The Poodle to Pitbull Pet Business Podcast

Are you brilliant at looking after dogs… but still working seven days a week?

Have you collected qualifications, improved your handling skills and become better and better at your craft… without your income increasing or your freedom improving at the same rate?

What if the next big breakthrough in your pet business has absolutely NOTHING to do with becoming better with dogs?

In this episode, I'm sharing something I've become increasingly passionate about after 15 years in the pet industry: Being brilliant with dogs is only part of what it takes to build a brilliant pet business.

I share some of the lessons from my own journey, from launching Pack Leader Dog Adventures as a deliberately premium-priced service in 2011, through to the painful failure of my online pet store and the realisation that passion, expertise and hard work simply weren't enough. That failure sent me down the rabbit hole of direct response marketing, copywriting, pricing, positioning, customer psychology, systems, upsells and all the other stuff nobody teaches you when you decide to start a pet business. And I dive into some of that good stuff here.

I also take you behind the scenes of our recent Operation Codebreaker DDSA Immersion Event in Milton Keynes, where members worked on automation, systems and creating businesses that are less dependent on them. And you'll hear from US DDSA members Tara and Skylor, who travelled across the Atlantic to join us, share ideas with the UK members and experience first-hand the cross-pollination that happens inside the academy.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Being Great With Dogs Isn't Enough – The uncomfortable reason passion, qualifications and technical expertise don't automatically create a successful business. The Expensive Failure That Changed My Business – How my disastrous online store taught me more about business than many of my successes. Why You Don't Need Another Gold Star – How constantly chasing qualifications can become a substitute for making the commercial changes your business really needs. Why Premium Pricing Changed Everything – What I learned from charging twice as much as my competitors when I launched Pack Leader Dog Adventures. The Shift From Operator to Business Leader – Why learning about pricing, marketing, leadership, systems and wealth creation gives you MORE opportunity to make an impact, not less.

If you're a dog daycare or pet resort owner who knows you're brilliant at what you do but wants to become equally brilliant at building the BUSINESS around it, you can join the Dog Daycare Success Academy waitlist at:

petbusinessmarketing.com/successacademy

Are you adding enrichment activities to your services… or actually building a business where your whole team understands enrichment?

Could there be dozens of opportunities inside your facility to create calmer, happier and more stimulating experiences for the dogs in your care?

And what happens when your staff finally understand the why behind enrichment, rather than simply being told what activities to do?

In this episode, we're just THREE DAYS away from the 2026 Pet Care Enrichment Summit, so I'm giving you another sneak peek at some of the incredible training we've got coming your way.

First, you'll hear from DDSA member Alex Varney, who'll be speaking at this year's summit about something slightly different: creating enriching experiences for your employees. Alex shares a brilliantly simple way she combines positive reinforcement, team education, core values and a bag full of cheap, silly prizes to make learning more engaging for her staff.

Then we go behind the scenes with Enrich U Dean Tim Jackson, who recently spent two days at Royvon Dog Training carrying out an enrichment audit, training the team and helping them identify ways to weave more enrichment into the services they already provide. And this is where enrichment starts to become much bigger than a lick mat, snuffle mat or occasional activity.

It becomes part of the culture of the business.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Enrichment Starts With Your Team – How getting staff excited, educated and involved makes it far easier to improve the experience you provide for the dogs.
• How to Conduct an Enrichment Audit – Why walking through your facility with fresh eyes can uncover hidden opportunities to improve your environment and services.
• The Importance of Understanding the "Why" – How teaching the principles behind enrichment creates better decision-making than simply handing staff a list of activities.
• How to Enrich the Employee Experience – Alex Varney's simple positive-reinforcement approach to making staff training, core values and education more fun.
• How to "Disnify" an Existing Service – Why enrichment doesn't always require completely reinventing what you do; sometimes it's about fine-tuning an already great service and making the experience even better.

You'll also hear directly from the Royvon team about what they learned from Tim's visit, including the five pillars of enrichment, scent, creating calmer environments and how the training reignited their enthusiasm for putting enrichment into practice.

