Tuesday 13 May 2014

What is the true cost of 'free advice'?

This blog may come across as negative and I apologise if it does, I don't intend it to be. I just wanted to raise an issue that a lot of us have in the business; being asked for free advice because people "can't afford it". Of course, times are hard and every penny counts, but if you are having training or behaviour issues with your dog, it is your duty to do all you can to resolve it with the guidance of a reputable professional.

Most trainers and behaviourists are small business owners that care deeply about their clients and prospective clients and the welfare of their dogs. A lot of us do work at discounted rates for local charities and the price you pay for our time doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of time we spend on each client. There is often report writing, phone calls and emails before/after the session and liaison with other paraprofessionals and vets. We have mortgages and bills to pay and families of our own to take care of. We are not a public service. Yet many of us are called/emailed by people experiencing
issues with their dogs, looking for free advice as they couldn't possibly afford to pay for a professional.

A rough estimate of the cost of my dog training & behaviour career to date:

Undergraduate degree/accomodation/living costs = £9000
1:1 training with well-respected professionals for me and my dog over the past 6 years = £9000 
Regular CPD webinars over the past 4 year = £300
Seminars and workshops over the past 6 years = £2200
Business insurance for the past 5 years = £1000
Business vehicle costs for the past 2 years = £2500
Books = £1500
Dog training venues/equipment for the past 2 years = £2000
Membership fees for the past 4 years = £900
Postgraduate degree/accommodation/living costs = £6000

TOTAL = £34,400

Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way and I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone owes me anything for my choice to educate myself and follow a dog training and behaviour career. However, next time someone quibbles paying £35 for a 1:1 training session with me because they couldn't possibly afford it, I'm going to remember the £35k that I've spent obtaining the knowledge and skills required to get to where I am and simply send them details of my rates. If they don't like it, they can go and educate themselves in order to help their dog, which judging from the above will be a lot more expensive!







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5 comments:

  1. customer 14 May 2014 at 00:47

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  2. customer 14 May 2014 at 00:53

    I agree you should factor dog training costs before you get a dog. If you can't afford behaviour advice if your dog develops a problem, adopt from Dogs Trust who give free life time behavioural advice. The other thing to add to that is there is another option, you can put in loads of time and research watch all off kikopups videos and the other great training advice on you tube, you can get great books from the library. At the end of the day it is so much less work as an owner to hire a professional and so much easier to train with their support. But with a professionals support you are going to have to put in hours and hours of time with your dog to make their advice work.. If you research it yourself then times those hours by 5 as you will have to spend time on the computer and reading books and on good advice forums that use modern training methods finding what you should read and all the bad advice you should avoid. If you are really struggling financially have at least one lesson and ask to be put on the right path and then be prepared to do lots of work.

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  3. Unknown14 May 2014 at 02:28

    Excellent, well said :)

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