In this episode of the Pet Biz Podcast, guest host Bret Geller sits down with Brianne Durham, owner of Sit Now Stay Dog Training. Dive into the details of how Sit Now Stay can address your dog training needs, and discover the transformative impact of Brianne's Muscle Mutts Program, designed to help dogs recover from injuries, prevent future issues, and maintain peak physical condition. Brianne also shares her incredible journey, from her background as a Board Certified Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technician to her success as a professional dog trainer. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation!

Reach out to Sit Now Stay Dog Training here: https://sitnowstay.com

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Transcript of Podcast:

Bret Geller (00:01)

Welcome to the PetBiz Podcast. And today we're going to interview Brianne Durham with SitNow Stay Dog Training. How are you doing, Bri?

Brianne (00:09)

Fantastic, great to be here.

Bret Geller (00:11)

By the way, I probably will refer to her as Bri because I've known Brienne for 15 plus years and it is just second nature for me. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into dog training and really what inspired you to do that.

Brianne (00:16)

Forever. Forever.

Yeah, so I started out in veterinary medicine, graduated from college in 2003, got into veterinary medicine, worked into specialty hospitals. Eventually I got board certified in emergency and critical care with my veterinary technician specialty. Worked emergency medicine for quite a few years and worked at some amazing hospitals, not to mention, and one of the hospitals I worked at

out in Las Vegas, I actually helped launch a 24 -hour critical care unit there and that was a great experience. I'll always be thankful for that. But along the way there while I was at that facility, I was competing in lots of dog sports, which I had done previously for several decades. And I came across to a person who eventually became my very best friend in the world.

And she introduced me into the world of dog training. And I kind of just fell in love with it. I loved the behavioral aspect of it. I really felt like I could help families and pets and much like I was doing in the hospitals, but at a whole nother level. So I really got into it and kind of dove head first all the way as far as I could go.

Bret Geller (01:51)

I know just a little bit of feedback. Bri and I met through Flyball, the very loud sport of Flyball. Tell us a little bit about your business, where you're located.

Brianne (02:07)

Sure, yeah. So the business name is Sit Now Stay. And I am located in the Kansas City metro area. And for those who don't know, Kansas City, there's actually a Kansas City, Missouri and a Kansas City, Kansas right along state lines. So when you say the Kansas City area, you're really encompassing a lot of areas of Missouri and a lot of areas of Kansas.

And so I am on the Kansas side of it, but we serve the entire metropolitan area.

Bret Geller (02:39)

Yeah, know, Leanne and I are traveling right now. We've noticed there's a lot of repeat cities in the United States. So I feel your pain there. like, didn't we just pass that city in Virginia? Tell us how you typically get started with clients. Do you start with a discovery call or do you go right into a consultation? And how does your consultation work? Is it free for your clients or do you charge a fee to do a consultation?

Brianne (02:52)

Yep.

Yeah, so we really want to make sure we're a good match for our clients. So typically how our clients generally reach out to us is either through a phone call or a text message. And then from there, we get them scheduled to speak with one of our trainers on staff to chat a little bit more about their dog and expand a little bit more and make sure we're a good fit for each other. We don't charge anything for that. We don't want to charge anything until we find out it's the.

the right person that fits well with our company and we're going to fit well with their lifestyle and their expectations. And then we'll move on from there. typically, because we only do mostly in office training, we have a day train program and a boarding board and train program. What we actually first do prior to jumping into a training program is we like the dogs to get a chance to come

meet us and work with us and spend the day with us and actually have some fun before we expect them to retain any information. our next step after a consultation is we move into what's called an acclamation day. And this acclamation day really allows not only the dog to meet us, all the trainers, all the staff, but also

We get to meet the person and face to face and chat with them a bit and they kind of can see how our day works and how communication will work throughout the day and get a taste of what it's like prior to going into a training program. And then after we have that acclamation day, sometimes we recommend additional acclamation days if the dog's a little nervous or shut down or whatnot, or maybe they're really, really, really excited about life and they just need a little bit more time to kind of settle into a place.