The 2026 Pet Care Enrichment Summit starts in just THREE DAYS, with speakers from dog training, daycare, scent work, pet sitting and the zoo world all sharing their expertise. Click here to grab your ticket now! Thanks to our amazing show sponsor Tailpro, learn more about their amazing booking app here

Remember those goals you set at the start of the year?

Are you on track to hit them… or did they quietly disappear somewhere around March?

And with just 90 days of the year remaining, what could you still change if you got some proper momentum behind you?

In this episode, I'm talking about one of the most valuable — and underrated — forces in business: momentum. I've just returned from another coaching event in London with a notebook full of ideas, reminders and things I want to implement in my own business over the next 90 days.

And yes, despite having been in business for years, coaching pet business owners for more than a decade and having invested a small fortune in my own education, I still pay other smart people to coach, challenge and teach me. Because I believe you should practise what you preach.

More importantly, I know how difficult it is to keep moving forward when you're trying to do everything on your own. The right coach, mastermind, event or group doesn't just give you more information. It gives you fresh ideas, accountability, shortcuts, perspective and — crucially — the momentum to keep moving when business inevitably throws something unexpected at you.

I also catch up with puppy specialist Adam Delderfield, who gives us a preview of his upcoming Pet Care Enrichment Summit session on completely rethinking the traditional puppy class. Adam explains how he uses enrichment to create a better learning experience for BOTH puppies and their owners — because people might forget exactly what you taught them, but they remember how you made them feel.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Momentum Matters So Much – How progress can quickly accelerate when you're moving forward — and how easily it can disappear when you start sitting back. Why I Still Invest in Coaching – What I continue to get from mentors, masterminds and events despite having spent years building my own successful business. Why You Should Practise What You Preach – If you expect clients to invest in themselves and their dogs, you should be willing to invest in becoming better at what you do too. The Power of the 90-Day Reset – Why the final quarter of the year is a perfect opportunity to reassess your goals, regain focus and build momentum heading into 2027. Why Action Still Matters Most – Coaching can provide the ideas, accountability and shortcuts, but none of it works unless you actually implement what you learn.

If you want to join us for the Pet Care Enrichment Summit, grab your ticket at:

enrichmentsummit.com

And if you're a dog daycare or pet resort owner who wants more momentum, accountability and help moving your business to the next level, you can join the Dog Daycare Success Academy waitlist at:

petbusinessmarketing.com/successacademy

A huge thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet businesses save time, streamline operations and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Find out more at tailpro.uk

What can a dog daycare owner learn from someone enriching a polar bear, giraffe or chimpanzee?

Are your enrichment activities actually designed to encourage natural behaviours… or are you just giving dogs something different to do?

And could looking outside the pet care industry completely change the way you think about enrichment?

In this episode, I'm giving you a sneak peek inside the upcoming Pet Care Enrichment Summit, including highlights from one of my favourite sessions from last year's event: our Zookeepers Roundtable.

One of the things we've always done differently with the Enrichment Summit is deliberately bring in experts from outside traditional pet care. Because if you want to get better at enrichment, there are few better people to learn from than professionals whose entire job involves creating stimulating environments and experiences for animals in captivity.

You'll hear fascinating examples involving servals, polar bears, Arctic foxes, parrots and giraffes, and discover why great enrichment isn't about randomly chucking an activity into an enclosure and hoping the animal enjoys it.

It starts with the animal, the behaviours you want to encourage and the experience you're trying to create.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Enrichment Should Be Goal-Based – How zookeepers start with natural behaviours rather than simply dreaming up activities.

What Happens When Enrichment Doesn't Work – Why an animal completely ignoring your intended outcome doesn't necessarily mean the activity failed.

The Importance of Species-Specific Enrichment – What polar bears, parrots and giraffes teach us about designing experiences around the animal in front of you.

Why "Use It or Lose It" Matters – How animals need opportunities to practise natural behaviours and develop important physical and mental skills.

How the Environment Becomes Enrichment – Why food, movement, scent, other animals and even unexpected changes can all create valuable experiences.

I also preview this year's Pet Care Enrichment Summit seminars, where we have 12 presentations across six days, including dog trainer and daycare owner roundtables, breed-specific enrichment, scent work, behavioural workflows and another brilliant line-up of zoo professionals.

