BusinessPaws Spotlight: Every Dog Behavior & Training

Every Dog Dog Training & Behavior is a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to helping pet parents overcome common roadblocks for dog training. Founded in 2019 by Miranda Hitchcock and Michele Mendoza, Every Dog Training & Behaviour offers a wide range of services from puppy kindergarten and manners classes, to sporting classes like nosework and agility, to private training for behavioural challenges like separation anxiety and aggression. They offer services online and in person, in both English and Spanish. With a team of more than 16 trainers and behaviour consultants as well as available financial aid and free training for shelter dogs, Every Dog Behavior & Training is making a difference in the lives of many pet parents. In 2024 alone they were able to provide training services to more that 2100 families and over $55,000 in financial assistance for training.

Miranda and Michele met when working at their local municipal shelter. Throughout their careers at animal shelters and in private training, they encountered a large number of dogs experiencing behaviour challenges related to reactivity, fear, and overarousal. They also saw first hand the difference early support and training can make, and the importance of proper puppy socialization in preventing long term behavioural concerns. While they understood the value in effective behaviour intervention training, they saw that the expense of these services kept them out of reach for many families. Miranda and Michele recognized families were experiencing challenges accessing these important training services due to lack of resources, language barriers, disability, and other hurdles. They started Every Dog Behavior & Training to remove these roadblocks and make dog training more accessible for everyone. They are working to make science-backed training available to their community as a whole, teaching pet parents how to implement ethical, long term solutions to address complex behavioural issues.

By registering their business as a non-profit, Miranda and Michele aimed to bridge the gap for clients struggling to access important training and behavioural services for their pets. In partnering with local shelters, rescues, and other local organizations, they have set Every Dog Behavior & Training up to provide a wide range of resources for clients needing support. This includes the freedom and understanding required to direct families to the trainer that best suits their needs, even when that trainer may not be working directly through Every Dog. In addition, grants for non-profit organizations and support from donors allows the Every Dog team to provide a range of financial aid programs and free services that would not be possible if funded by paid training service revenue alone. Similarly, a non-profit status means the ability to run a volunteer program. This program allows interested individuals to assist in group classes, improving the class experience for clients and giving volunteers the opportunity to develop their dog training skills. Those skills can, and often do, allow them to eventually become professional trainers in their own right!

Like many businesses, Every Dog Behaviour & Training was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. After launching publicly in February of 2020, with plans for new public seminars, the subsequent shutdowns and safety protocols required them to adjust their plans to keep their team and their customers safe. The complexity of providing services in both English and Spanish has also provided its own challenges, with mixups like accidentally converting all of their existing forms to Spanish instead of creating new forms to have all available in both languages. This left them without any English forms, requiring them to translate everything back over again.

As their business continued to grow, they learned more about building the right team and setting boundaries as an organization. This allowed them to ensure they were able to help their community while maintaining their values and supporting a healthy, positive work environment for their team. 

As a nonprofit, the Every Dog team tackles the ongoing challenge of managing funding for their training financial aid programs and free services for shelter dogs. For any that want to help support their mission of helping pet parents overcome barriers to training, donations can be made at http://www.everydogaustin.org/donate.

The training and financial aid programs made possible by public donations and the hard work of the team at Every Dog Behaviour & Training have helped make a real difference for thousands of dogs and their families. One such dog, Cisco, and his mum Maria are able to take on a variety of training adventures together thanks to their time working with the Every Dog training team. After being rescued by Maria, Cisco experienced a series of dog attacks that struck a serious blow to his confidence. This resulted in fear based reactivity and made it hard for him to go outside. When a daycare told Maria that Cisco should be confined to her home she was heartbroken about what that meant for Cisco’s future. Determined to find a solution, she met with Michele at Every Dog Training & Behaviour who told her “He's not broken; he's just lost his confidence”. With renewed hope and the support of the Every Dog team through their financial aid program, Maria was able to work with Cisco to help rebuild his confidence and get more comfortable in the outside world. He has since passed his Canine Good Citizen test and now pays it forward as a certified therapy dog, supporting children in reading programs.

Stories like this are why Miranda and Michele do what they do. Their love of people drives them to make dog training as inviting and accessible as they can for members of their community. Looking to the future, they hope to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in dog training. In support of this goal, they have created a BIPOC webinar series and offer continuing education services for dog professionals. They are also happy to support others looking to start their own nonprofit organizations.

As the training landscape continues to evolve, the Every Dog Training & Behavior team encourages both pet parents and pet professionals to focus on meaningful change in both their training methods and business practices. They believe pet businesses are best served by putting an emphasis on increasing staff wages to help support careers in the long term. Likewise, they understand the importance of mental health for professionals throughout the training industry. 

Unfortunately, the industry as a whole has normalized the idea that trainers are underpaid, work an unreasonable number of hours each week, and even give away free services. The combination of those three factors has historically made it challenging for trainers to make a living without facing severe burnout. Adding to that the fact that individuals throughout the pet care industry can be faced with a variety of challenging and even traumatic situations working with clients, it is incredibly important that they are equipped with the tools they need to keep themself safe and work through emotionally fraught experiences. In an effort to better support their team and help make positive change in the training industry, Every Dog focuses not only on paying their trainers well, with stable salaries, 401k options, and paid time off, they are also constantly working to support their team on an emotional level. This includes continued education opportunities with experts such as Jess Adam from Handlers & Humans as well as free webinars centred on healing from trauma and exploring the resources available for those in the animal care field.

Every Dog Training & Behavior offers free monthly webinars on their website at http://www.everydogaustin.org/webinars. Their website also allows interested individuals to make donations and includes information on their organization’s impact. They can also be found on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube at @everydogaustin.

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Every Dog Behavior & Training is a valued client of BusyPaws, making use of our booking, CRM, communications, and payments systems. We’re pleased to share a small part of their story with the pet care community.

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