We actually designed this program after COVID, because we had so many puppies coming out of COVID that really didn't see anything of the world. So they're going to be nervous anywhere they went. But over time, it kind of dawned on us that this is a great opportunity to use for any dog prior to them coming into a training program. And our clients seem to love it. They really do seem to enjoy it. They get a full report card about, you know, pictures and videos of what their dog did throughout the day. And then,

they get to see all that prior to going into a training program. So by the time we move into a training program, we've built up a lot of trust, a trust between the dog and us and the client and us. And that I think is my favorite part of it all.

Bret Geller (05:30)

Yeah, I like that. I don't see a lot of trainers doing an acclimation day and I think that's a great idea. Have you ever run into a case where a dog has come out for that acclimation day and be like, I don't think this is going to be a good fit for like a board and train program. Maybe this is more of an option for a private lesson option.

Brianne (05:51)

Yeah, it actually hasn't often happened to us. I would say since we started this program in 2021, I believe it's only happened about one time, to be honest. And that was mostly a dog that just was really sensitive to being handled. We could tell it was stressed at the facility and we really just didn't want to put it through much more. And when it comes to private lessons, we don't full out offer private lessons per se in our program list.

More so we reserve that program for people who we think are really well qualified for private lessons. As you know, with your history, it really does take an owner that has determination, commitment, and a good solid expectation and knowledge base, not to mention it, to do a private lesson program and be successful there. And so we stopped offering private lessons, I would say, probably close to eight or nine years ago.

We do offer a puppy private lesson program for obvious reasons for vaccinations and stuff, but otherwise we just reserve that program for those special situations like Tater Tot who just didn't really want to go, you know, he didn't want to be at our facility. I didn't expect him to learn anything. I felt like he was going to be too stressed and, you know, neurochemistry tells us under stressful situations a dog's not really going to retain information.

We didn't want to put him through it. So he actually excelled in private lessons. to this day, the owners are just an absolute delight every time we hear from them.

Bret Geller (07:26)

that makes perfect sense. Tell us a little bit about your muscle nuts program.

Brianne (07:30)

Yeah, this is a fun and kind of a heartwarming program for us. I'm not gonna bash doggy daycares, there's no need to, everybody has their place in the world, but we see a lot of dogs who have pretty severe anxiety. We see a lot of dogs who have some significant behavior issues and don't really have a good mental head space for doggy daycares.

but the owners, know, sometimes they have busy days. They have 10, 12 hour days and they need that dog to go somewhere. So we were allowing the dogs to come and kind of hang out with us for the day when the owners had a lot going on, but it started becoming a bigger and bigger demand for these dogs who weren't a good fit for doggy daycares that needed a place to hang out for the day. Especially with the huge chiefs fan base here, we have clients who are going to tailgate parties.

hours and hours and hours before the actual game and they're gone for a long period of time. we kind of accidentally, I'll say, developed this Muscle Muts program and it's called, it's a canine fitness program. So instead of a traditional doggy daycare where they go into group play and be entertained by other dogs all day, it really does focus the dog on working one -on -one with a fitness coach. And we have designated staff members on our staff that are fitness coaches.

They'll spend their day instead of in group play, they'll spend their day maybe doing agility, maybe learning how to use the treadmill or the slat mill, maybe doing some fun disc dog stuff. And then of course we have our famous 65 ,000 gallon ingrown heated pool in the back of our building. And a lot of dogs come and learn how to swim for the first time and learn that they love it.

Bret Geller (09:16)

Yeah, I think I need to send Kegger to you. He's,

Brianne (09:19)

that'll be fun. He can swim all day.

Bret Geller (09:23)

Just getting to exercise again. Seems like every off season an injury.

Brianne (09:27)

You know, and that's the crazy thing too is we focus a lot, we have a lot of athletes in our muscle MUTS programs who are really just there focusing on injury prevention. And then we have a lot of elderly dogs that come in for water therapy where they're getting in there and they're using muscles that they can't normally use that they really need to use. So it's just, it's hitting so many angles that we've just fallen in love with. Like I said, this is,

This is one those programs that's really near and dear to our heart for sure.

Bret Geller (10:01)

Yeah, I was very excited to hear you describe the muscle mods because I didn't know anything about it. You know, I've heard it, you know, just through your Facebook post online. And yeah, it sounds like you got a hit there. That's that's a big one. You mentioned I wanted to talk about common problems you see with your clients. You mentioned you do see a lot of anxiety and dogs. What are some of the most common issues you see like every day?

