How an 18-Year Dog Training Business Runs on AI (with Mindy of Noble Beast)

Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Human Side of AI. I'm Flora, your host, and today I'm talking with Mindy, founder of Noble Beast Dog Training, a legacy business in Colorado that's been up and running for almost 18 years. Mindy's story though isn't just the typical, oh, I discovered AI, but she survived the 2008 mortgage crash, grew her team to 49 employees, and had to walk that back, and even had trainers walk off with her own an IP to start a competing shop down the road. Through all of that, she's built her new business around one idea: you can't reach the dog if you can't reach the person. Now she's using AI to do the things she never had bandwidth for before— untangling a bookkeeper's mess, killing the Google Ads back and forth, and building Speaking Dog, an app trained on 18 years of her own knowledge that gives dog owners real answers. We talk about why growth isn't always the goal, why AI can't replace, and how this applies way beyond dog training to any hands-on trade. So let's get into it.

Hi Mindy, how you doing today?

Good.

Where you calling from?

I'm in Denver, Colorado. Oh, awesome.

Is that how you learned about Jam?

Yeah, actually I learned about Jam through— I didn't know she was local, but it's great that she is, although I never see her. I became a, or Noble Beast Dog Training became a legacy business last year. And so she was doing some training for, we get it as a legacy business, we get recognized as being a unique business in Colorado with longevity and great reputation. And so she was doing some, and so we get training through SCORE, I believe it was, that she did some you know, some AI stuff with. And so from there I was like, oh, well this is exactly what I need. So I just joined.

Awesome.

Yeah, I think it's been about, I don't know, maybe 8 months or so.

So, so tell us, so you said longevity, so you've had your business for a while then?

Yeah, so we're going on 18 years.

Wow. That's amazing. How, and how did you get into the business of dog grooming?

Well, it's dog training.

Dog training. I'm so sorry. Dog training. That's different. Okay.

Yeah.

Wow. That's a, that's a different beast. No pun intended.

Yeah.

So how'd you get into that?

You know, I was in the mortgage industry for, I think about 11 or 12 years previous, and I just, it, I never really liked it. I just didn't realize that people didn't understand dogs like I understood them. Or communicated with them like I did. So I didn't know there was a need for dog training in the capacity that there is. I had no idea. And so when the mortgage industry— I came down with diverticulitis and then I had to go on kind of— I had to be on low stress and the mortgage meltdown was happening. My husband was a home inspector. So back in 2008, the market just was at a standstill for about 3 months. Nothing was happening. And so we ended up losing our house and I just said, the only other thing that I know is dogs. And so I got into it and the, I would say the people side of the mortgage business really helped me out with dog training. I got certified, but I was, I always, had this, I enjoy working with people as much as I enjoy working with dogs. So I had the ability to really help people and help the dog where a lot of, there's a lot of dog trainers out there that are, they love dogs, but they don't love the people side of the business as much. And so that, that's a little bit about what made me a little bit different when I started a long time ago. I think there's more people now, but. When I first got into the business, it was interesting.

Mindy, you said something that I just keep thinking about, and it's this idea of like, I didn't realize that other people weren't as good as this thing that I am, right? Like, and I wonder like how many other people just kind of take their skillset for granted, you know? And like they just assume that their unique strength is something that everyone has because it's so you know, close to home. So, so talk us through a little bit about, was that like one night in bed, you're just staying up and, or like when did you realize like, I'm, I have this connection to dogs that other people don't have?

I didn't even realize it was a gift. I mean, I just figured I could easily get into dog training because I connected well with dogs. So I didn't really realize that it was a gift until actually I was probably a year, you know, just a year into my career or something where I just, the, the success I had with people and their dogs was, um, pretty evident. But I think the other part of it was, is just, you know, showing up at somebody's house and something that is easy for me to understand and move through was you couldn't think, they couldn't think of the beginning stages of how to fix certain problems. And you know, it, it does all start with relationship. And so that's where, so with, with Noble Beast Dog Training, we don't use fear or anxiety. We're not a punishment-based training, dog training company. Nice. But we also don't call ourselves positive reinforcement because it doesn't even tap into, it's only a small descriptor of what we do. So we are, we're relationship focused. And so when, when people start to actually you know, look at their dog and feel into their dog, understand that their dog is like just picking up their energy, when they really start to, and when they train with relationship, humane, scientific, scientifically proven methods, giving choices, not saying that you, that we don't, you know, provide punishers, but they're not gonna be fear, intimidation. Um, or pain. So when we start to shift the relationship and have fun with the training and open up communication and really teach the dog the words and the meaning behind the words, um, you start to see a shift in the human being too. So it, it's, it's, and, and that's what hooked me. Yeah.

