09/30/2026
A little transparency about being a small business owner, setting boundaries, and saying no. Also, Google Reviews wont let me attach screenshots so I needed to pin & link this to the top of our socials. Hoping this does some weeding for me! I’d rather have a few 1-star reviews and a backbone than five perfect stars because I was afraid to tell someone no.
I'm sharing three interactions that represent the only three times I've personally declined to move forward with prospective clients since starting CAL K9s.
2023. 2024, and 2026
Situations were different, but they ultimately reinforced the same lesson: Not every inquiry needs to become a booking, and not every person is going to be a good fit for our business. And apparently 3 days really sets people off, but me saying "we are not the right fit" is even more painful to them.
The first interaction: 2023
During a consultation, I met with an owner whose German Shepherd had a reported history of breaking out of wire kennels, biting people, running at large in the neighborhood, and displaying severe reactivity toward people on walks. The list went on and on. The dog also had significant drive and physical ability. I introduced the dog to a spring pole at the consult.. Given the dog's history and the environment of our facility, I explained that we would require secure kennel containment, specifically a Ruff Land or Dakota-style kennel, rather than a wire kennel. This wasn't a preference. It was a safety requirement for the dog, the other dogs in our care, and the people working or coming in our building. After multiple follow-up conversations repeating the same questions about the kennel requirement, I ultimately decided we weren't going to be a good fit if they could not understand why a secure kennel was going to be needed when I was told that the dog had already broken through wire kennels. I refunded the deposit. The refund took about 3 days to process through Square, as it always does and is stated in the refund email. And a BBB complaint still followed. lolol
The second interaction:
A person reached out about training. I did my typical FBI research on their accounts and pages to see what kind of human we were about to invite out to our private property for a consult. Found exactly what I was not looking for in a client relationship and declined to move further. 1 Star Review, hahahah
The third interaction:
This interaction is included in the screenshots below. I'll let everyone read the exchange and form their own opinions about the communication and expectations from someone we had never met or spoken to.
I don't expect everyone to agree with my decisions, and I'm not sharing these interactions because I need strangers on the internet to validate them.
I'm sharing them because I think prospective clients should have a genuine understanding of who they're choosing to work with when they choose us. And hopefully this GREATLY minimizes these worthless interactions before they even start.
Here's where I'm at with CAL K9s.
For a long time, I operated under the mindset that I should try to make every client relationship work. Accommodate the request, find a compromise, keep the customer happy, and take the booking. But being a small business owner means I also get to decide what kind of business I want to run. I get to establish safety requirements. I get to set boundaries around communication and expectations. I get to decide whether a working relationship is something I want to enter into. I don't kiss ass or suck 🍆 when it comes to getting or keeping clients around (we will keep it PG13 bc I have family on here). And I get to say no. And apparently really p**s some people off.
I would rather turn away a client than spend weeks or months in a working relationship that leaves me frustrated, compromises our standards, or makes me dread doing the work I genuinely love.
I'm not looking for the most clients. I'm looking for the right clients. I have 556 customers on my Square account. I'm not often looking to add more these days. I refer out A LOT. I absolutely love our regulars and am so content with them. And they deserve our attention and love more than adding new. We are only looking to work with people who respect our time, communicate openly, trust the process, and genuinely enjoy working with us & their dog(s). We work with dogs and their people every day. Those relationships matter, and I want them to be enjoyable and productive for everyone involved. There has been some incredible moments over the years seeing our clients (the humans) reach milestones and goals throughout their lives, careers, and dreams. This is more than just transactions to us. I do not ever want to get to a point where I see dollar signs instead of a human and a dog needing help or wanting to have fun. This is also not our only source of income. I do this work because I love these dogs.
So, if you read these interactions and disagree with how I handled them, that's completely okay.
If you decide CAL K9s isn't the business for you, that's EXTRA okay too.
In fact, that's EXACTLY the point. And finally the universe provided me the perfect path for this post! And my toxic, silly clients that were enjoying the saga of bat s**t crazy people.
I'd rather someone decide we're not their people before booking than have either of us discover it halfway through a working relationship. I do not want to spend hours with someone and hate every second of it. And I really cant figure out why these people want to work with me so badly after I tell them no.
We're a small business. We get to choose who we work with. And I hope more small businesses stay true to themselves too.
And I'm EXTRA comfortable exercising that choice. More people need to get comfortable getting told no, I guess. 😂
