Why These Dog Training Elite Owners See Great Expansion Opportunities in Their Markets

Dog Training Elite, the nearly-250-unit dog training franchise that focuses on empowering dog owners through strong relationships with their pets, has seen monumental growth in recent years. Now, there are less than 100 available territories nationwide, and existing franchisees are continuing to expand their operations.

“Dog Training Elite has experienced impressive growth in the last few years, and we’re proud to see our franchisees continue to invest,” said Mark Mestas, Chief Executive Officer of Dog Training Elite. “With owners expanding in multiple states nationwide, it’s clear the Dog Training Elite model can succeed in a range of markets with the right dedicated franchisee.”

Bert and Sarah Ballard, Michaela Macchia and Marcus DiBendetto, and Ryan Roudebush and Kim Tullis are prime examples of this growth, choosing to expand in Colorado, Boston and Tampa, respectively.

Bert and Sarah Ballard’s Growth in Their Colorado Markets

Bert and Sarah Ballard, who worked as communications professors prior to entering the Dog Training Elite world, began considering a dog training business as they longed to return to Colorado. After self-training a service dog for their daughter, the duo had firsthand experience, and their shared desire to own a business led them to look into Dog Training Elite.

At first, the pair purchased the Denver territory and negotiated a right of first refusal. Within the first year, someone was interested in Colorado Springs, and the pair decided to exercise that right and purchase the territory themselves. More recently, they signed for the Boulder territory, which just recently began operations.

“So far, the experience has been overwhelming,” said Bert. “Positively unexpected.”

The pair started the venture in July of 2020, so they were navigating the pandemic alongside the demands of a new business.

“Like all of us, when the pandemic was announced, we thought everything would go back to normal,” he added. “We were one of the early franchisees, so we did a lot of different things to see if they worked well. I’d say a lot of them did.”

Through this growth process, Bert says the pair has been able to open a facility, build a team of nearly 30 employees and even hire a human resources director. Typically, they are booked out at least a month in advance.

“Sarah, my wife, Adria, my daughter, and I got into this because of service dogs. That’s our heart and our passion,” he explained. “We also knew we couldn’t make a full living and support the family on just service dogs, so we branched out to obedience, protection and other training types, and all of them have done very well.”

Looking to the future, the duo is focusing on continuing to connect with their community, using dog training as a vehicle to do so.

“We had a five-year plan, and we fulfilled that five-year plan at the end of our second year,” said Bert. “It’s been great, but it’s had that growth stress. When things go very well, you still have to manage all of that. We’re still incredibly proud of how well it has grown and of all the staff who have joined us in our journey.”

Michaela Macchia and Marcus DiBendetto Pass the Double-Digit Mark

With 17 territories spanning across Central Massachusetts, Michaela Macchia and Marcus DiBendetto have seen great changes in both their personal and professional lives.

“The business side of it has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” said Macchia. “We’ve worked long hours trying to balance scaling up with having the staff to scale, but we’ve hired quite a few people now. We’re definitely loving it.”

“The change in our personal lives with our dogs has been amazing, too,” added DiBendetto. “It’s been really cool having a dog that we can trust off-leash. We hired a dog trainer about four years ago, and our main concern was our dog running away. With Dog Training Elite training, I finally trust our dogs completely off-leash, and letting them have that freedom is very fulfilling.”

The two agreed that, while the process has required a lot of work, they are both having a great time and look forward to their continued growth. 

With one physical location currently open in Central Massachusetts, the pair is working to open another facility closer to Boston in six months to a year. They’re also interested in launching two additional websites.

“Our timeline is a little loose. We have a lot of clients out toward Boston, so it can be challenging for them to get to the Central Massachusetts facility,” explained Macchia. “We’re also being careful about when we launch the new sites because we want to be prepared for the leads that will be generated.”

Macchia added that the pair feels especially confident thanks to the strong financial representations published in the brand’s Franchise Disclosure Document and its approach to royalties.

“In a lot of franchises, if you own a territory, you have to pay royalties even if you don’t sell anything,” she said. “With Dog Training Elite, there are no marketing minimums and there are no royalties if you don’t sell. Because of that, and the FDD being so great, we felt comfortable knowing that we’ll be able to scale up as we grow into all 17 territories.”

Ryan Roudebush and Kim Tullis Grew From Three to Eight Territories

This Tampa Dog Training Elite duo started their journeys ready to exit the corporate world, evaluating potential franchise opportunities. Because they both wanted to be involved in the business and had long histories training family dogs, Dog Training Elite felt like the perfect fit for Ryan Roudebush and Kim Tullis.

“We had always been around dogs and training dogs, but we really fell in love with the people,” said Tullis. “We saw that we had a lot to learn about dog training but saw that the leadership team knew their stuff. We were also able to get into Dog Training Elite without taking out a second mortgage on our home or taking on an SBA loan. We started off with three franchises, and we now have eight. Every dime we’ve made, we’ve put into new territories.”

As the duo has grown, financial rewards have been a part of the consideration, but they are primarily driven by their ability to make an impact in the community.

“We went into it with pretty reasonable expectations,” said Roudebush. “We still wanted to challenge ourselves, but we did already beat our first target and are banging down the door of our second-year target right now. We only opened in August of 2022, but our sales are growing rapidly, month after month.”

Looking to the future, Roudebush and Tullis are working to open a physical facility that will allow them to provide additional services such a train packages and other training sessions that are not feasible in the mobile model.

“What we love about the Dog Training Elite model is that it’s much more of a lifetime product,” added Roudebush. “It sounds ridiculous to train people how to do our job, but at the end of the day, it’s the right thing for the dog to have an owner who knows who to communicate with it and talk to it how it needs to be talked to.”

With the territory growth, the pair is able to reach even further into its local communities. A huge focus has been service dog training, which requires sympathy and care. Over the course of the training process, the trainers are becoming a part of the clients’ families.

Roudebush and Tullis’ passion is clear, and the love for the business and mission is already transferring to their family members.

“The goal isn’t a revenue number. This is a family business for us,” explained Tullis. “The goal is to have our children doing it. Our oldest and youngest sons are interested, as are their wives. Being family-owned allows us to support our kids financially and by spending more time together. Even my grandson now thinks he’s a dog trainer; he’s four years old and already giving commands. This business is about a lot more than just the money for us.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/dogtrainingelite/info