#103 – 5 Things I Wish I Did Sooner In My Dog Breeding Program

You ever look back at your life and think … gosh I wish I did that sooner? I am always reflecting, analyzing, and trying to assess my best moves. What will make the most impact for me right now? What will help me move forward? What will help me have more of the life and breeding program that I’m after?

What I realized is that there are a few things—okay, probably a lot more than a few—that I wish I had done sooner.

# 1 – Sell the Lifestyle

The very first thing I wish I learned was the truth about selling dogs, which is, we don’t sell dogs, we sell the lifestyle they provide. When you think of it this way, it changes what you are marketing. You are no longer selling the puppy, discussing traits and whether or not they are independent or codependent, reactive or chill. Rather, you’re taking those things and telling everyone about the lifestyle that is born out of those traits and personality.

It goes back to asking why or what does something mean? You need to explain how that’ll affect the lifestyle that someone lives. For example, if you have a quiet dog, that’s great, but what does it mean? It means that the dog won’t bother your neighbors if you live in an apartment, it means that you’ll never feel self-conscious about your dog sitting in your office while you’re on a zoom. See how these are more tangible? It’s because we aren’t selling cute puppy #2; we are selling life with a cuddly puppy who won’t be a vocal nuisance.

I really wish I understood this concept earlier on in my breeding program. I danced around it, but I didn’t nail it until many years later. When you understand that you’re selling the lifestyle the puppy provides, then all of your breeding decisions are easier: you just ask, “What will give people the lifestyle they are looking for? This stud with this female or my other stud? Will this personality thrive in that ideal lifestyle or not?” It not only simplifies breeding decisions, but it simplifies your branding and marketing decisions: “Which colors will pitch the lifestyle my Ideal Puppy Buyer is looking for? Which will make them feel what they seek to feel?”

If you guessed that selling the lifestyle of the dogs you sell is intimately related to the concept of the Ideal Puppy Buyer, you’d be correct that’s exactly it! They are interwoven. When you understand the Ideal Puppy Buyer, then you understand the lifestyle they seek and, when you put it together, you can breed and market puppies specifically to them!

If I had known this sooner, I could’ve built a better website, had better captions on social media, and I would’ve been able to sell pups more easily for more money.

# 2 – Investing More in Facilities & Facility Management

The next thing I wish I would’ve done sooner is invest money into my facilities and facility management. When I first started breeding I didn’t have a big-picture plan. I didn’t know where I was going with my program, I had no definition of success, and I didn’t think too far down the road of my program. I had plans for who I would breed to whom, but in those beginning years I didn’t look at the longer-term idea of what this breeding business would turn into. I didn’t think about if it would be a significant income source; I didn’t look to see if it were going to be a major component of my life. It sort of started and morphed slowly into what it was. It wasn’t until the divorce, being a single mom with two little kids, that I realized I had to turn it into something or get out of it.

Because of this lack of focus, I didn’t put much attention on facilities during the first four years of my breeding program. In fact, I didn’t have any real facilities until after meeting Bill and his encouragement to build something with his construction mind—and crew!

If I could go back, I would take 20% of the income from my first few litters and put that money into facilities. Facilities always feel expensive and often feel overwhelming. I believe the key to starting with facilities, especially when income is low, is that you want to buy modular things, as in pens and panels that can be moved, rearranged, or expanded. This way, as you get a little more money with each litter, then you can add more to things.

If you have a vision for something that you want to build, then put it down on paper, even if it’s a napkin! Make it real. Stick it on your wall. Maybe make a background picture on your phone that reminds you of your goals! I have one on my phone and I look at it all day every day, but you know what? I accomplish those goals.  Get the Canva template to create your own goals wallpaper using the form below.

Also, when planning facilities, don’t forget to spend a little money on good cleaning tools, whether that’s a nice pressure washer to clean crates, panels, and floors, or if that’s a brush attachment for your drill. Yes, I mean, being with Bill I obviously love my power tools, but save the elbow grease! Get the right tools.

