Well as all of you might have guessed, there has been a ton of changes to the website this month, and with that comes a major shift of our focus here at Rockin’ Dawgs.
As you can see, I am starting to shift to offering mainly our photography services over the massive amount of dog training that I have offered over the last 25 years of my life.
A lot of factors went into making this huge leap. On the dog training side of things, the dynamic of the industry has changed considerably since COVID hit. We survived the wrath that demolished many small businesses, but now that the average pet owner has come to the realization that you don’t need group classes to properly socialize your pet, sales have been down. Virtual Classes are a healthy, strong alternative (as a dog trainer, I have done virtual classes for many years with some of the most recognized trainers across the globe with my own dogs) and I will continue to offer this service as we move forward.
Another factor on the dog training end of things has been my inability to really enjoy dog events as much as I used to with my own dogs. Owning a dog training business is an extra, extra full-time job and many times it can be overwhelmingly stressful. Most dogs I see need a lot of behavioral help. It’s not all just cute puppies and play time. Answering messages at 2am and pretty much always being on call can be taxing over so many years.
I don’t want you to get me wrong though. I LOVE training. I will NEVER stop training. It has been a passion in my life since I was a little kid, but I know when I need to take a step back and take some time for me before I get to a burn out mode.
Now for the Photography side of things! Most people don’t know this, but I’ve been photographing animals just about as long as I’ve been training. In fact, many, many moons ago when I had my first training job working with horses, you could always find me roaming around the show grounds on a weekend taking pictures of every critter I could capture, in between rides. I’ve had quite a few photos published over the years and have gained some accolades in the field, but it all took second fiddle to running the dog training side of things.
I am passionate about capturing the beauty in our pets, and being able to catch those memories that we sometimes take for granted.
With photography I gain alot more freedom. I can get back out there and go to all the dog events again and have some fun with my own crew of pups. When you always have training classes on the weekends, you miss out on alot. I miss showing, doing demos, traveling with the pets for acting and performance gigs and all that jazz. I’m looking forward to being able to travel more as I focus on our photography business and see some beautiful places and the beautiful animals that inhabit them.
So, I just wanted to share the next stage in our journey here and some of my thought processes behind it. I will still ALWAYS be here for my students and in addition to virtual classes, I do plan on offering some in-home training for a limited number of clients, but it is time for a change and those of you that know me at all, know that I never go into anything half-assed. I will run into the fire and blaze the next trail!
I am so very excited that I am the 1st professional pet photographer and Certified Dog Photography Master in Brevard County and I hope that my portraits are hanging in every pet lover’s home around here!
There is sooooo much more information to come and I thank you my friends, for reading this long blog post, but for now, please support us!
Be sure to like our new Facebook and Instagram pages and if you haven’t already, contact me to set up your next photo session!!!
I love you all❤️