Brianne (10:29)

Every day I'm gonna say probably the number one problem we see and the number of anxiety dogs we've seen in the last, I will say probably market five years, four to five years is absolutely overwhelming. And this is coming from somebody who's worked in veterinary offices and seen this more than once. I will say a lot of people are labeling it separation anxiety.

I don't know if I'm gonna go as far as diagnosing the dogs that we're seeing as separation anxiety as much as like containment phobia. You know, we have a lot of dogs that just cannot handle being contained in a kennel when their owner is gone or whatever it may be. A lot of people are working from home, so when they have an important business meeting like we're doing here, you know, it's easy to just get your dog in the kennel and make sure they're safe while you're occupied. And so we're seeing a lot of these containment phobias that

It's scary overwhelming really is what it's come down to. And I think they're getting labeled as separation anxiety where majority of the dogs that come into our facility are typically either on Trazodone or Prozac on some level. And we're seeing a lot of times with proper training into that kennel and things like that that we're having a lot of success doing just very minimal.

basic kennel training that we'd like to start, obviously when the dog's a young puppy, but it's not always the case, especially with what we're seeing and people working from home. I think the dog training industry was so dramatically impacted by COVID and how we exist with dogs anymore that we're seeing all these new weird behaviors that we never really had to worry about before when people were going into the office or what it may be.

And so yeah, we see a lot of this anxiety in a dog being in their kennel and if they're left loose because the owners don't know what else to do. We had a guy email the other day and he's like, my dog ate an entire section of drywall. And I'm like, yep, that's a real thing. That's a real thing. So yeah, it's heartbreaking to hear, but at least we know there's definitely things we can do to help for sure.

Bret Geller (12:50)

Gotcha. Common breeds you train like coming from Southern California, we had our dog training business there, we would see a ton of doodles, lot of huskies, a lot of shepherds. What are some of the common breeds you guys see come in your facility?

Brianne (13:06)

Yeah, we just got the good old Midwestern mix. It's the Lab Pit mix. And they're typically happy -go -lucky. When I was living out in kind of the Chicago area and then for a while I was living out in the West Coast there, it was pretty common to see, I saw far more aggression cases in those areas than I do here. Here it's commonly just this Pit Bull Lab mix.

That's oftentimes labeled as a boxer and boxer mix of some kind and it's just a good old Midwestern breed We do see in my opinion more herding breeds along this Midwestern belt line than we do when then I did back You know on the west coast and things like that. I feel like I see a lot more herding breeds here I'm gonna say, you know mixed breeds of some sort have really taken over kind of any of the

purebreds in our area. We'll see by far more mixed breeds than we do purebreds. And we have this amazing rescue community and shelter community around here. We have a very big shelter called Casey Pet Project. And they are huge advocates and an incredible shelter that does a lot of great work.

And we see a lot of dogs coming out of there where they're recommending like, hey, go just chat with the trainer and get set up with one so you can kind of get the ball rolling in the right direction. So I'll definitely say our breed base is mostly just that good old mixed breed.

Bret Geller (14:40)

Okay. At what age do you see people reach out typically wanting help from your company? Do you feel they are coming at a correct time to start training? Are they typically starting too late, wanting to start too early? What are you seeing there?

Brianne (14:58)

You know, I think as a whole society, and I even remember my parents kind of saying it when we would get new puppies as a family, a lot of people think they see puppy behaviors and they assume their dog's gonna grow out of it. I think that's a super common thing I hear quite often. And I'll even hear people calling me, you know, with the dog being a year, year and a half.

and tell me that the dog's still mouthing them. That's a common one we hear. And they're like, but I know he's a puppy and he's gonna grow out of it. Or, you know, he's teething, he's gonna grow out of it and things like that. So I think it's kind of a society kind of misconception saying that a dog's gonna grow out of something. And I think they feel like because they see kids grow out of certain behaviors. But really, you know, I don't have children of my own, but I've raised quite a few foster kids for several years.

