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Board & Train PART 2: the real time commitment
Setting prices for professional services can be tricky. Some years ago, I stressed a bit about an increase in pricing for my board & train service. But when I paid close attention to the many things that consume my time, an increase made sense and kept me motivated to continue offering this service.
There’s much time spent with the dog beyond just the training sessions you have each day. My sessions are usually in short bursts, several times a day, and they really don’t eat up much time at all. But, to give you an idea of where else your time may be spent, I’ll refer to Macey, a cavalier pup, who stayed with me recently for nine days of B&T.
These were some of the tasks on the client’s wish list:
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teach pup to sleep later in morning
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leave-it
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recall
Leave-its were a breeze to teach in bite-sized segments that required very little time. The recall required more time than the mere number of reps I did. I had to meander around my yard waiting for the right time to cue Macey to come while factoring in the distance, the types of distractions in the environment, and her current skill level.
Sleeping until later in the morning was the most time-consuming task. Here’s the back story: I was told Macey was fast asleep at home by 8pm and they were reluctant to get her up for a later potty break. Her sleep-deprived mom said Macey was waking up by 5:00am and she desperately wanted her to be able to sleep until at least 6:15-6:30am, which is when her kids have to get up for school.
Here’s what I did:
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Changed my own 8pm bedtime (can’t believe I’m admitting that, but I do get up very early!) by 1.5 to 2 hours so I could give her a last-night potty break later in the evening. (Binging on a Hulu series helped with that!)
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Changed my own get-out-of-bed time to later in the morning to give Macey the best chance of sleeping in longer. ⏰
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Taught a “QUIET” interrupt ????during the day so it would ultimately be functional in the wee hours of the morning.
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Stayed in bed and listened for any Macey vocalizations in the next room, and interrupted as needed, adding a little more time each day until we reached our goal.
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By the fourth morning, I’m happy to report we had exceeded the target wake-up time!
When you have a guest dog staying at your house, what have you noticed about the time commitment involved?
➡ To see the first installment of this series, click here.
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10 Replies
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I’ve been thinking about adding board and train to my services list….
I have a couple of dogs who board with me from time to time, mostly ones with issues (sep anxiety, resource guarding, etc) that belong to friends who can’t board anywhere else. They live with us in the home setting.
One thing that doesn’t factor in price, but is a big deal, is the fact that a boarder ties you to home. I can leave my dogs at home for half, or rarely, full days while I go to private clients or visit grandchildren. I’m not comfortable leaving a guest (boarder) for more than an hour or two.
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Yes, that’s an important consideration, @Cyn . I pre-screen to be sure a dog can calmly handle some alone time and I strictly avoid any dogs with separation anxiety (as I would not be able to leave the house even for a quick errand) and then limit my lessons away from home to two in a row, and maybe one more later in the day. I never work a full, non-stop day of back-to-back lessons anyway, so this gives me the freedom to accommodate B&T pups sometimes.
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This is a great topic, @virginiad !
When I did private boarding (not board and train), I was also a petsitter and dog walker. So, my schedule usually consists of a few rounds a day of 3-3-1/2 hour driving to clients homes in a 5-10 mile radius. I try to turn down a pet sit when I’m boarding, so I don’t have to be at another dog’s house when I’m watching and sleeping near one on my own.
My BF loves dogs luckily. His schedule often overlaps my own. So, most of the time, one of us is home with the boarded dog.
I pre-screened in form of a reverse meet-and-greet, where the client brings the dog to my home to meet my BF and parrot (who loves dogs, too). I had one failure in this of a Lakeland terrier who initially did fine with my Eclectus, Stella; however, after half a day of trying to get him to settle in, he just kept trying to get to her cage (barrier of a double baby gate and his playpen, no dice). He simply couldn’t stop his fixation on her and I wouldn’t leave her and him alone. It was a rough few days! I never want to put my own parrot’s cage into another room, but I had to once when I left him and my BF could not stay home.
I would like to have limited the intake to dogs who are comfortable being in their crate for a few hours and overnight. It’s hard sometimes for dogs who supposedly are crate trained to be transitioned into a new home and kennel in a strange location. My BF is not a big fan of kennels, so that makes it hard, too.
Lastly, I never boarded unfamiliar dogs. They always were either walking or training clients I already had. It was also only by invitation from myself, if I could see them fitting into my lifestyle and home.
The Dane and Border Collie (from 2 separate dog families, thank Dog!!!) are my craziest, silliest, highest-demand doggies. They are both girls. I love them to pieces, but they drive me a bit crazy. I’m always happy when they arrive, but happy when they go back home. Whew!???? Both are faves of my BF.
My fave was a sweet male unaltered English cream Retriever named Wrigley. Due to the distance they lived away, I went to meet him and his family, with my friend, who was intercepting him for me. He was brought into my home by my friend, Rita, who stayed with him until I got back from a vacation. He was such a good boy. His family had 3 cats, and he was only a year old when I first had him stay, so he did plenty of funny things, like chase moths in the grass during evening walks and dip his paw into his water dish to drink. Huge cat! Lol The family moved to Oklahoma a year and a half ago and I miss him all the time!????
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Ooooh, yes, prescreening for Stella’s safety is so very important. I used to have pet rats and I wouldn’t keep dogs who were super-charged about the tasty snacks! ????
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Awe, @virginiad , pet rats are so adorable. And super trainable! So cool all the multi-species work you’ve done.
I think if you have cats, same would apply. Stella just LOVES doggies. ????. She tries to throw tasty snacks and her pellets to them. I keep that tall baby gate secured in front of her with a sheet over it, for everyone’s safety. Most dogs do not see the beak as something to worry about. ????
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Stella sounds absolutely stellar!!! Tossing treats to the dogs! ????
I had 30 rats total over the years and I loved them beyond reason. But their short lifespans finally did me in. I don’t think I can ever have them again, but I miss them terribly. I tried doing foster care for a while, but the rats I fostered were always shy of people, and it was a big deal for them to learn to take a treat from my hand or allow me to hold them. I used to bring them into my bathtub and just sit with them until they got used to my presence!
In the pics below, Tulip is perched on Gabriel’s head. She was one of my first rats. And Scotti, seen riding my GSD, Reina, was my last rat. She had free-roam of the house for segments of time each day, and she’d often leap off a piece of furniture to hitch a ride on Reina. She was sooooooooooooo SAUCY!!
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Just beautiful! I love to see how lovely dogs can be with other species. Especially, species that some dogs find as prey. That’s a long time with rats in your home. I bet you loved them all in their own unique way, but yes, the short lives take a toll on us humans.
Stella is pretty unique. I know she misses Sam & Tara. Probably even my cat, Loki. Never had any multi species problems or conflicts, even growing up…always used caution, but it’s amazing how open pet animals can be curious and calm when their owners are the same. As a college kid, I had a Northern green snake who was often friendly with my Oriental shorthair cat…
Attaching a pic of Samson with Stella out on her perch stand. My Lab was often out the door when she heard little bird feet hit the floor…????
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I love that pic, @bernerlabreclectus ! I’ve been mixing species since my early twenties — dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, ducks, and agoutis — so careful selection with low prey drive in mind was super-important. I had just a bit of work to do when I got min pins and already had rats, but thanks to their young age, it wasn’t really hard to convince them that the rats were family.
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I love all the pics you posted! Just so freaking amazing. As always, thanks for sharing all the amazing animals you’ve had the pleasure of knowing.
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Absolutely my pleasure to share. I love to see the pics myself and be reminded of such happy memories.
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