Client Conversations Without Frustration

Helping dog pros reduce frustration by improving client conversations, follow-through, and communication, so more dogs succeed, and burnout decreases.

Client Conversations without Frustration

Most dog pros get into dog training because we love dogs. We enjoy spending time with dogs. We like learning about them. So we get our business cards, set up a website, and announce to the world that we're dog trainers. (Ok, it’s a little more complicated than that, but you get the idea.)

Client Compliance (or lack of)

And then the phone starts ringing. The DMs roll in. We are on the path to helping dogs! People call us seeking help for their dogs. Most often, they ask us to fix the dog. So, we go to their house. We meet the dog. We demonstrate how to teach a skill (or two). We provide a training plan. We give the client homework. And we go home at the end of the day. Next week, our second session arrives. We come back full of thoughts, hopes, and plans for what we'll do next. Only to find out that the client didn't do the homework. Internally, we might roll our eyes or take a deep breath. We feel frustrated, annoyed, or angry, perhaps. We leave the session, having gone over everything we did the week before, thinking to ourselves, "Why didn't they just do the homework I assigned them?”

Over time, the longer you work as a dog pro, the more you start noticing patterns—like recognizing clients who don't do the homework. Those clients, the ones who don't follow your instructions, can be frustrating. Sometimes you look at the dog in their home and think, 'I could make this dog's life so much better if they just did the homework.' For some dogs, you might even think about them at night after you're off work or over the weekend, feeling frustrated that you can't get the client to follow through. Those feelings drain your energy and interfere with your ability to be present with your own dogs, your friends, and your family. It contributes to burnout, a real problem in our industry.

Understanding the Problem

Honestly, as a dog professional learning to communicate effectively with your clients—who are the humans holding the leash—this isn't typically covered in our standard training. I'm here to help you, as a dog pro, tackle that issue.

What I've discovered over the years working as a dog pro and running my own business is that the root of the problem is a disconnect between the dog pro and the client. It’s not that the client is intentionally being difficult; rather, they are stuck. They feel frustrated, angry, and embarrassed. And they're not dog trainers. They don't understand our jargon, nor do they think like a dog pro. This can lead to a lot of misunderstandings between you, the dog pro, and the client who's holding the leash and the dog you're trying to help.

You know, I haven't met a dog pro yet who says, “I got into dog training to help people.” But you know what? In the end, that's really what we're doing. Yes, we're helping dogs. We help dogs learn skills. But honestly, if we want to help the most dogs as dog pros, we have to be effective at helping the people on the other end of their leash.

Effective Client Communication

When I work with new dog trainers or chat with experienced dog pros, one thing I hear often is that talking to clients can be frustrating. I totally get that. In many ways, people are more challenging than the dogs we work with, and things can get a little messy. So, for my dog pro friends out there—both those I know and those I haven't met yet—I've come up with a simple approach to help you start better client conversations. Just three small steps that you can implement right away to improve your client communication. Because in the end, if you can leave your client meeting feeling confident that they heard you, understood you, and will probably do the homework, you’ll go home having a better night. You’ll return to your own dogs more refreshed, less stressed, and in a better mindset. If this is how you end most days, you’ll experience less burnout and have more energy to work with more dogs, help more dogs, and build better lives for them. That’s why we all got into the dog pro world, right?

So, this is my gift to you: 3 Simple Ways to Improve Client Conversations. It’s a simple framework to improve client communication. This way, you can 1) help more dogs because that's why we do this; 2) go home at the end of the day feeling better, knowing you and your clients have stronger connections; and 3) when you get home at night and look at the dogs that live in your own house, you have the energy and space to truly be present with them.