And unless I interrupted the behavior that we wanted the toddler to stop or whatever age the kid was, five, six, seven years old, unless I interrupted that behavior pattern somehow, there was no sign of them stopping. And so to this day, I think we see a lot of kids kind of grow up and maybe some of their behaviors didn't get interrupted and we see that kind of spill over into their adolescence and adulthood. Puppies are gonna be the same way. I see a lot of puppies that, you know, they're like,

Yeah, they pee on the floor, but they're gonna grow out of it. Or, yeah, they chew up everything, but they'll grow out of it. They're just a puppy. And I think that's the big misconception we have about puppies in society at the moment. So I'll say most dogs that come into us are at that eight month old to two year old mark. It'll be really anywhere in there, more specifically about eight months old to a year and a half is kind of where we get most of the calls.

On a rare occasion, I'll get somebody who's like, well, we're planning on getting a puppy in a month or so. We just want to get ready. And I'm like, that's fantastic. But for the most part, it's at later, know, that just about stepping into adolescence age and into the young adult. And I'm going to say most of the time there, those dogs have pretty significant behaviors set in stone. They've practiced them and they've become really, really good at them.

Bret Geller (17:11)

No, that's a great point. Do you have any programs specifically focused on puppies or is that just include same programs as the day train or a board and train program? Like if you get someone that says, I have an eight week old puppy, I want to start right away. I'm like, well, I probably shouldn't have an unvaccinated dog in our facility.

Brianne (17:23)

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, it's really hard and and you and I are both kind of in this situation because we worked in the pet industry but You know our own personal dogs, they'll be eight weeks old and they're coming to work with me every day You know and and I would never want to not take my eight month old malinois somewhere You know wait until they're four or five six months old until I take them somewhere. It's a terrible idea

But at the same time, you gotta be real about Parvo. mean, it can live, coming from veterinary medicine, it can live in the environment for a good year. And you gotta be really extra careful about that and what you're doing. So we do have puppy specific programs that are designed to keep the puppy home at first and then hopefully venture out into the world as it continues to be vaccinated and moves on.

And there's a lot of misunderstanding about vaccines too, you know, from when it's getting the mom's antibodies to being, you know, getting through its series of puppy shots and what the level of immunity is during that time. And I'm hearing more and more vets tell owners like, get your puppy out in the world. It's, you know, as long as you're current on vaccines, you're going to be okay. And I mean, even when I was really young in veterinary medicine, my dogs, my puppies, they were six, seven, eight weeks old.

And I was trucking them into the veterinary clinic with me each day, because I was working 12, 13, 14, 16 hour shifts sometimes. And I was all alone. So I think it's a hard place for us, because we want to make sure we're doing right for the dog and keeping them safe and healthy. But at the same time, we want to make sure they're getting well socialized. So we have two programs we offer for puppies. I think it's kind of unique, because we're in the Kansas City area, and we're so close to.

Iowa and we're so close to Nebraska and Oklahoma and things like that. We actually get clients from several other states that reach out to us for training. I've had multiple clients from Iowa and I've had multiple clients from Oklahoma and so in a few clients from Omaha. And so we offer one program for puppies and it's called our Puppy Zoomies. And our Puppy Zoomies is gonna offer Zoom lessons for clients who

who we can't get to or they're not close enough to us and we can just hop on a Zoom and start working through all the puppy stuff. And that's been wildly successful going through our puppy program. And then our next program, our puppy preschool, that's gonna offer those in -home private lessons. Like I told you, we don't typically offer private lessons, but the puppy preschool, obviously we saw that it was a need to get into the home and help the owner kind of set up and manage the puppy and start working through training. So that puppy preschool is...

is definitely by far our most popular puppy program. But it's still, it's one I started offering 10 years ago and it's still being offered to this day.

Bret Geller (20:22)

It sounds like your company has great word of mouth if you're getting clients from neighboring states. Do you have any tips for maybe not our dog trainers, but maybe our, you know, everyday puppy owners on, you know, as soon as eight weeks hits and you get that puppy? Cause I being also a professional dog trainer, I always see people do everything wrong. Can you just have a few tips you could give our audience?

Brianne (20:52)

You know, it's hard because I think society takes over, I'm gonna go ahead and say like, what's a good way? Society takes over common sense. Like the thoughts and views of a puppy in society kind of unfortunately takes over common sense. The biggest mistake we see with, and a lot of puppy owners are doing good things for the most part, but at the same time,

The biggest mistake and unfortunately the most detrimental one is they're giving their puppy a lot, a lot of freedom. And it's hard because they don't want to keep their puppy in a kennel. I wouldn't either. But at the same time, they don't know how to properly balance the puppy being out and exploring the house and all that kind of stuff while still managing them. They don't recognize that if they have this eight week old puppy running around, it needs to be watched.