So, so I had a, a poodle. She passed a few months before turning 18 and, um, I, my joke, but it wasn't really a joke. Like I, I think I had like a conversation once with her when she was about 8 weeks old and I was like, hey, like if you could just like not pee in the house, you know, or like eat shoes. And she's like, got it. Okay. And that was it. That was the extent of our training. And then she just knew how to like sit and follow. She did all the things. So I'm like, okay, what, like what's matter with everyone else? You know?

Yeah.

And then, you know, we live in Panama and we had a street dog come find us and this dog and I, we have not formed that connection because it is not understanding my, hey, don't be a disaster of a dog.

But we're getting there.

Um, but I resonated with what you said there because I love, I love that connection piece, you know?

Well, poodles are much different. They're very, they are highly intelligent. Not that other dogs aren't, but they're driven by drives that will step in and, and, uh, you know, kind of interrupt the, maybe the connection that a poodle might have with an owner. But they're really smart. So yeah.

Yeah. She was like, like more of like a cat human than like a dog. If I were to throw a stick at her, she'd be like, right. Why are you doing this? Okay. That's, that's really cool. So, so is your husband also in the business with you now?

No, he's not a dog trainer. And he's— where he has been extremely helpful is he is a home inspector and he was also an aviation mechanic. So he has very good mechanical and technical skills relative to fixing fences and improvements in the building or whenever we need something that needs, that's that requires a repair or something, he's there and electric, electrical work and things like that. So he contributed a lot in that way. But no, not, not as a dog trainer, not as a dog trainer. Yeah.

So, so many of our Club Jam members, they are starting a business or they're kind of like getting into it and it's, it's cool talking to you 'cause you're like, no, I've been doing this, you know, going on 2 decades. So how has the use of AI shifted things in your, you know, your, your business that's been around?

Well, it, it's shifted hugely. Um, it's not only saved me money, but it's moved me very quickly into spaces that I don't think I would have been able to move into without AI. So I, I mean, so, um, there's so much. So I guess The first part was where everybody starts. You're kind of like, well, what is AI? You ask it questions and you start moving into— from there, you start moving into conversations. And some of the great things that I've done with AI and some of the things that Jam has talked about is making sure that AI is coming from a play, for example, like you're one of my competitors or you're a CFO, you know, critiquing my skills or, you know, so being able to do that even on a personal level, you know, where you ask AI to, you know, really evaluate your personality, uploading, moving, I guess not uploading, but training the AI to know me personally. But also know me and how I run my business has really created this assistant that I have on a daily basis. But the other things that drive me crazy are like Google Ads. So I just, I literally just use Manus for fixing my Google Ads and I never have to get on the phone with those. I'm sure they're great human beings, but oh, they just, it drives me crazy to get on the phone with Google support. Creating newsletters. I was building, I have a community as well called Becoming Noble and it's for dog owners. And so now Claude is integrated into community, but the community, it's through Circle. The community in itself has AI integrations, you know, like you can train the AI within, but now Cloud can go in and, you know, do drafts for me and get things ready for me. I don't ever let AI just write stuff for me and go, but it does that. It basically can pull numbers together. I am, for a legal purpose that I recently had, it Just, it has been so helpful in that, in that capacity as well. It's gone into my QuickBooks and been able to pull and make reports of things. Well, another situation was I have a bookkeeper who had kind of, has not been doing my books properly. And I used AI to go in and I'm like, here's this report, here are my bank statements. What is going on? What's what's wrong, and we've just narrowed it down to the point where I'm able to now look and see how horrible a job she's done. So I'll be letting her go. But I did, you know, I didn't know where to look in my books for what was missing, what needed to align, those kind of things. So, um, as far as dog training, I have created an application called Speaking Dog. And so it's 18 years of my knowledge and experience, my failures, my working with people, my working with all kinds of dogs. So we specialize in, in pet dog training. So that means any breed, any breed can walk through our door. And, um, so I've trained this program, um, or I've trained this AI who runs this program, um, where you can go and you take two quizzes and it basically assesses you as a dog owner and then it assesses the dog. So we have the dog archetype and then your, um, relationship type. And then once you get that, you can go into Speaking Dog and type in any question that you have and it'll give you solutions for dog training. So that's there. It's, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

I do everything.

