11/01/2025
So, you wanna be a dog trainer/kennel operator/breeder?
Not just a trainer, you wanna build your own company.
Well, I hope youâre tougher than rusted nails. Because this life? It will test every inch of you.
I hope youâre ready to wake up in the middle of the night to dogs screaming. Ready to throw on a hoodie and stumble outside because someoneâs panicking in their crate.
I hope youâre ready to walk into a room covered, and I mean covered, in diarrhea. And while youâre scrubbing floors for the next three hours, ten more dogs are waiting to go out.
Thatâs not training, thatâs just basic care.
Your home will stop feeling like a home. Itâll run like a facility: strict routines, constant cleaning, endless noise.
Your social life? Gone. Your free time? Doesnât exist until you build a team.
Youâll take client dogs to the vet for emergencies that eat half your day and youâll still have others waiting back home.
Youâll wake up running and go to sleep planning tomorrow.
The day never ends. It only resets.
Got puppies in for training?
Get ready to clean up p*e every single day. Youâll get dressed, walk into the room, and there it is, a puppy covered head to toe. So, youâre bathing dogs before breakfast and dirtying the outfit you just put on.
The dogs will leak into every crevice of your personal life.
Your friends will stop inviting you out because they already know youâll say no, youâre worried about the dogs at home.
Youâll invest thousands, the best kennels, the safest setups, AC units, vehicles, grooming tubs, e collars, dryers, food containers. It still doesnât feel like enough.
Then thousands more into your education, traveling across the country to learn from the best trainers, the best seminars, and even then⌠you still wonât feel good enough. But, you shouldnât ⌠because you probably arenât.
Youâll run a company while managing your own dogs with goals and dreams of their own.
Client dogs will take priority, and your personal dogs will wait while you train, handle, and rehabilitate others.
Sometimes, youâll suit up in bite gear, heart pounding, because the dog in front of you doesnât just have âissuesâ, it wants to take you down.
And while youâre doing that, youâll have dogs back home with your team that you canât stop thinking about.
Youâll go on a trip for your personal dogs but end up bringing double the number, because the client dogs have to come too. In between your dogsâ lessons, youâll be handling theirs.
Youâll juggle feeding, watering, grooming, and still be glued to your phone: answering calls, emails, and messages so you donât miss out on sales or miss a client in need.
Things do get easier, eventually. Youâll build a team. Youâll find better systems. But it takes time, patience, and learning from the chaos that nearly broke you.
Youâll drive across states to rescue a dog that wants to maul you, and youâll bring it home, look into its eyes, and whisperâŚ.
What the hell have I done? But deep down you know, who else was going to do it?
People will talk about you. Youâll become a villain to some, a hero to others. People will say, âI wish I had your life,â and youâll smile and nod because yes, youâre thankful but they donât see that just hours ago, you euthanized your 13 year old rescue and havenât even found the strength to tell anyone yet.
Your family will stop inviting you to things because you âalways have dogs.â
Youâll have happy clients and angry ones. Youâll deal with cancellations, reschedules, emergencies. Someone will call you unreliable because you missed a session but they donât know you spent 24 hours at the ER, lost your personal dog, and still showed up the next morning to train theirs.
Every penny you make will go right back into your craft.
Youâll build, upgrade, improve and itâll never stop.
Youâll pour your savings into your home, your setup, your facility.
Your business will bleed into your relationships.
Youâll question yourself âŚ.âAm I crazy for loving this much? For putting dogs above everything else?â
Youâll forget what nice clothes feel like. Youâll ruin shoes, stain shirts, and smell like dogs more often than not.
Iâve been training since I was 18. Iâm 23 now. Iâve felt every emotion: joy, heartbreak, defeat, pride, exhaustion.
Iâve felt on top of the world, and Iâve felt like giving up.
But Iâve grown. Iâve traveled. Iâve built a team. Iâve made over a million dollars and Iâm still just getting started.
Because every single day, no matter how hard it gets âŚ
I wake up, look at the dogs, and smile.
Because this is where Iâm meant to be.
At least I know.
And with so many ânewâ trainers rising,
I hope you really think about this.
Youâre not just working with dogs ⌠youâre holding peopleâs trust,
their animalsâ safety, their familyâs hearts.
If youâre not in this life and I mean REALLY in it. Then dont do itâŚ..
By Lillyana Quinn
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