Pandemic pups increase demand for professional dog trainers

By Jeff Morrow for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Steve Sprague and Ida Ann Wright love dogs.

Sprague’s favorite is a German shorthair, but the truth is, he loves every dog.

“I think we’d be pretty miserable without dogs,” he said. “They give you that unconditional love. I think the potential with them is incredible. They enrich your lives in so many ways.”

The couple bought three dogs in recent years, but the majority of their dogs are rescues.

They also own a dog-training franchise, Sit Means Sit Tri-Cities, at 23 W. First Ave., Suite B, in downtown Kennewick.

A few months ago, they more than doubled their training space by leasing the 5,200-square-foot Sunburst Video building across the alley from the site he had been using for the past 4.5 years.

After Sunburst closed, the building was used as storage.

As soon as it became available, Sprague was able to lease it.

The landlord took a few months to do repairs and upgrades to the building, getting it ready for the dogs: fixing the roof, the floors and electrical work.

“It means more space, allowing our team to do more things at the same time,” he said. “We can do a group class and a private class at the same time. With the expansion we haven’t increased the number of dogs, but we are training just the services we are able to offer. The size of our staff dictates how many dogs we can train, not the size of the space. But we are hiring.”

Sprague says the new building size and better rubber flooring allows him to offer more other indoor dog sports like rally, disc, play times and more.

Getting started

Sprague himself said his first “professional” dog training gig came at the age of 12, when his neighbor offered him $10 per command taught to his dog.

But what he really got out of the deal was the joy of working with dogs.

Still, “I never thought that dog training was financially viable career,” he said.

Sprague held a few different careers over the years: He worked as a firefighter, paramedic and military depot medic and owned a fishing lodge in Alaska.

His aha! moment came while at the fishing lodge.

Sprague was working at a booth at an outdoors convention in Boise. Next to his booth was a Sit Means Sit trainer.

He was so impressed with what that trainer did he decided to become an apprentice. That was 10 years ago.

And eventually, Sprague became a certified Sit Means Sit trainer, and he opened his own facility in the Tri-Cities in 2015. Joining the franchise

The company was founded in 1998 by Fred Hassen in Paradise, Nevada, with the mission to “revolutionize the quality of life with happy, obedient and confident dogs.”

It uses various methods of training, which includes a collar using low-level electronic stimulation.

The Sit Means Sit in Kennewick is one of 157 franchise locations across the United States and Canada.

Sprague’s franchise offers puppy, private and immersion programs and a day training program – in which trainers work with a dog one day a week for six to eight hours. The dog’s owner then comes in at the end of the day to learn what the dog has learned.

By Sprague’s estimate, there are about six full-time dog training businesses in the Tri-Cities area.

Sprague started about seven years ago, working out of his home and also using a small conference room for group classes uSIT MEANS SIT, Page A37