It's changed my— huh?

Did you ever imagine yourself having all of these other outlets?

I'm like, no, no. And now the part is like, okay, how do I, you know, market this and get this out there? Because I'm using it, you know, for just— I'm testing it out and seeing how people like it and people do like it. But no, coding is never anything that I even would've touched. And putting the community together, like the digital side of Noble Beast, we were working with, I think it was Digital Chalk. Putting the courses together are one thing and then making it all come together. I mean, it just, I couldn't do it. And then, so when AI came in and of course I would give a lot of credit to Jan because I followed a lot of what she, you know, joining her, her, uh, joining the, um, joining the school and her, um, her community and just all the things that she brings in has led me down the path. A path where I have so many projects, I don't even know where to go sometimes.

I mean, I was just thinking, I'm like, what do you even call yourself? 'Cause you're so, but I mean, to, to say you, you, you have this dog training business, it feels like it's one aspect of all of this, all that you do.

Well, I stay pretty busy and yeah, I, um, but you know, it's, it's, um, and dog training is the place where I love to be, you know, for a while with Noble Beast, I was, it, the people side, the employee side of it was really, really challenging. And it almost made me close my doors. And also like COVID, being a small business, there were so many things happening, including like minimum wage continued to go up. I think I stopped counting, but it went up like 70% as of like 2 years ago, and it still continued to go up. And so we went through 2 layoffs, which I never, you know, things I didn't think I would do. And then I'm gonna shut the store real quick. And then I had 4 trainers who took my IP and moved about, you know, and opened up at a dog training location about 15 minutes down the road and plugged and played everything and you know, took clients and everything. And so there was a lot of really challenging things. And I—

How's their business doing?

I think, well, they're doing, they're good dog trainers. You know, they, I taught 'em everything they know. They took everything. And you know, to be quite honest with you, it took me, it felt like, it felt very heartbreaking. I felt deceived, manipulated, lied to. It was very unfair, but at the same time, It made me shift and say, well, what makes us differently? You know, what makes us different? Because anybody can go and take what you do and, you know, do it over here. And it was really, it's really the people side. It's how much we care about making sure that, you know, we love the people as much as we love the dogs. We have a very good understanding that you can't reach the dog if you don't reach the people. When I hire dog trainers, you know, if they're like, oh, I really enjoy working with dogs and not so much people, they're not gonna be a good fit for our team. So we need people—

And you keep coming back to that. Like you've mentioned that so many times on this call that it's, yes, I train dogs and I work with people. Like that's it. They're, they're pair and pair. So I, I love that. Okay. So how cool. Thank you so much. So where do you see yourself using more AI in your business? And I,. And yes, that's a question I ask, but like, you're kind of blowing my mind a little bit because I never would have taken these extra steps in my head with, with, you know, dog training and this app and this, this platform. So like, where, what's next for you?

Well, I, I have enough content that I've written through blogs and curriculums that I've created and training programs for people and dogs that I'm probably gonna have AI help me with a book coming up. And then I would imagine that I'll continue to do courses that people can take because there's, it's, you know, dog training. To me is way more than sit down and stay. It is about the relationship. And I think that dogs make humans more human and we don't necessarily realize that. So, um, in, in the stories and the experiences that I've had over the years, I think that there's lots of different books that I could move into. But really one of the directions that I wanna go is self-actualization through dog training. Um, so you really look at, okay, my dog has this problem. And I'm a big believer that our dogs find us as opposed to us finding them.

The street dog.

Yeah.

And for some reason, the street dog, and you guys might be like this with each other, but there is, there's a growth challenge in that for you, you know, like a soul growth challenge in that for you that, you know, at some point you, you know, and maybe, you know, as he gets older and he's been with you for a little while that you're gonna be like, you know what, this, dog shifted me in this capacity, and now I'm in a certain place where I can do this, or I can do that, or I have a better awareness, or whatever the case may be. So I believe there are, are furry angels, and they come into our lives for certain reasons, and they're here specifically to help us. Um, so I would probably move into that direction. Um, there's, as far as AI goes with And I do anticipate that AI is going to be a big part of that because what it's done is it's opened up my ability to be creative and move quickly into certain areas that I probably— and also fix things that, you know, you can get so distracted with running a business and then I can just be like, okay, I don't have time to read through this contract. Break it down for me. And so it saves you the time, you know, or the, you know, finding that somebody within your organization, you know, like the bookkeeper that I just need to let go, that saved me so much time and headache. There's so many things that as when you run a business that if AI can come in and help you and cut corners and all of that, that you can then move into the creative side of things. And then that's, I think, really where people blossom is when they can be creative at whatever they're really good at. And then maybe explore where else, what are some other gifts that I have no idea are a gift, you know?