Remember, this years enrichment summit brings you more learning opportunities than ever with 12 sessions over 6 years. And you can get a LIVE ticket and lifetime access to the recordings by clicking here now Thanks to our amazing show sponsor TailPro click here to find out more about their amazing booking app

Click here to grab an early bird ticket to the this years Pet Care Enrichment Summit now!

Is your dog daycare still relying on all-day group play as the main reason clients bring their dogs to you?

Are you giving enrichment away for free because you don't know how to package, position or sell it?

And as costs continue to rise, could enrichment be one of the keys to building a better experience for the dogs AND a more profitable business?

In this episode, I'm joined by Enrich U Dean Tim Jackson for a special preview of the 2026 Pet Care Enrichment Summit, which takes place from October 12th–16th. This is the third year we've run the summit, and we've assembled our biggest line-up yet, bringing together dog daycare owners, trainers, enrichment specialists, scent work experts, zookeepers and animal welfare professionals for an entire week dedicated to doing pet care differently.

Because here's the big thing… Enrichment isn't the future anymore. It's the present.

The old pile-'em-high, cram-in-more-dogs, low-priced, all-day-play daycare model is becoming increasingly difficult to operate profitably. Costs are rising. Payroll is getting BIGGER. Clients expect more, but simply squeezing another ten dogs into the building ISN'T a sustainable growth strategy. Modern pet care businesses need to create better, more personalised experiences for the animals in their care — AND learn how to communicate, package and sell those experiences to pet parents.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Enrichment Is No Longer Optional – Why the changing economics of dog daycare mean facilities need to rethink the traditional all-day-play model.
• What Pet Businesses Can Learn From Zoos – How zookeepers approach enrichment, welfare and animal environments — and the lessons you can bring back into your own facility.
• Why Your Team Needs to Understand the "Why" – How deeper enrichment knowledge helps your staff confidently educate clients and sell your services.
• How to Turn Enrichment Into Revenue – Why giving enrichment away for free makes the transition harder, and how to start creating experiences clients actually want to buy.
• Why One Activity Doesn't Fit Every Dog – How breed, age, personality and individual needs should influence the enrichment experiences you provide.

We also reveal some of what's coming at this year's Pet Care Enrichment Summit, including dog daycare and trainer round tables, breed-specific enrichment, zoo enrichment, behavioural workflows, scent work and much more.

If you want to immerse yourself in modern enrichment, steal ideas from some incredibly smart people and - importantly - learn how to actually make money from implementing them, grab your early bird MEGA discounted ticket now at: enrichmentsummit.com

The 2026 Pet Care Enrichment Summit runs October 12th–16th, and I highly recommend grabbing the VIP ticket so you get lifetime access to all the recordings.

A huge thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet businesses save time, streamline operations and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Find out more at tailpro.uk.

Is your dog daycare still running on a business model that worked five or ten years ago?

Are you cramming in more dogs, adding more staff, and working harder… only to watch your margins get tighter?

And what happens if the pet industry changes faster than your business does?

In this episode, I'm officially announcing IMPACT 2027 and laying out the big idea behind this year's event: The Great Dog Daycare Divide – How to Avoid the 2030 Pet Care Extinction Event.

For the last 20 years, the pet care industry has been riding a huge wave of growth. If you loved dogs, worked hard, charged a fair price, and looked after your customers, you could usually build a successful business. But the market has changed.

Competition is more sophisticated. Corporate operators and franchises are expanding. Costs are rising. Staffing is harder. Margins are shrinking. And dog owners are becoming more selective about where they spend their money.

As a result, I believe the industry is splitting into two very different camps: pet care "muggles" still playing by yesterday's rules, and pet business "wizards" building more premium, experience-led, affluent-attractive businesses designed for the future.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The Great Dog Daycare Divide – Why the next few years will separate businesses that adapt from those that get left behind.
• Why the Warehouse Model Is Breaking – How more dogs, more staff, more hours, and more hustle eventually lead to thinner margins and burnout.
• What the New Model Looks Like – Why personalised care, premium pricing, automation, authority, and better leadership are becoming essential.
• The Signs You're Stuck in a Muggle Mindset – The phrases, assumptions, and habits that reveal your business needs an upgrade.
• Why IMPACT 2027 Is Different – How two days in Florida can help you rethink pricing, marketing, systems, customer experience, and the future of your facility.