24 7 but you know the funny thing and I'm sure you've seen this you tell an owner that I'm like that's like letting your toddler just run loose without supervision and You know they come back and they're like yeah that makes perfect sense And I always joke because I tell owners this I'm gonna tell you a ton of things today like it'll be our first puppy preschool lesson And I say I'm gonna tell you a ton of things today where when I say it You're gonna come back and say that makes perfect sense now that I hear it

Bret Geller (22:03)

You

Brianne (22:19)

And so I'll tell them like just the common stuff, you know, and they're like, yeah, yeah, I shouldn't let my eight week old puppy just run loose in the house while I'm on my work meetings and things like that. And then also like traveling with the dog, this is a big one. We'll start with our puppy owners and let them know like, hey, it's pretty unsafe to travel with your dog just loose in your car. Would you let your kid in there without a seatbelt? And everybody's gonna be like, no, absolutely not. And I'm like, but you let your dog.

Like that's scary. At least put a seatbelt on it or even more so put it in a crash tested kennel. Like we sell kennels at work specifically so people can purchase them for their car and we'll have them come with their vehicle and fit the crate to the car and we'll even some clients hire us to kind of get it all built up into a platform and strap down and everything. And so we're really big on kind of spreading the word. Like you wouldn't just let your kid.

roam about in the back seat unless you're my parents and it's 1984 and you have a station wagon but still you wouldn't normally let your kid just roll around in the back seat without a seatbelt so don't let your dog so you know there's so many angles that we hit with puppy school where people are like yeah that makes perfect sense and it just it makes me laugh every time never gets old

Bret Geller (23:35)

Gotcha. Can you share maybe your most favorite success story of working with a client and their dog of maybe how the dog started one way and the finished product was very different from the start?

Brianne (23:50)

Yeah, I have a silly one. And it's not, the thing is, this isn't like a heroic story or anything, but it's just one that like, it totally melts my heart. Like it just, it's the one that just sticks in my mind every time I'm asked, what was your favorite dog you ever trained? And this was just, it's not a heroic one. Like I said, the dog didn't have serious issues when it came into training. And it...

It's transformation, know, and you're in my eyes, we'd be like, yeah, that's great. But in the owner's eyes, it changed her entire life and her entire relationship with the dog. And that's what made me think like, no matter how little the training needs are or how big they are, you can impact both the same exact way. And so this woman,

reached out to me and I was still running dog training. was just by myself. I ran it out of my house, nothing special. I mean, of course it was special, but you know, I didn't have a facility and staff like I do now. I was just starting out and she reached out to me and it might've even been maybe the first or second year of my business. And she had a Labrador, yellow lab, his name's Sam. She would call him Samwise.

And just a silly, happy -go -lucky lab. Like, just a sweet guy and lots of fun. And I remember she was worried. She was, you know, I remember she said things like, I just really want to enjoy my life with him and it's just me and him and I want to make sure we have a good life and that most importantly, he has a good life. And, you know, he was just a silly lab that attention span was that of like a gnat.

And he, you know, didn't really come every time he was called and things. And I don't specifically remember the program we did. I want to say maybe he came in for a board and train at my house. It wasn't anything long because I remember we also had, you know, a few financial concerns. But, you know, I brought him in and did some training with him and sent him home. And this dog that was just happy -go -lucky just loves oxygen and life.

He, I remember doing her follow -up lesson and this dog was like doing a 30 yard recall off leash and he was, he was jumping in and waiting patiently in her car while she was getting him buckled in and all that kind of stuff. and she was, the way she was handling and working with him, like I saw this transformation right in front of me where it went from an owner who was terrified, not knowing if she was doing right for this dog.

to an owner that was confidently handling him, having fun, laughing and really enjoying what she was doing with him. that's really, I think what changed my life that day moving forward was saying, you can really, really help people. You can really bring joy and happiness to somebody. Even if you think it's a silly case and it's just a silly dog, it's gonna change somebody's life. And I will tell you, I think it's been close to

11, 10, 11 years since I've trained that dog, I still get pictures from her. She had my personal number, because that's how dog trainers start out. They hand out their personal number. She sends text messages and pictures to my personal phone telling me what great things this dog is doing and how incredible her life has been with him and how thankful she is. when I was training the dog, I didn't think much about it. But here I've changed this lady's life for over a decade now.