How exciting. Yeah. So if you were to talk to yourself 18 years ago, what would you, what lessons would you share? So you wouldn't have to redo, you know, some of the same mistakes that you did just as, you know, trial and error and growth? And what would those lessons be? What would you tell?

I would say that just because the demand is there doesn't mean you need to grow. So we were very, very— got very, very busy very quickly. And I thought we had to match the demand. And so we continued to grow and continue to grow.. And in that I hired more people and then all of a sudden I was on a track of employees and training trainers and training employees. And it took me away from my gifts, from my joy, from my happiness. And so, um, yeah, I, I wouldn't have grown the— at one point we had, um, 49 employees and whoa, for a while. Yeah. And now we're down to 14. Um, so thank you. Um, and it was just too much. It was, you know, um, so I would say, you know, scale if you want to, you know, but really, you know, you don't have to grow. Um, and I always tried to, I think when it comes to employees, There's a lot to be said about the people you surround yourself with. So it forced us into a position of hiring people that we probably shouldn't have hired because the demand was so high and we just needed, you know, so to really consider how you hire because it made it really challenging to Um, it, it was, it was the people side of the, it, it was not the kind of, we hired people that were not ready for what we ex— our high, um, expectation and the quality of dog training that we, that I expect for myself and would expect of others. They weren't mature enough. They weren't capable of picking up. It's a very, when you're, when you dog train and you consider the person that you're training with, um, you have to listen, you have to slow down. You do have to like people. Um, you do have to, um, consider somebody's ability to, and how they learn, how they pick up things and not, there's not a lot of people that are capable of doing the human side of it and the dog side of it well. And so when you find those people, I mean, when you go through layoffs, you start with the people that are most expendable. And again, people are quality people, but as far as a business goes, we had to let people go. And in the end, after the second layoff, I was like, gosh, this is about, you know, like 5 to 8% of the team that we had, and they're the most quality, they're good human beings. And there's something about loyalty and there's something about caring about people and caring about dogs. And also, um, maybe they weren't the kind of dog trainers that were out studying and taking courses and taking seminars and loading up on dog training. But they were the kind of people that said, if I have to learn it, or if I need to learn it, I will. If I have to do it, I will, um, to make it better for, you know, for my ability to coach and be the best I can be, but also the dogs and the people. Um, so, you know, growing too fast is, yeah, we don't have to do that. So I think that would, that was the biggest out of all of it.

So. So I keep coming back to this idea. When I think of dog trainers, I don't think of AI, right? Like, I, and I want you to speak to another business owner in another field that AI also doesn't maybe make sense immediately, right? And talk to them about, how important it is to use AI, just going back to what you said about, you know, finding that creativity and, and kind of like, and growing in, in, in your, well, I don't wanna, I don't wanna put the words in your mouth, but do, do you understand what I'm asking?

I think so. And I, I think one of the things, uh, that, that came up with dog training and AI is that AI is going out there and finding a lot of content that dog trainers created and has out there. And so, So, um, when you think about dog training, I mean, honestly, um, it's, it's like, okay, I think some dog trainers are like, I, I put programs together and I've written books and I've, um, this is my stuff. So kind of like when the trainers you know, took my IP, took my idea, and they plugged and played it somewhere else. Now AI has that, and dog trainers are like, yeah, not, not cool. You know, because how do you, you know, 'cause you can only, as a dog trainer, you can only make, you're capped as an individual dog trainer. Like I do have a company and it's really hard to run a company, but there's not really a whole lot of money in dog training, to be honest. But, if you're one dog trainer, you can only see so many people in a day or in a week or in a month. And so you're capped at what you're able to do. So then you go out and you write books and you do seminars and you do all these things that now AI has all of that, that's yours in combination with everybody else. So anybody can go out, ask the right questions and access your information. So I think on some level, dog trainers are a little concerned. Concerned about that. And so what AI can't replace is really getting out there with the people and demonstrating enrichment and relationship. And you can go to, like, you can use my, and I have a lot of competence in my Speaking Dog program because it's everything that I've taught. It's everything that I've learned. It's everything that I've failed at and learned from. It's everything that's there. And I think that, you know, that is me in a program. And if other dog trainers could actually take this and say, and I can put a price on it or I can give it out for free or whatever I wanna do with it, I can I still do it, but, you know, being able to take everything I know, cuz I hadn't gotten to a point where I was going, where I had written a book or, you know, done seminars. But actually getting out there and, you know, being able to provide a part of me to a bigger part of, you know, that's a little bit more It's—

