, they don't get paid very much. Right. Next, you know, you're out there going into these people's homes on and just walking these dogs. But with the smaller businesses, like mine, like I vet my dog walkers, I give them a federal background check. I have to know who they are and who they hang out with. I check their social media. I give them a six month probationary period where they shadow me or the shadow other dog walkers and just you know to prove that they have what it takes me to trust them very, a lot of these big minutes is like why don't get into
51:47
all that.
Collin 51:48
Yeah, you're really taking the time to have there's a lot better in more in tighter oversight and control over quality and care and the people who are actually Doing it so that you know who you're getting whenever you whenever you request your guy's services, usually after the first question where somebody asks, How do I get started? Very shortly after the next question is, okay, now how do I grow this? And so what? What kind of advice would you give to to pet care professionals, you know, dog walkers, pet sitters, about growing their business in 2020.
Miguel 52:23
I actually wrote a blog post about this on my Instagram recently, what what you should do is utilize social media. Like I mentioned, post pictures every day, you don't have to post numerous pictures, just one picture a day. About every five pictures show or so make sure your faces in it. When you utilize the captions, make sure you're posting things that are informative, funny or interesting. So you can get like an audience actually read what you write. Also, if you want to spend money on advertising, this is something that I've learned through the years. So usually for me, the dog walking portion is always very slow and summertime, it picks up in the fall and in the winter and the springtime starts to slow down a little bit. So what I was doing before was in the fall and winter when I was making all this revenue from dog walks, I was spending big bucks on on on advertising on social media and on Google AdWords. However, I started to realize that all the other walk walking companies were doing the same thing. They were making a lot of money or spending a lot of money. So I had to compete every dollar I spent on my marketing, how to compete with so many other people. Also, when we do marketing on social media, for free, it takes a lot of time. So if I'm very busy with all these walks that I had to do in the fall in the winter, I'm spending so much time on social media is taking away my time that I'm giving to the dogs. So what I did to change it was when it's very busy, I don't do any kind of paid marketing. I just focus on hunkering down and providing the best service possible and making sure that all dogs have what they need. And come on and then all the extra money I make. I'll just But then away, come summertime when it's very slow. That's when I'll start spending marketing dollars on social media and Google AdWords, because at that time, my competition isn't spending much money. So if I spent $10 on, you know, say Instagram, boosted posts on Facebook, that $10 is gonna get me so much more than $10 in November, everyone else is spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars a day. Sure. But the problem is when you grow, sometimes you become overwhelmed. And the quality of service decreases. So you want to grow without sacrificing quality of service. So what you do is when it's busy, just focus on customer service. Focus on the service you provide for the dogs and when it's not busy focus on marketing. And also when it's, it's very busy. What do you want to do is you want to assess your customers and you want to assess your staff. So you want to make sure that the quality doesn't go down. So if you have Many staff members are underperforming, or taking too many days off or being lazy or being careless. Want to get rid of them. Also, if you have a customer who's just makes you miserable, and drives you crazy, doesn't want to pay, you have to chase after a payment, that's just impossible to please. You want to get rid of that customer too, especially if you have a lot of business. The reason why is if you have one bad customer, who's just always nitpicking things that are constantly complaining about something, who just never want to pay on time, they're going to take up so much of your energy and so much of your resources that it's going to take away from the other costs. So what I will do in that situation, I will tell the customer Hey, I'm very sorry. It's just you know, it just seems like you're not happy. So perhaps we're not the right fit for you. I really hope you find that a little dog walker that can suit your needs, and let them go and then you take on a new customer that it's not going to take up so much your time and resources and you could use that time or resources on your current customers that aren't good customers. I tell people all the time, I'd rather have one really good customer, then five really bad customers.
Collin 56:10
Because those five bad customers Yeah, they may be paying some time or maybe late. It's the mental emotional and physical strain that those problematic customers place on you is just is not worth it. At the end of the day. It's not it's not Yeah, it's something to just don't even bother trying to go down that road and talk yourself into doing it because anybody will tell you who's gone down that you get burned time and time again.