That's always going to stick with me. That's always going to resonate as one of the greatest days of my life. That's for sure.

Bret Geller (27:36)

Yeah, that definitely sounds like an awesome story. Kind of switching gears a little bit. What do you feel a new dog trainer, as far as skill wise, would possess to be a successful dog trainer?

Brianne (27:52)

Obviously I think understanding dogs. If you're gonna be a dog trainer out on your own, I really hope you first worked alongside other dog trainers. At the bare minimum, go get experience. There's lots of dog training schools around the country. At the bare minimum, drop in on those schools for, know, the Michael Ellis School obviously has classes here and there still, and there's lots of online.

courses that you can take, know, go out there and get as much education as you possibly can, but work alongside somebody who can critique you and help you along the way. And I thank goodness, my best buddy in the world, one of the best dog trainers in the world was there to coach me. And from her, I moved on to, you know, I did go to the Michael Ellis school and went to their immersion program and also random classes throughout the.

history of, of multiple dogs that I've had, I've had it up there and took courses and also carried on with, you know, people like Forrest Mickey and, and, and great trainers like that, that just blow your mind every time you're in front of them and, make you think more. I think that has, is really what's helped me along the way is, is the critiquing and the coaching and everything else that I've gotten from other trainers to go out and do this on your own with little education or little experience.

You could do something wrong that could harm a dog that could hurt a dog moving forward You could make a mistake that maybe you could have avoided with some some extra time and effort, you know putting in some education hours And then the next thing I have to stress to anybody It's great to be a dog person. Most people are these days It's rare that you meet a non dog person

but you've got to be a people person. cannot not know how to talk to clients. You can't not know how to navigate tricky situations. You can't not know how to work with people. Even if you never get any staff, you're still working with a person. The actual dog person part of this job is pretty minimal, to be honest.

Yeah, you gotta have your smarts, but it's more important that you are in love with the people and you want to help them and you try to help them and do what you can. And then when the situation gets sticky, cause it's going to, you're gonna have an angry client at some point. You're gonna have a bad review at some point. How are you gonna handle that? What are you gonna do? You know, I've met lots and lots and lots and lots of dog trainers and sometimes I walk away and I'm like, that is a very charming

human being that probably excels at handling clients and teaching clients. And then, you know, I've met some where I'm just like, man, their bedside manner was kind of gruff, you know, and, and I'm not saying make it all rainbows and unicorns. There's no doubt about it. You got to know how to stand your ground and create boundaries. I think that's a big issue with a lot of new trainers is knowing how to, you know, they, start their business and they want clients and money and clients and money and all that kind of stuff.

They forget that boundaries are super important. I know I did, and a lot of people do. They do crazy things that they really shouldn't put themselves through, put their bodies through, put their mental health through to save a client's sale, and it's just not worth it. Excuse me. So working alongside somebody for just that reason alone and how to handle clients is a really, really big deal. And then I think the third and final part of this, you've got to be a teacher at heart.

You gotta love the process. You gotta be in love with that process and you're not just trying to get results out of a dog. I think society pushes us to train a dog as fast as possible with being the most economical, cheapest way to go or be really, really fast and charge a lot as long as it's really, fast. you can't, it's just not, you're gonna sacrifice something, whether it's sacrificing fairness to the dog or

or not meeting the expectations you laid out for clients. Because I was talking to somebody the other day and he kind of said, as dog trainers, we tend to worry about over -promising. And I do, I worry about over -promising. I worry about expectations not being clear with clients. Thankfully, the acclamation day has cleared up a lot of that confusion about expectations. But I feel like when I hear

a lot of trainers or read their websites or watch a video of them. I feel we have a lot of trainers that are actually selling, you know, like a mechanic would fixing your car. Like I'll take your dog in, fix it up and it'll be going home all shiny and new. And that's just not the case when you're dealing with dogs, with living beings. You know, I think that we, lot of times do have to meet these expectations that are completely unrealistic to dogs.

to coaching a living being. And we wouldn't expect that out of someone putting their child on with a tutor. We're not expecting that tutor to teach your kid an entire foreign language in three weeks. But we, for some reason, set these expectations on these dogs. it's part of the business that kind of breaks my heart.