No, I think, I think I know where you're going with this. It's, you know, not, not, not to compare apples to oranges, but let's just say like plumbing, right? Like plumbing is also not a skill set or a job that someone thinks, oh, AI is going to take that job.

No.

And a plumber, let's say, who's been in business for 18 years can use AI to train AI to train others to share their knowledge. And sure, they're not using AI to do the plumbing, but they're, but they're using it in this other outlet. And I, and I think that's a really cool place to, to think about.

Yeah.

And I, like, if I had a, for example, speaking, um, drains, and I could just go in and I could be like, my drain is doing this, and get some, you know, some decent feedback and some instruction, that would be so helpful because, or let's say HVAC stuff, you're like, my, you know, I need to figure this out because I'm not going to get an HVAC, an AC person out here very quickly and I need to know what I'm dealing with. But also there's a lot of people out there that might not be up and up, you know, like they might take advantage of charging me a lot of money for this, that, or the other. Now, if I'm ethical as a dog trainer, I'm ethical. I don't believe in fear, pain, or intimidation in my training methods. And so I'm not gonna maybe fit everybody, 'cause there are gonna be some people out there who are like, who are okay with shock collars and punishment with their dogs. But you know, that's something that they'll know from the very beginning. But there's also, you know, what I've also noticed in the last, since COVID is people are going online and they are finding dog training information online, which is not serving them well. So in Speaking Dog, I know that if they use this program, they can serve it well because in that Speaking Dog, if there is something that leads to like aggression or a safety problem for the human or the dog, it notifies me. It says, okay, stop what you're doing. Let's get a professional trainer involved. And so it's programmed to say, can't help you any further from here. Let's get somebody who knows.

So are you only in Colorado? I imagine with so many trainers you've— okay. But you don't have to be in Colorado to access your community and your knowledge.

No. Yeah. So the community and that's That's the big picture is like, of course, you know, now somebody in Australia could actually log in and take, and take the training. There was something else there. Yeah, go ahead.

Where do people find you? Where do, where do people learn, you know, get a little piece of your knowledge?

So what we have right now is locally it's noblebeastdogtraining.com and that's, you know, and again, AI is not gonna take away the hands-on training, the hands-on coaching, all of that. And so we do have that. But the community is becoming Noble. And so that's basically community.noblebeastdogtraining.com, and then that would take you over there to my, to that community. And And then of course we're on social media pages and things of that nature. So Facebook, Instagram. Yeah. And our website is noblebeastdogtraining.com. The other thing that's been really cool about the stuff that I've put together is I'm on the board of PAWS Co., which is a rescue. Cool. And we, have the ability to give this program, the community and the programs that are within it, give it for free at no charge to foster parents so that they have the ability to go in and ask questions about dog behavior. We're also cat trainers too. So, yeah.

Cats can be trained?

Oh yeah, for sure. Mostly, mostly people who call us are not trying to train their cats to walk on leash and do tricks, but there are some people to do that, but it's behavior, behavior stuff. But it has been really rewarding to be able to come to a realization that, okay, if I wanna give a little bit of what I have away, I can give it to the foster parents who, you know, take dogs on and help them find homes and things and, and help the rescue organization. So that's another avenue that I would move that if I had to focus on running a business, employees, there was no AI, I probably would've closed the business down. Already.

Wow, what a powerful statement. What a powerful statement. Well, Mindy, thank you so much for jumping on with me and for sharing your story. And I know when we get off, I'm going to keep thinking all these things I wanted to ask you. So I'll definitely share your community as a resource on this podcast. And I look forward to seeing you more in school and in Club Jam.

Yeah, thank you so much. And thank you for your patience today. So it's part of running a business where I was just like, I just got to finish this. So thank you.

All good. Thank you so much, Nandi. Talk soon.

All right. Talk to you later.

Bye.

Bye.