Attorney and Dog Trainer Join Forces with Dog Training Elite Franchise

When you hire the right people, things go well — so well, in fact, that you might just end up starting a business with them. For Rich Naponelli and Diana Hyepock, that’s exactly what happened. 

After a long career spanning massive law firms and the University of Notre Dame, Naponelli was interested in building something on his own, so he purchased a pet care franchise in the Michiana area, hiring Hyepock as one of his first employees. Given her extensive background in the pet industry, hiring her was a no-brainer, and as their relationship grew, it became clear that they both had the shared goal of helping more people through dog training.

It was this shared passion that led them to pursue franchising with Dog Training Elite*, the 320-plus territory dog training franchise, together. With their sites set on future expansion, the two of them opened their first location in the Michiana area on August 1st and look forward to opening two additional locations in Chicago in December.

1851 spoke with Naponelli and Hyepock about their journey into franchising with Dog Training Elite and their plans for the future. 

PROFILE QUESTIONS

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Naponelli: I'm actually an attorney, having practiced law for about eight years in Chicago relating to tax work and estate planning. After working my way up from a small firm to a couple of huge international firms, I moved here to work for the University of Notre Dame in a fundraising role relating to gifts through estates and charitable trusts. 

I oversaw the gift planning group at Notre Dame for about five years, and while I was there, I built that group up and hired lots of exceptional people. About a year ago, I decided to make a change. I loved what I was doing, but I hired some really great people that were capable of running the group without me. 

It was then that I got the itch to build and create something, so I started talking to a career coach who acts as a franchise consultant. She introduced me to a franchise called Fetch Pet Care, which provides in-home pet sitting and dog walking. At the time, I had a diabetic dog, and it was really difficult to find a pet sitter, so I loved this idea. 

I bought into Fetch and opened that back in October of 2022. However, I wanted to keep looking at other opportunities and franchises. 

When we launched, I hired Diana as one of my first sitters. Diana has an extensive background in the pet industry and had been training dogs for a few years, so we talked about getting into a training business. We started to ask the consultants about what's out there in terms of dog training franchises, and they showed us Dog Training Elite. Diana loves to do research. She's a phenomenal researcher. So she dug into the different franchises and really, nothing came close to Dog Training Elite, so we decided to take that jump. We went through our training course over the summer and then launched our first territory on the first of August in the Michiana area. 

Hyepock: I started my first job in the pet industry in 1995. I've done everything from retail store management to grooming. I had my own mobile grooming business for 12 years, and then I worked with Fetch. I've done veterinary, dog daycares and animal massage, volunteered at the zoo and even volunteered on a research project with black rhinos in Kenya. 

I got my experience in dog training from the start. When I managed Petsmart, I had to know how to do the basic obedience to be able to cover for our trainers if they didn't show up. That was way back in the ‘90s. 

Fast forward to just before 2020, my daughter had PTSD and anxiety, medications were not working for her. Having worked with service dog trainers before, I decided to get a puppy and go that route. I planned the classes I would offer at work according to what my daughter and I needed, basically putting together my own program for our puppy. However, we bought the puppy just before everything shut down for COVID, and while I knew how to do some basic training, I didn't know how to do a lot of the tasking, so I started doing my own research and realized a lot of the programs out there are not very good. 

So, I decided to get myself trained. I started with my trick dog certification because tricks can be transferred to a lot of service tasks. I then went to an Animal Behavior Institute and got my Certified Service and Therapy Dog training professional certification.

1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?

Naponelli: When I hear the word franchise, I think about McDonald's. I had worked with a couple of families that had McDonald's franchises and they loved it. What I didn't know was how many different types of businesses out there offer franchising. 

Hyepock: I knew they existed but never never thought I would be part of one. I was proud to have started my own business independently, but now I realize that having the support from the brand is really great. Everybody with Dog Training Elite has a passion for what they are doing.  

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

Naponelli: Diana, because of her background, understood a lot of the methods Dog Training Elite was offering, and she really agreed with them. I've owned dogs for the majority of my life, as well, and Dog Training Elite’s balanced approach made sense to me. 

Hyepock: When you need a service dog, you might have to wait two to five years and spend tens of thousands of dollars. A lot of people that could really benefit from service dogs cannot afford that. With Dog Training Elite, we can provide hands-on support for owners as we train them to train their dogs. We make it accessible to so many more people.

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth? 

Naponelli: What I love about the franchising model is the ability to scale. The biggest thing for me is that I am helping people. For a lot of dog training businesses, they are really small and can’t scale, but this model will allow me to get out there and help more people by scaling quickly.

Service and Therapy dogs are incredible, but I also love the benefits of just basic obedience. We had a client through Fetch who thought that he would have to get rid of his dog because he got his dream job and was going to be gone for about 12 hours a day. The dog was ripping the house apart. Diana did some obedience training with the dog and now she is phenomenal. 

The goal of a business is always to make money, but if you're not passionate about what you're doing and don't want to do some type of good with it, it's just going to be a job even if you own it.  

Hyepock: Dogs can really change with the right training, and that’s what we want to achieve. I am currently working with an owner who came to me for training as a last result because her dog had bitten multiple people and was facing behavioral euthanasia. It was her baby, and she wanted to try everything she possibly could. Now, we are two months into it, and the process has completely reset his life. The dog just looks happy. Is he ever going to bite anybody again? I don't know; nobody can ever really say that. But does he have a fighting chance and a lot better quality of life right now? Absolutely.

1851: What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?

Naponelli: I'm relatively young at 42 and have a bit of a winding career. I go after things I'm passionate about, and I want to enjoy what I do day in and day out. Not every day is going to be a good day even if you love what you do, but if you do love what you do and are passionate about it, then you can feel good at the end of the day. Go after what you love to do and do some good in the world, because it could take you to an extraordinarily fun place like playing with dogs all day.

Hyepock: I've gotten into this because I want to help people, especially those people that need service and therapy or just a generally better behaved dog. There's so much need out there. Service dogs save lives. Therapy Dogs bring so much joy to people. There is a mental health epidemic going on and dogs can play a huge, helpful part in that. 

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

Naponelli: Research not only the franchisor but also the franchising concept. It is a business, and while you've got a great blueprint, it's still a business that you've got to build so you better be ready to put that work in. 

Hyepock: Just do your research and then make your decision.

ABOUT DOG TRAINING ELITE 

With more than four decades of experience in dog training, Dog Training Elite is one of the country’s leading obedience and specialized training franchises. Offering a comprehensive suite of customizable training programs, Dog Training Elite works with dogs and owners to meet any and all training needs, including therapy dog training and advanced service dog training for PTSD support, psychiatric support, mobility support, autism support, diabetic alert training and an array of other services. In addition to the wide breadth of services offered, Dog Training Elite differentiates itself from competitors through a uniquely human-focused approach to dog training, which focuses on helping owners and their families learn to effectively and consistently support their dog’s training needs. To learn more about franchising with the Franchise 500 Dog Training Elite, visit https://dogtrainingelite.com/franchise