You also want to make a plan for cleaning. I didn’t do this for many years and, because I didn’t have a routine, I wasted a lot of time, and was often overwhelmed. For example, picking up dog poop in the back yard a few times a week only takes a few minutes, but waiting a few weeks can make it take forever, and that becomes a problem if someone is stopping over last minute. Make it easy. Make a plan. And don’t forget to throw those pods in your ears and enjoy a favorite podcast or MasterClass while you clean!

Get the Canva Template to Create Your Goals Phone Wallpaper

# 3 – Starting My Email List

My major failure in my marketing plan over the years was not starting my email list until very recently. Wow, have I missed a lot of opportunities. I don’t send a bunch of emails out to my list, maybe once a month and then twice a month if I have puppies to sell. It isn’t a whole bunch of work, but I sell a dog nearly every time I send out an email. It isn’t always immediately, but there’s a trickle effect. People see the email, I entice them in the email to go to my website– sometimes that’s for new puppy picture updates and sometimes it’s a new article on my blog. People click on it, they see what’s available, they learn the new information, and my website begins to rank better on Google and SEO because I have much more traffic.

You could call it a simple hack, but I think of it as a normal part of marketing these days. It makes the most sense to me. Of course you want an email list! I sign up to a lot of email lists to stay in the know for things I want to learn about, and, for my buyers, that’s why they join! They want to know what’s going on and what’s available.

In my opinion, putting together an email to send to my email list is slightly more work in writing than putting together a social media post, and it’s a lot less work than putting together a video for Reels on Instagram. This means that sending an email out to my list is simpler than putting together a Reel on Instagram, but it is delivered to many more people! The returns are better, the work is less, and long-term, it boosts my website for search engines. I can’t think of a better way to market dogs!

If you feel overwhelmed by email marketing, you aren’t sure where to start, or you just want to take the fast track, then I’d love to see you inside the Dog Breeder Society, where we have three MasterClasses around email marketing. You’ll find everything from how to set up ConvertKit (soon to be Kit) and use the actual software (on the free plan), and also strategies for making your marketing work for you, automating things. You can check it out the Dog Breeder Society here, or get the purchase the individual MasterClasses using the links in the show notes below.

# 4 – Automation of Information

Speaking of automating … automating is something that I was late to the party on, and I could kick myself for not doing it sooner! Today the biggest thing I automate in my program is the education of buyers. You know how it goes … they have lots of questions, and you love it! But gosh does it take a long time to talk with all my buyers and give them all the same information. To speed this up and make it simpler, I use automated email sequences to deliver all the educational information that my buyers need. I use HoneyBook. Not only does HoneyBook manage my contracts and invoicing, but it has automated email series that I use to deliver educational emails to my buyers over a few weeks. I answer all their questions about crates, dog food, deworming, and preparation through these emails. This has greatly cut down my invested time in talking with buyers, and I’m constantly getting text messages from buyers about how helpful the information has been, and how communication with me has been so clear and easy. The funny thing is, I’m hardly talking to them; my software is! Yet they feel personally taken care of. Of course, I’m always there to answer quick questions or direct them to things, but it’s been really great.

I estimate that, if you’re selling about 40-50 puppies per year, then you’re going to save about 4-6 hours of buyer management per week using HoneyBook. For me, I was in a place where something had to change: I either needed to hire someone to help me with managing buyers, my waitlist, payments, and contracts, or I had to change something! When I was looking at hiring someone for this, it was somewhere between $100-$200 per week, so $400-$800 per month. Thankfully I found HoneyBook and, after putting my business on it, I was able to avoid hiring someone, and I still do all of my buyer management by myself, while managing the Podcast and the Dog Breeder Society. Best part? It’s only $40 per month, a tenth of what I was looking to spend for the same support.