You'll also hear from Paul Paradis and Eve Molzhon, who share why deeper, more specific business education, better customer experience, and being surrounded by ambitious people can completely change the trajectory of your business.

If you want to join me at IMPACT 2027 in Florida, head to: petbusinessmarketing.com/impact27

The early bird offer is live now!

Thanks to our amazing show sponsor Tailpro, click here to find out more about their amazing booking app.

Do you know your pet business could be better… but you keep putting off the uncomfortable decisions?

What happens when you stop trying to figure everything out alone and start acting on the things you already know need fixing?

And how much could change in just 90 days if somebody actually held you accountable?

In this episode, I'm sharing some powerful real-world examples of what happens when dog daycare and pet resort owners stop sitting on ideas and start taking proper action.

You'll hear from Alex Varney, one of the newest Dog Daycare Success Academy members, who attended her first immersion event and then went home and immediately got to work. Within a week she had increased prices, improved staff wages, introduced new benefits, made team changes, created new customer service systems, and started planning the next phase of expansion.

I also share a conversation with Allison Jacobs and Kristen Perrus from Scouts Honour, who explain how their business has changed since working with me — including a 40% price increase in one year with almost no pushback, rapid growth across training and grooming, and a complete shift in how they think about pricing, positioning, and what's possible. This episode is really about one thing: there is always another level to unlock, but getting there requires action, uncomfortable decisions, accountability, and the willingness to keep asking, "What's next?"

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What Happens When You Act Fast – How one immersion event led to immediate pricing, staffing, leadership, and expansion decisions
• Why Accountability Changes Everything – How deadlines, coaching, and 90-day goals turn good intentions into actual progress.
• The Pricing Confidence Shift – How business owners go from being terrified of increases to confidently charging 40% more.
• Why Your Biggest Roadblock Might Be You – How hesitation and second-guessing quietly slow growth more than almost anything else.
• The "What's Next?" Mentality – Why successful owners never stop improving, even when things are already going well.

The Dog Daycare Success Academy is open now, but the doors close on September 30th, and this is the final enrollment window of the year.

If you want to find out more and join, head to: petbusinessmarketing.com/successacademy

A huge thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet businesses save time, streamline operations, and deliver a better customer experience.

Find out more at tailpro.uk.

Running a pet business is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world, but it can also be one of the lonliest... Who can you talk to who understands the business critical challenges you face each week...

And how much faster can you move when you're surrounded by people who are willing to share what's working?

And....what could your business look like 90 days from now if you actually committed to making the changes you already know you need to make?

Well, in this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of the latest Dog Daycare Success Academy immersion event in Annapolis. The theme was world-class customer service, and we had two brilliant special guests join us. Vance Morris shared lessons from his Disney background on creating better customer experiences and memorable magic moments, while Leonard Raskin from Raskin Global helped the room think more seriously about building and protecting both business and personal wealth.

But the real power of these immersion events comes from the people in the room. You'll hear directly from DDSA members about the changes they've made over the last 90 days, the ideas they picked up from their peers, and the breakthroughs they're taking back into their businesses.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Peer Learning Is So Powerful – How sharing ideas with other ambitious owners can shortcut years of trial and error.
• The Customer Experience Gap – Why thinking you provide great service and actually delivering it are two very different things.
• What 90 Days of Focus Can Achieve – From record revenue months to writing a book and making major operational changes.
• The Value of Getting Outside Your Bubble – How other owners can challenge assumptions, expose blind spots, and help you make better decisions.
• Why DDSA Feels Different – How coaching, accountability, community, and collaboration combine to help good businesses become exceptional.

If you need helping taking your business to the next level then you'll be pleased to know the Dog Daycare Success Academy is now OPEN, and this is be the final opportunity to join this year... Don't watse any more time. Our next Immersion event is happening in San Francisco in October, then we'll be in Edinburgh in December.