Miguel 56:38
If you're starting off and you know you're starving for business, I would say take on everybody, even the the tough customers because you will learn a lot you will learn a lot from this customer. You will learn a lot about customer service and you will learn a lot about human behavior. And a good book to read on how to manage people and their attitudes is How to Win Friends and family. wins people by Dale Carnegie, one of the best books I've ever read for business, and it's really helped my customer service a lot. Another thing you want to do is you want to grow without sacrificing service. If you have a dog walker or any personal dog sitter that works for you, anyone in your staff that shows initiative that shows they care about your business, they actually want to make sales also and help the business grow and has the business. best interest in mind. You want to invest in that in that staff member want to pay them more, perhaps, you know, if you're starting off and they're doing a good job helping your business grow, perhaps offer them a piece of the company. Those are the ones that you really want to build your team around and build your company around. Because those are the ones that gonna get a dog walking to show up every day, just do the basics. Make sure you don't get to walk, it's easy to find those people right to find people that want to help you business grow. Now, you know when a customer has a complaint, they tell you don't worry I got I'll take care of this customer, they take care of that customer. Those are the people you have to invest in and I have a couple guys on my staff And I have big plans for them as the business grows,
Collin 58:04
having a solid team that's invested in the same quality and services that you are and has the same vision and and, and really gather around, you know, those are worth more than most of the customers you'll come across. Because they really help encourage each other build each other up and then really help meet and exceed those expectations of the customers walking through the door that you as a you know, sole proprietor is trying to do it yourself would never in a million years be able to do
Miguel 58:35
absolutely like at this point in my business. It's all about stress management for me. If I have a customer that's just giving me way too much stress, I say goodbye to them. Or I have a staff member who gives me way too much stress. I say goodbye to them. And when I first started my business like I was a horrible businessman, I will give people too many chances. And I just realized you just always get burned when you give people too many chances. So what I do now is I have a talk with the person just one time. And I've learned a lot at one time, if you had that talk with him and things don't get better, it only gets worse. So you have that talk that one time. And after that, you got to say goodbye. Now, if you have a customer, or a dog walker, who's been great with you for many years, and you have to establish agreeable for wishing. And you notice that, you know, things start to turn for the worse, gotta have a little bit more leeway because you know, customers and staff members, they're not robots, they're human beings and like us, they go through their ups and downs, they go through their ruts. And there may be something going on in their personal lives or something going on with them financially. So you have to respect that you have to be open and let them know that if that's the case, just you know, communicate with that's all
Collin 59:44
communication is so huge, and often often overlooked. And when we're when we're busy doing you know trying to clients and dogs taking care of people need to be talking to one another in communicating problems and openly and that can get pushed to the side way too frequently.
Miguel 60:00
People are just afraid to address things with one another. see a lot of other small business owners who have staff members that are not doing the job. They're afraid to say something. Can't be afraid. I mean, like I said, everything that I do now for my business is because I learned the hard way right now. I've been burned so many different times by people, you know, I've made so many mistakes. And now, you know, from all those mistakes, I just learned so much for them, and I just know not to make the same mistakes again.
Collin 60:28
What do you wish more people knew about the life as
Miguel 60:32
a pet sitter, I wish they knew the sacrifice that we made, like I said before, as a pet sitter, your busiest on the weekends and on the holidays. So while everyone's partying, have a great time traveling your home taking care of their pets, right. So what I wish people knew, especially dog owners, if you have a good dog sitter, that you know that whenever you have to go on vacation, whenever you need to go away, you need to travel for work, that you can drop off that dog But that person will have that person come into your house and you don't have to worry about your dog's safety or well being you don't have to worry about doing something in your house. That's so valuable. And I think people don't realize how valuable that is because it's hard to find good dog sitters that are willing to provide that for you. So if you have one that does provide that for you take care of them, and be nice to them. You know, don't give them a hard time because if you, you will know that they're putting a good effort to take care of your dog. It'll show your dog will tell you. Yeah, so if that's the case, take care of them. Just realizes it's not a It's a neat, it's not an easy job. People always tell me when I'm, you know, functions or parties and people ask me, what do you do for a living? I tell them on a dog business, I do dog training, dog walking and Dog Boarding. It's the best job in the world, which it is for me, I love it. Yeah. But they don't realize the hard work. You know, the hours you put in the seven days a week that you work, they don't realize You know, all the issues that you have managing customers managing staff, managing books, bookkeeping, it's very good. Really good job.
