By Jennifer Broome, QK Owner

For most of my career training dogs which now is spanning over 20 years I have always truly enjoyed helping people with their dogs. That passion is what has driven me to where I am today with the development and growth of Quinebaug Kennels (QK Dogs). With up to 30 employees and a capacity to house over 100 dogs, our facility continues to grow and our QK Team keeps getting better. We are truly experts in our field.

I live and breathe dogs. From studying dog breeds, to the best diets, supplements, exercises, care, training methods and wellness, I am an open book to continue to grow and learn nonstop. The times are changing, the people in our society are certainly changing, and the dogs are a reflection of these changes. Every day I receive emails from past clients, current clients and future clients who would like help or advice with their dogs.  While visiting with my fabulous marketing Team at Miranda Creative today to plan our 2018 Business Plans, I proposed an idea that I have been considering for some time now. We discussed it and we would like to move forward with it, so here is the start!

In the past I have made some wonderful videos with Cabelas and Gun Dogs Online (see a sample), but I have not further pursued taking advantage to offer my services and expertise more with books or videos even though people ask regularly. For 2018 we are going to be exploring the idea to offer podcasts, online videos, webinars and interactive video or phone lessons. While we truly love to have people out to visit our facility, that is not always possible and we have so much to share, so we would like to offer this service in hopes to share our information, expertise and passion for all things dogs!

To start it off, the first endeavor will be setting up phone consultations with me personally.  Topics that I would like to assist with include:

1. Choosing the right breed, mutt, or rescue for your family pet or field companion.
2. Puppy basics to include and explain the importance of crate training, feeding schedules and diet, house training (easy to master!), manners, socializing and basic leash training.
3. Behavioral issues such as barking, jumping, anxiety, being destructive, fearful, aggressive and more. Why they are occurring and proactive steps you can do to help instantly change these behaviors.
4. Health and wellness information regarding exercise, nutrition, supplements to help with better coats, less shedding, intestinal issues, and minor health concerns (when to see a vet and why!).

My goal here is to continue to help people with their beloved canines! I have so many solutions to many of the questions you have as well as 20 years as a Professional caring for thousands of dogs. If I cannot help you then I will refer you to someone who can help since I am in a phenomenal network of dog care Professionals, from breeders, to trainers to veterinarians.

Another driving force here is my realization that many pet owners can be helped IMMEDIATELY with this service! Each time I read the QK Contact forms, Obedience or Gun Dog Assessment forms that are found on our website where clients answer a series of questions to explain their dog, I am in awe of the answers. For instance someone may be asking for help with their 4 month old puppy because it destroys things in the house, is not house broken, bites and jumps, even snarls over toys and more.  The answers to my detailed website questions quickly paint a clear picture of what the HUMAN is doing wrong!

Who would benefit from this service?

1. ANYONE planning on getting a new puppy or dog! All too often people are duped by buying an unhealthy dog or worse yet, the WRONG energy level and dominance level for your family. Let’s discuss which breeds would be best for a family, apartment dog, active family, first time owners, etc.
2. ALL NEW PUPPY OR DOG OWNERS! Together, let’s devise a program and plan to start off right with rules, structure and boundaries so we do not end up with an unbalanced dog. Let’s avoid dogs with anxiety, aggression, fear and more by being proactive from day 1 with your new dog.
3. Clients who have difficult work schedules and cannot come in for a lesson right away.
4. Clients who live too far away for a lesson.
5. Clients who wish to enroll in our in-house boot camp training programs but want to be proactive in getting a head start! I love this plan because not only can I help to immediately resolve some of your current problems, together we will develop a plan so that when your dog enters our program, we will have already had a jump start on YOU as well as helping you to enforce more rules and structure.  In turn, this will allow us to take your dog even farther through our program rather than wait and let all of the bad behaviors happen at home before boot camp.

How to begin? The Newsletter subscribers will have the first opportunity for this service. By emailing me Jbroome@qkdogs.com with a brief description of your dog care needs, I will direct you with the next step which could be to set up a phone consultation right away or direct you to our website to fill out forms where I will clearly learn more about you and your dog. I will study and evaluate this and then we will set up a time for a phone consult.

In-person rate for gun dog – $150 per hour
In-person rate for other types of training – $120 to 125 per hour
Phone-based rate – $100 per hour.