If you want to find out more, head to: petbusinessmarketing.com/successacademy

A huge thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet businesses save time, streamline operations, and deliver a better customer experience.

Find out more at tailpro.uk.

Are you busy, fully booked… and still wondering where all the money goes?

Do you know your staff deserve better wages, your facility needs investment, and you should be taking more out of the business yourself?

And what if the biggest thing holding all of that back is simply that your prices are too low?

In this episode, I'm talking about the real cost of staying cheap and why fixing your pricing is about far more than adding a few dollars or pounds onto your daily rate.

After delivering a live training on how to build a highly profitable dog daycare that attracts affluent clients and commands premium prices, I decided to create something I've never done before: Top Dollar Dog Daycare – The Pet Resort Profit Boosting Bootcamp.

I explain why the old high-volume, warehouse-style model is becoming harder to sustain, how underpricing eventually impacts everything from staff wages and facility improvements to your own stress levels, and why burnout can ultimately turn into something even worse — resentment towards the business you once dreamed of owning.

I also walk you through the six areas we'll be tackling inside the bootcamp, from Pricing Power and hidden revenue to premium experiences, authority, automation, and building long-term business assets.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The Real Cost of Staying Cheap – Why low prices affect your staff, your facility, your freedom, and eventually how you feel about the business itself.
• How to Activate Your Pricing Power – The five levels of Pricing Power and how to start moving your business towards thriving and dominating.
• Where the Hidden Money Is – How to uncover overlooked revenue opportunities inside the clients and services you already have.
• How to Become Worth More – Why premium experiences, better onboarding, and expert positioning make higher prices easier to command.
• The Bigger Pricing Picture – How authority assets, automation, memberships, and signature systems create a business that gets more profitable and valuable over time.

If you want to join Top Dollar Dog Daycare – The Pet Resort Profit Boosting Bootcamp, head to: petbusinessmarketing.com/profitbootcamp

The bootcamp starts Tuesday and runs across six live sessions over two weeks.

A huge thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet business owners save time, streamline operations, and deliver a better customer experience.

Find out more at tailpro.uk

Are your prices attracting the wrong kind of clients?

Could charging more actually make your pet business more desirable?

And how much is fear costing you every month you remain underpriced?

In this episode, I'm tackling one of the biggest and most expensive problems in the pet industry: undercharging.

After coaching more than 3,000 pet business owners over the last decade, I've seen the same pattern repeatedly. Owners start too cheap, stay too cheap, and allow the complaints of one or two vocal penny-pinchers to dictate their entire pricing strategy.

I explain why low prices don't necessarily make your services more attractive, especially to affluent dog owners who want the absolute best care for their pets. In fact, being too cheap can create doubt, damage the perception of your service, and actively repel the premium clients you want to attract.

You'll also discover the psychology behind the Chivas Regal effect, why doubling the price of a product can increase its perceived value, and what your business needs to build if you want to command premium prices year after year.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Fear Is Dictating Your Prices – How complaints, Facebook groups, and bad advice convince owners they've reached an imaginary pricing ceiling. The Hidden Cost of Being Cheap – Why low prices attract more difficult clients while pushing affluent prospects towards your competitors. The Canine Chivas Regal Effect – How increasing a price can improve perceived quality, desirability, and status without changing the product itself. What Makes a Business Premium – The authority assets, signature systems, client experiences, and social proof that make higher prices believable. Why One Price Increase Is NEVER Enough – How to become the kind of pet business that can confidently increase prices year after year. Remember, every day you remain underpriced, you aren't only losing money. You're attracting more of the clients you don't want and building a business that becomes increasingly difficult to escape. A huge thank you to the podcast sponsor, TailPro, the all-in-one management platform helping pet business owners save time, reduce admin and deliver a better customer experience. To find out more and book a free discovery call, visit tailpro.uk. To join my free live webinar, How to Build a Highly Profitable Dog Daycare That Attracts Affluent Clients and Commands Premium Prices, head to:

petbusinessmarketing.com/webinar