Consider Starting an Animal Behavior Consulting Business

Business Overview:

If you’re an animal behaviorist ready apply your knowledge and training to help pets and pet owners, it’s time to start an animal behavior consulting business. An animal behavior consultant works with pets and their owners to correct behavior issues that can include aggression, destructive behavior, biting, inappropriate elimination and many other issues. Often, a pet owner will first take his or her pet to the veterinarian to discuss behavior problems. If the pet is otherwise healthy, a pet owner will be referred to an animal behavior consultant who will have the owner fill out a detailed questionnaire and visit the animal in its home. The consultant will then diagnose the problem and formulate a plan for treatment. Treatment can include positive reinforcement, behavior modification techniques and training for the pet owner on how to interact with the pet. Business ideas like this one will be more successful if the business owner is properly certified and trained. If you already have an animal behavior certification, you can start your business right away. If not, there are several routes to take to become certified. The top credential for this field is the board certification in veterinary behavior which is obtained through the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and requires a veterinary degree plus two years of coursework. There are just a handful of people with this certification in the US but if you’re a veterinarian looking to branch out and add behavior specialist to your credentials, this is something to consider. However, if you’re not a DVM but are looking for a way to enter this business, you can become a certified animal behavior consultant by simply demonstrating hands-on behavior consulting and having experience consulting with owners as well as pets. Four specialties are available with this certification: dog, cat, horse and parrot. This certification route is perfect for a dog trainer looking to move into behavior consulting. When you start your consulting business, marketing will really be only expense. You will be traveling to pet owners’ homes to evaluate their individual situations so you don’t need an office and you don’t have any overhead. Consider printing up business cards and flyers and putting your marketing materials in animal adoption agencies (like the ASPCA) and local pet supply stores. Also contact local veterinarians and ask to be placed on their referral list for animal behavior consultants. This is a part-time business that can easily be scaled up to a full-time business with excellent marketing and positive results. You may soon need to recruit other animal behavior consultants to work for you to keep up with the demand for the services your business offers.

A Day in the Life of an Animal Behavior Consulting Business Owner:

Your day will begin with a check of your appointments. You will visit pets and their owners in their homes and observe their behavior. You will take your notes back to your home office and formulate a treatment plan to correct inappropriate behavior. You will set follow-up appointments with your clients to review their treatment plans and to observe behavior after the treatment plan has been put into action. You will spend some time marketing your business around town by placing flyers in various pet places and contacting local vets.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be pet owners in need of behavior consulting for their animals.

What You Need to Start:

• Animal behavior consultant certification (or you can hire a certified consultant)
• Marketing materials
• Computer with finance software

The Good:

• The start-up investment for this business is minimal.
• Pet owners will always need help getting their animals to behave.
• You can charge top dollar for excellent consulting services.
• It’s rewarding to watch your skills result in a happy relationship between pets and owners.
• You can easily run this business part-time.

The Bad:

• It will be difficult to have a successful business if you (or your staff) are not certified as an animal behavior consultant.
• Some animals and their owners will be more difficult to work with and you must properly set expectations for the success of your behavior modification techniques.

Resources:

• International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants
• Animal Behavior Society
• Wikipedia on Ethology (animal behavior)

About The Author

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