If you want my templates inside HoneyBook, plus my discount for the first year, you can sign up here. There is a lot of information to help you better understand it and what it offers. If you are excited to use it, but aren’t sure where to start, we have MasterClasses inside the Dog Breeder Society to walk you through it, links are below in the show notes. I also personally set up HoneyBook, customized to your breeding program, if you want the support. I’ll streamline your workflow and simplify your buyer management. You can read more about that here as well. When my phone pings from HoneyBook, I’m always smiling; managing buyers has never been easier.

# 5 – Paying Attention to the Needs of My Family

As many of you know, I always pitch that dog breeding should be the bringer of good things for your family. You should be grateful for what the dogs provide, smiling at what they’ve given the family beyond just the enjoyment of having them. They should create a situation where you can be at home more, be more present for your family, be able to help your son with his homework, be able to take your daughter on a special girls’ day. It should also provide you income. Because it’s a lot of work to do, it needs to provide.

A big part of the picture I was missing was that I didn’t pay attention to the strain the dogs placed on my family in the beginning. Having dogs in our master bedroom, while it was great for me, it was not great for my now ex-husband. He couldn’t sleep through all the noise they made, and I disregarded his complaints. I should’ve made it a point that the dogs did not come into the master suite. It wasn’t an acceptable choice in our family, it didn’t give us the break that we needed from everything at the time. We had a guest room that wasn’t used, and I should’ve worked to use that room to make what I needed possible.

If your spouse is always rolling their eyes when you talk about your breeding program, or your kids are irritated that you’re asking for their help yet again, we want to get to the bottom of it and change it so that it is a positive. My kids don’t enjoy doing dog poop and feeding and watering, but they don’t mind it—and dare I say take pride in it—when I give them the responsibility and pay them for it. It also helps when we take the income from the dogs and use it to provide something: maybe that’s school clothes for the kids or a vacation for the family, maybe it’s a toy or game they’ve been wanting. Allow your kids to see the reward of the breeding program.

For spouses, that’s a little harder. Everyone has their own thing. For my ex, he really needed a break from his stressful job, so coming home to more chaos was really hard on him and, because I was stressed, I didn’t take that into account as I should have. Did it cause our divorce? No, it didn’t, but it certainly didn’t help.

If you are struggling with your spouse and how they are handling the dogs, then I encourage you to get to the root of it. It’s not very helpful if they say, “I just don’t like the dogs.” Certainly that’s hurtful to hear, but instead of getting defensive or angry, consider approaching it with curiosity and finding out what would make it more tolerable or acceptable. Do the dogs need their own room or building? Do we need them out of the master suite? Do we need to have no dogs in the kitchen at dinner time? Maybe we need a break from dogs when we watch a show in the evening.

You might think that having the dogs around all the time is ideal, and it might be for you and your family. But I know, for me, it is important for us to have a break from them sometimes. Sometimes you need to be able to step away from the world of dog breeding to clear your mind, reset your focus, and simply take a break from your job. It’s beautiful to love your job, but we can’t expect our families to enjoy it as much as we do, nor in the same way. Working to take care of your families’ needs and desires around living with a dog breeder is the key to keeping balance between family and the dogs. Use their pleasure or irritation with the dogs as a gauge as to how you are doing. When members of the family feel like they can speak up and be heard, it makes the family dynamic more productive, honest, and enjoyable to be a part of.

I started the Dog Breeder Society to create a community of honest breeders who wanted to do things right by their dogs, their buyers, and their families. Dog breeding is such a beautiful and rewarding business when done right, and it can feel like terror when it’s not working well. I want you to have the tools and the support you need to succeed. Learn from my mistakes and the mistakes of others, take your success to the next level, and make your breeding program the beautiful business I know it can be. A little bit each day, that’s all it takes!

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Thank you for listening to another episode of the Honest Dog Breeder Podcast, with me, your host, Julie Swan. I know you’re busy, but I greatly appreciate you taking time to spend with me! Thanks again, and I’ll see you in the next episode!