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Monday, March 30, 2009

Client Success - I'm so Happy I could Burst!

As the title suggests, I'm so happy I could just burst! But before I self-implode in my excitement, I'm determined to get this story on paper so I can remember this moment.

After all, sometimes you're successful in building a relationship between a client and their dog and other times they just don't want or can't take on the responsibility a dog encompasses....Luckily, tonight was a success (and that's why I want to remember it!).

It all stated last week when one of my Train-While-You're-Away clients engaged me to work with their two 11 month old Labrador Retriever litter mates. My client started off by making it clear that the 'Free to Good Home' Craig's List ad was already written and sitting in his computer.  Bottom line, my clients were frustrated and I was their last hope. 

After meeting and working with the dogs for a few days, it was clear they hadn't received ANY training. I could understand how the owners felt overwhelmed as these pups were growing, competing with and escalating each other to frantic actions. As with every dog, there is always good news. In this case, they were sweet dogs, had a great work ethic and had the potential to be incredible family pets...just what the client was looking for.

In approximately 5 hours of training both dogs, they had made remarkable progress and I was excited to share with my clients what their dogs were capable of and how my clients needed to maintain the training.

In my final meeting, I presented my clients with a 5 page summary which outlined the issues at hand (based on what the clients had told me and what I observed), our training goals, the training accomplished, client homework, suggestions to items the client mentioned (such as how to solve a muddy backyard) and of course I did a hands-on demonstration with each dog and then walked my clients through the steps so they could maintain the training in the future.

By the end of our meeting, my clients were pumped up and thrilled to see what their dogs could accomplish with just a little bit of training. They went from being skeptical to all smiles as I walked out the door and were excited to now be able to take their pups on walks and to integrate them more into the indoor family atmosphere.

What a great night! I'll be sure to follow up with them in about a month to see how their doing.

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