With so many dog trainers and pet care providers out there, how do you choose the right one to work with?
A booming industry
The pet care industry has grown steadily for over 20 years. Now a significant factor in our economy, the booming business has many people jumping on the pet care bandwagon. Many providers claim to be pet lovers, and that may be true. But, is each business’s motivation for providing their services what you would need it to be?
More than pet lovers
I always wanted a career working with animals, so I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. Initially after graduating college, I spent many years in the corporate world, and then once I began volunteering at a shelter, I felt the call to finally pursue my passion.
Seeing how many cats and dogs ended up in the shelter for behavior issues, I realized I could genuinely help people create better relationships with their pets. Make no mistake, I like making money too, but money is not the primary reason why we do what we do. You can read more on how we got started here: About Us – The Life of Riley Pet Care Services
What sets The Life of Riley apart from other pet care providers?
1) Our primary motivation is to enhance the lives, well-being and happiness of pets living in their human’s environment so that fewer pets end up in shelters. We do this by providing the services of positive reinforcement dog training, cat behavior modification, dog walking and in-home pet care services.
2) We are not a technology company that simply sources people who claim to be pet lovers to take care of your pets. While some individuals sourced through technology companies such as Rover and Wags may have the right motives, many are simply seeking a way to make extra money when they have time on their hands.
Sad but true – we’ve all seen horror stories of pets ending up lost or stolen as a result of neglectful pet care providers. Unfortunately, some of these pets ended up as bait dogs for dog fighting or were sold to 3rd parties for money. Your pet is too important to trust its care to just anyone claiming to be a pet lover.
3) We carefully vet each person who desires to become part of our team, ensuring that their motives are aligned with ours for the well-being of pets we are entrusted to care for. It is of great concern to us that our representatives truly care about other people’s pets and their well-being. Each representative is background checked prior to being approved to come on board with us.
4) Once approved, each TLOR representative is instructed on positive reinforcement handling methods and equipment. We do not allow the use of aversive handling methods or equipment, instructing our representatives to educate owners that use such tools and techniques that these methods contribute to broken trust as well as emotional, physical and psychological damage to the pet.
We request alternative, non-aversive equipment to be provided for our use or we will provide these tools ourselves, or we do not accept the assignment. This enables us with an opportunity to help educate pet owners of the benefits in using only positive training and handling equipment and assures that our experiences with our clients’ pets will be positive rather than stressful for the handler as well as the pet.
5) We provide consistency in the delivery of our pet care services. Each client is assigned a primary and a backup pet care provider so that our pet owners know who is coming into their homes taking care of their pets. This minimizes the number of people that have access to the client’s home and helps to develop trusted relationships between our clients’ pets and the pet care providers assigned to them. Each representative is trained through detailed policies and procedures in how to do what we do so that the quality of care is consistent and among the highest in the industry.
6) We are fully licensed, insured and bonded, giving our clients peace of mind that in the event of a mishap while caring for our clients’ pets, we have full coverage to compensate legitimate claims that we may be responsible for should anything out of the ordinary happen.
7) Finally, as a certified positive reinforcement dog trainer, Wendy Taylor coaches her team with the most modern, safe and trusted information based on scientific research about dog and cat behavior, training and handling methods.
Your pets are family members. We care about each pet entrusted to us as though they were our family too. This is not just our business. It’s our passion and profession.
We want you and your pets to have the life you dream of – it’s what we call The Life of Riley.
Review our service offerings in Dallas and Louisville.