Exploring Life & Business with Hannah Thiemann of Happy Tails Training

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Thiemann.

Hi Hannah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I’ve always loved animals since I was very young, and I think on some level I always knew I’d end up working with animals as a career. For a long time, I thought I’d become a veterinarian, but the alarming cost of veterinary school took that off the table for me.

I ended up finding my passion for animal behavior consulting and evidence-based dog training after adopting my heart dog in my early 20s. He’s the very cute chihuahua you see in some of these pictures. Ziggy is a smart, sassy, confident dog who turned everything I thought I knew about dogs on its head. Learning that dogs are dogs, regardless of breed, and that they are much more concerned with making good things happen than any ambitions of “dominance” or “being the alpha” opened the door to a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Ziggy than I’d ever had with the dogs of my childhood.

Ziggy and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary together, and he’s still teaching me new things. Thankfully, he’s gotten a lot of help in my education; in our decade together, I’ve studied under industry greats including Jean Donaldson and Malena DeMartini, worked with thousands of dogs in homes and shelters, and spent time observing free-roaming dogs and pet dogs to boost my fluency in dog body language.

Ziggy inspired me to learn so much about dogs, and learning more has enhanced my appreciation for this goofy, curious, charming species we share our lives with. I now share my knowledge and experience with clients all over the country, offering personalized, online training for guardians of anxious dogs.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This journey was certainly not without its obstacles. Working with animals is enormously fulfilling, but has its fair share of challenges too! I started my career bouncing between commercial training and daycare facilities where the unkind treatment of pets and their people sent me running with my tail between my legs. Finally, I found an organization that shared my commitment to kindness, and I spent 6 years in shelter work.

Unfortunately, I really struggled with the reactive approach to animal welfare common in so many organizations. I really appreciated the opportunity to help fearful and anxious dogs make it through the shelter system and into loving homes, but I could see how dogs, cats, and the people who love them were all being failed by a system that focused on rehoming instead of keeping pets with the people who already adored them.

In 2019, I started my own dog training and behavior consulting business with the goal of keeping pets in homes with personalized, evidence-based training available on a sliding scale basis. Unfortunately, COVID hit just a few months after I went “all in” on my business and left my previous position. Building a business during COVID-19 was an enormous challenge, but my commitment to my clients and my genuine care for their dogs and their well-being enabled me to build a strong reputation in the area that saw me through 2020 and beyond.

Unfortunately, another challenge came my way in 2022, when a bad slip and fall on the ice left me living with chronic pain and limited mobility. Facing the reality that my in-person work was sabotaging my healing, I pivoted my focus and took a deep dive into separation anxiety training. Separation anxiety is rather unique in the dog training world as it is a behavior issue that responds best to remote training; my client’s dogs can’t practice alone time with me lurking in their living room!

Specializing in separation anxiety training allows me to give my clients the very best service, using modern technology to help them wherever they are in the world, whether I’m having a “good pain day” or not. In the last year, I’ve worked with clients from Los Angeles to Boston and even offered behavior consulting for dogs in Europe! I am so grateful to have found a niche where I can continue to do the work I love and excel at, even when my body isn’t cooperating.

Happy Tails Training celebrated its 5th anniversary this year, and I’m feeling optimistic about the next 5 years, too! If my passion for dog behavior, commitment to continuing education, and dedication to client service were enough to see my business through a pandemic, serious injury, and lasting disability, I’m confident I can handle whatever comes next.

As you know, we’re big fans of Happy Tails Training. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Happy Tails Training was born from a desire to make effective, efficient, humane dog training available to dog lovers throughout the Denver Metro area. In my five years in business, I’ve expanded my services nationwide and now serve clients from coast to coast with modern, online training.

At Happy Tails Training, I have one focus: helping my clients live happier lives with the dogs they love by tackling the separation-related behavior problems that threaten to tear them apart. I am a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer (CSAT) helping people around the country who live with dogs that bark, howl, whine, destroy the home, potty indoors, hurt themselves, or try to escape their crate or their house when left alone or separated from their primary human.

Many of my clients find me after they’ve failed to make progress with other trainers, or when complaints from neighbors or eviction threats from landlords bump the issue from “urgent” to “emergency.” Separation anxiety is a complex behavior issue that many trainers and behavior consultants refuse to take on, so I am really excited to have the specialized expertise needed to support clients with this challenge.

If you just read that list of behavior problems and are thinking “Oh my gosh, that’s my dog!” I want you to know I’m available to help no matter where you are! Separation anxiety is a behavior issue best addressed remotely, so I can help clients all over the country and around the world. Since the behaviors we’re trying to change happen when alone, we need to practice our training when the dog thinks they’re alone!

By coaching my clients through training via Zoom, I’m able to watch their dogs’ body language in real-time without the dog knowing they have virtual “company.” Modern technology has made it so much easier to tackle separation anxiety than ever before because we can practice “real alone time” with expert supervision. I’m so excited that my fully online model allows me to help people all over the world who are struggling with this heart-breaking behavior problem.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We are in the middle of an incredible revolution in the dog training industry, and I think we are going to see some really exciting changes in the next 5 to 10 years. In the last 20 years, our understanding of our canine companions has grown leaps and bounds. While many of the pioneers of the animal training profession viewed animals as somewhat robotic, programmable with punishment and rewards, we now understand that our dogs are complex, sentient creatures with rich emotional and social lives of their own.

As we’re learning more about our dogs, our relationships with them are changing. The old-school mentality of control and dominance is dying out, and we’re seeing more and more people wanting to build cooperative, mutually joyful relationships with their dogs. I’m looking forward to a day when our lives with our companion animals are built on mutual communication, kindness, and meeting each other’s needs instead of forcing our dogs to obey our every whim “because I said so.” I think and hope that day is getting closer!

Pricing:

• Discovery Call – Free
• Initial Assessment (90 Minutes) – $225
• All-inclusive Training Package (4 weeks) – $750
• A La Carte Behavior Consulting – $150/hour
• Sliding Scale Pricing Available – See Website

Contact Info:

• Website: happytailstraining.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happytailstrainer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happytailspettraining