"Bring Janet Smith Dog Training Back To Lansing"

I am coming back to Lansing! I am asking for your help to get me there.

Please contribute to help me raise money for moving expenses, for a rent deposit and for living expenses as I transition my life back to Lansing. I miss working with pet dogs like I did at Good Dog! Training. I miss my friends, I miss all of you!

I want to return to the community I lived in most of my adult life. I moved to East Lansing at age 17 to attend Michigan State University. I started Good Dog! Training in 1998 and worked in the Greater Lansing area to improve our human/animal bonds through private lessons, group classes and private training packages. My full time career with dogs even included four years as the Behavior Program Manager for the Capital Area Humane Society.

In 2014, I opened Good Dog! Training in Haslett. At GDT, we saw over 500 dogs a year in both puppy and adult dog classes. We offered private consultations and our very popular program called “Stay and Train,” where owners dropped their dogs with us for day training. We had two, sometimes three, trainers in addition to me working at GDT in Haslett. The business grew to a size I never imagined - employees, a 3,800 square foot commercial space, making a difference in the lives of hundreds of pet owners.

Then my life took a different direction.

I chose not to renew my lease and in 2019, I closed Good Dog! Training and moved to Midland. I sold my home in Okemos and it was awesome to be debt free for the first time in years. In Midland, I continued to work with dogs and their owners because working with dogs is what I do, but now it is time to come home.

At Janet Smith Dog Training, I plan to work with all ages of dogs in my client’s own homes, where you live with your beloved pet. After a series of in-home lessons, we will meet for group classes and practice to hone and perfect your skills in the real world. AND yes, you will still have homework. My work with my clients will also include video review of lessons, a private client only Facebook group and lifelong access to me for assistance with your pets. This is what I do, this is what I love and this is what I have devoted my life to since the age of 35. I’ve already been returning to Lansing and booking business in Lansing - it has been so good to begin to see all of you again. I may do group classes at other facilities in the area.

I need to get home and get started!

The challenge I am facing is the cost of returning - moves, a pandemic and life circumstances mean I don’t yet have the resources I need in return to Lansing. I estimate I need $18,000 to get my future in Lansing on track - to secure housing for me and my dogs, for moving expenses, vehicle expenses (a down payment on a reliable cargo van is critical), for a website, promotional materials and business starter funds. I’m hustling up all the business I can handle. I’m selling everything I can sell. I must relocate with my dogs before June 1, 2022.

You have requested that I move back and help all of you, and now I need your help. You know how hard it is for me to ask for help from others! I am asking now.

I am hoping to raise $10,000 here and more through additional lesson bookings and deposits for my training services. I will then have the funds I need to return home and resume working with you and your dogs at the job I love. Let’s train some dogs!

Woofs, Janet