Bret Geller (33:27)

No, I definitely understand that and I think that's great advice. Last question. I know you've competed in a variety of dog sports. I think I know the answer to this, but what was your favorite memory or favorite moment, you know, or highlight in your dog sporting career?

Brianne (33:51)

highlight in my dog sporting career? Well, I actually don't think I'll say the answer that you're expecting. The highlight of my dog training career was I took a dog up that was kind of my everything dog.

You know, the local dock diving club here had the like last season practice. It was some point in October. And I wasn't going to do anything besides head out there with my dog and just say hello to everybody and hang out with everybody, because that's half the fun of being in dog sports is you meet so many great people and love everything so much. I'm going to say.

My favorite thing that day was, or my favorite thing in dog sports is my dog, his name's Fletch. He competed in this dock diving career. It wasn't long lived, it was about six years or so, but you know, he's a golden retriever, loved it, had a good time. I would say that my favorite memory of a dog sport is, you know, Fletch got diagnosed with a pretty bad cancer in early September of,

well, early September of 2014. And we had our last dock diving club practice early October of 2014. And I got the diagnosis. I had about two months left with him. So we just went out to the dock diving practice just to say hello and goodbye to everybody for the season and kind of wrap up things. And this was just in a silly lake. wasn't anything. We didn't have a pool or anything.

And we were out there and Fletch and I were watching everybody jump and have a good time and he was wagging his tail and watching everybody and having a great time. And one of the kids of the club who loved Fletch and Fletch loved him asked if he could play with Fletch and whatnot and I didn't think anything harm of it. He had his tennis ball and was just tossing his ball around for Fletch and Fletch, his cancer was in his back legs specifically so he wasn't getting around.

super great but but he could get around he could chase his ball and have a good time through the chemo and so somebody came up and asked me a question and before i knew it i turned around and this little boy had Fletch up on the dock and tossed the ball into the water and Fletch launched in and and chased after his ball and came out of the lake and was wagging his tail and

and was excited to go back and do it again. And so I was just like, and I wasn't planning on jumping him or anything like that, but that ended up being his last jump ever. I'll say, know, dog sports did that. Dog sports let me see something spectacular for the last time in my dog that I spent my life dedicated to for so many years. And actually the dog that ended up being the reason I, you know.

did a lot of the things that I did and met a lot of the people that I met. so that was probably my favorite dog sport memory of my life. You would think it would be my world championship, I know. Or breaking the record, I know, I know, but.

Bret Geller (37:07)

Well, I was wrong all the guy I was thinking when you and heist got in the Hall of Fame for duck dogs. That's what I was guessing But I am glad I got to meet Fletch. Yeah, I mean I love Goldens

Brianne (37:12)

That was pretty spectacular too. Heisty.

Bret Geller (37:23)

Definitely a breed I would like to have in the future. How can future clients, you know, find your company?

Brianne (37:32)

You know, we try to make it as easy as possible. So we're popping up on all those social media sites and that's always a, social media is a ever changing, it's an evolution all the time. It seems like it's always changing and the best way to advertise on those and what videos to post. So that's always a work in progress. But then we have the good old website that I think is one of the greatest tools anybody can have as a good website with all your information. And I always try to think of it the best way that

I like to reach out to clients. Like, I want to be able to go onto a company's website. I want to see somewhere where I can either contact them or set up a phone call or whatever it may be. So we have that all on our website, the home page. You're going to have buttons right there where you can contact us or set up a consultation right away. And that's going to connect you with one of our senior trainers either via phone or Zoom. And then we get you set up for that complementary acclamation day.

Bret Geller (38:30)

Awesome. And what is your website?

Brianne (38:32)

Yeah, it's www .sitnowstay .com.

Bret Geller (38:37)

Perfect. Well, I've enjoyed talking to you today, Miss Breanne Durham.

Brianne (38:44)

Always a pleasure. I'm glad we could finally meet up.

Bret Geller (38:48)

All right, well, thank you, everyone, for listening today. This is Pet Biz Expert Podcast.