Inspiring Conversations with Nikki Welch of Dream Dogs Training

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Welch. 

Hi Nikki, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up knowing that I wanted to work with animals. I dove into college and received my degree in veterinary nursing. After college, I started volunteering at Paws With A Cause to raise puppies as service dog candidates. I fell in love with the training process and by the next year, I began teaching their group training classes to other volunteer puppy raisers. 

Working to acclimate my foster puppy to new environments like the grocery store or a ball game were not only time-consuming and challenging but VERY rewarding. I was hooked. I continued the gut-wrenching cycle of raising a puppy for the first year of their life, then giving them back to continue their training as a service dog. I knew service dogs were literal life-changers; they gave back independence and ability to people in need. 

This is where my love of puppies really blossomed. Many people raise one pet puppy every 10-15 years, if at all. I learned after my second foster pup that there are so many tricks that can ease the puppy-raising process. You don’t have to endure the puppy craziness, there are techniques that can make the puppy stage so much easier – I’d dare to even say enjoyable! 

I began training professionally in 2012, in addition to my career as a veterinary nurse. My medical knowledge was invaluable when it came to determining if an owner’s concern was behavioral or actually a symptom of an underlying sickness. 

Training a puppy is a delicate process. You have to weigh the risk of challenging their baby immune system with the benefits of socialization; building training while still allowing for normal development; keeping them safe while allowing age-appropriate exploration. It takes a lot of patience and finesse! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle was deciding to step away from the veterinary nursing career to pursue training full-time. Veterinary medicine and training go hand in hand. The knowledge that I gained through schooling and working at a busy 15-doctor vet practice will continue benefiting me throughout my training career. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Dream Dogs offers positive reinforcement training, daycare, and board-and-train for puppies 6 months and younger. 

We specialize in puppies, especially building confidence and developing healthy play habits. 

Dream Dogs is small-scale on purpose – to create relationships with owners, puppies, and their families. We have built our brand on honesty. This means when your pup is amazing, we will rejoice with you! But if your pup has a rough day, we will tell you exactly what we saw and discuss a plan to get your pup back on track. It’s impossible to change a “bad” behavior without having the whole team aware and on board. We work together to reach owner’s goals quickly. 

Dream Dogs also offers boarding for puppies 6 months and under. Many facilities do not allow boarding under 6 months of age due to the risks of a puppies baby immune system. We follow veterinary hospital cleaning protocols to ensure the safest space for puppies. As a small-scale business, we are able to offer more individualized care including midnight potty breaks when needed for very young puppies. 

Puppies, just like any baby, require a lot of patience. Puppies need breaks and they thrive on fun. We break up our training sessions into small bursts of obedience followed by games or toy play. So instead of your typical hour-long training session, we train obedience for 5-10 minutes, allow the puppy to play with a toy or we cuddle with them on the ground for 5 minutes, then the cycle continues. While they are playing, we are always keeping manners in the forefront. So yes, a big portion of my job is sitting on the ground cuddling and bonding with puppies! Once you have established a safe and positive relationship, the learning aspect skyrockets!  

About 2 years ago, Dream Dogs began participating in animal acting for commercials and photo shoots. This has been a fun and challenging application of our training! Working with puppies through socialization, manners, and obedience allows these family pets to have fun opportunities in show biz! To further stretch our training skills, we work with cat actors, too! The wonderful part of using science-proven positive reinforcement is that it works across species! 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
We have been blessed with an amazing referral base from local veterinarians and word of mouth. Our business has grown substantially in the last 3 years. Many families who were not previously ‘dog people’ decided to add a new puppy to their family in 2020-2021. This surge in puppy ownership was an opportunity for us to educate families on techniques to make the puppy-raising process much more enjoyable. 

The growth was amazing and we even added a new building with an indoor training space, which is especially important with Michigan’s up-and-down weather! 

Pricing:

• Playcare: $44/day
• Dream Pup Academy (board and train): $2,275
• Pricing transparency available on our website

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dreamdogstraining.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/DreamDogsTraining
• Facebook: facebook.com/MIDreamDogsTraining