Collin 62:09
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's, we like to think it's all just rolling around in a giant field playing with puppies all day. Which is what you know, which is what I think a lot of people tend to think of is wow, they just get to play with dogs all day and don't have to worry about a single thing. But there's so much that goes into this, the background, the research, the the the dedication, the sacrifice, the education and the trial and error, the team management, you know, the communication with customers and problem clients like it's a, it's so much is wrapped into it, it gets it's complicated, really fast.
Miguel 62:48
It's like, there's a funny meme that I saw on Instagram recently. That was a it says something like, I'm a dog sitter, and then I had different images. What my mom thinks I do. What my what my friends think I do my customers think I do. Yeah so with a mom what my mom thinks that she thinks that you're just sitting on the couch just watching TV well, you know you're just a dog next to you, you know your customers think that you know you're neglecting your dog or you know your friends think that you're just walking in a meadow with a bunch of like well behaved dog has an issue and it shows what you actually do and is stressed out dog walking that's covered in dog. And that's what it is, you know, but the thing is, if you love dogs and you're passionate about Yeah, on, you're okay with that. Yeah, you love that.
Collin 63:36
I want to thank you so much for coming on and taking time out of your busy day to talk with us about dog training and business management in all of the facets of that but I know we've missed so much So Miguel, if people were wanting to reach out for some more questions or helpful tips and follow along with your work, how could they get in touch with you
64:00
Sure they can.
Miguel 64:03
Instagram is my is my biggest thing. So you can follow me on Instagram, you want to follow my business page where I actually work with the dogs. You can follow me on city dog pack on Instagram and Facebook. And I also have a professional page that I just started I'm trying to build. It has information on how to build your dog business. And I'm also going to be interviewing different dog businesses and interesting people in the dog industry. Okay, you could follow dog biz TV on Instagram and Facebook for that. And thank you for having me on. You have a great podcast. Listen to all your episodes don't throughout the holiday holiday week we just had and you're doing a phenomenal job. I just have one recommendation to your podcast. Yeah,
Collin 64:45
absolutely.
Miguel 64:46
But the other day, I had five dogs. I was boarding my house. It's the holidays, obviously very busy. Yeah, put my daughter to sleep, took the dogs on a long walk. Then I brought them back in my house. They were nice and tired. It was so Then I fed them pseudo fat happy they were nice and tired. Now put your podcast on. Uh huh. And the theme song that comes on with the dogs barking. made all my dogs bark woke up my daughter. Oh,
65:13
okay. I'm sorry.
Miguel 65:16
Are you just working on the intro because most of audience have gone. Okay.
Collin 65:20
Okay, we will we'll tone down the dog barking. I will do okay. Thank you very much. Duly noted. Thank you so much. All the best. You're very welcome. There's a pleasure. Since recording this episode. Miguel has actually started offering some online and virtual dog training seminars where he educates not only pet owners, but also pet sitters on dog behavior and wonderful training techniques. So definitely check out both of his Instagram accounts to see when he's offering one next. Miguel is a rich resource of information that pet sitters should know and have access to. I really appreciate his candor discussing his business and what he does to manage employees. And problematic clients. We've all been there and have so much to learn from in that case. We love hearing stories from you. When everybody is sharing, we are all growing together. So if you could give us a call, so give us a call at 636-364-8260 and leave us a voicemail about what's going on in your life. You can also check out our website pester confessional comm for extensive show notes and all kinds of links including a link to time to pet who sponsored this week's episode. We'll talk again soon
