What’s the “Dish On Dogs?”

Behind the Scenes of Our Exclusive Podcast

Hounds Town was founded by Mike Gould with the goal of allowing dogs to be dogs without all the unnecessary frills that are more for humans than their canine companions. Far too often, doggie daycare facilities add on a bunch of bells and whistles that mean nothing to your pet, knowing that people will pay just about anything to make sure their pets are happy. As a canine behavior and training expert and founding member of the NYPD canine unit, Mike knew there was a different, better way to ensure dogs got what they needed without having to nickel-and-dime their humans for services that ultimately don’t mean much to them. This concept became Hounds Town USA back in 2001, and we’ve been growing our “pawprint” ever since!

As more and more people discovered that Hounds Town was exactly where their dogs wanted to go, we realized we needed a personalized, unique way to communicate with both our consumers and our Franchise Owners, so Mike, CEO Jackie Bondanza, and Marketing Director Corey Packer got to work, and the Dish on Dogs podcast was born.

At first, we didn’t know if a podcast was going to work. There are a lot of podcasts out there, and we knew we had to stand out from the rest of the pack. So, we decided to focus on the following three tenets: brand exposure, our expertise on dog behavior and training, and the Hounds Town franchise system. We think there’s a little something for everyone on our podcast, and that’s led to our podcast having some of the most devoted listeners amongst doggie podcasts! Read on to learn more about these three fundamentals of the Dish on Dogs podcast and how they’ve contributed to our success.

Exposure 

We want everyone to take their four-legged friends to Hounds Town, but getting the word out about our dog franchise takes a lot of work and exposure. In addition to advertising via marketing channels such as social media, sponsored blog posts, and videos, we wanted something that was more all-encompassing of who we are, our experience, and what we offer. We wanted to take the time to let people get to know us, whether they were looking to send their fur babies to us for the day or were considering investing in their very own Hounds Town dog franchise. So, we made sure to incorporate content for every type of person we even thought could have a possibility of listening to us.

Because our topics were as diverse and fun as we are (more on that in a minute), we quickly discovered our listener count was growing, and we even started getting calls from canine product brands that wanted to work with us. As we worked through all the new interest we were getting from prospective Franchise Owners and dog owners alike, we realized that Dish on Dogs was getting us way more exposure than we could imagine in the beginning.  Our content wasn’t going to the dogs at all, but instead was reaching all around the globe as people tuned in to learn more about their dog’s behavior as well as what a Hounds Town franchise could offer them. Within six months, we reached our listener goal for the year.

Dog Behavior Education

At this point, we think it’s safe to assume that most people know that dogs evolved from wolves and have been a valued part of human society for thousands of years. But, just because Fido or Fifi is pretty far removed from looking like a wolf doesn’t mean that there aren’t some of those wolf behaviors within them along with the behaviors that are strictly limited to domesticated dogs. Understanding your dog’s behavior is like learning a second language; however, most people simply don’t have the ability or want to learn exactly what their dog is trying to tell them.

That’s where our Founder and dog expert Mike Gould comes in. With over 40 years of experience working with dogs, it’s safe to say that he knows a thing or two about doggie behavior, and we wanted this to come through in our podcast. Mike carefully breaks down everything from how a dog’s brain is structured to how to handle certain behavior issues like separation anxiety in a language your dog can understand. We knew that with Mike’s expertise, we could help pet parents all around the world understand exactly what makes their pups tick—even if they never set foot in a Hounds Town. While we’re not going to give away every secret Mike knows (we save that for our Franchise Owners!), we want our canine training content to resonate and help people, in addition to getting them more interested in taking their pup to their nearest Hounds Town.

The Hounds Town Franchise System

We want our Franchise Owners to succeed, and we wanted to make sure we had some content especially for them, as well as for prospective Hounds Town dog franchise candidates. The Hounds Town franchise system is built on providing an affordable system that dogs and their humans will both love, and we made sure to create a podcast that fulfills both groups’ needs by being transparent in showing the Hounds Town philosophy, interviewing some of our amazing Franchise Owners and really taking a look at what it takes to make a Hounds Town dog franchise succeed.

We understand that people don’t want to hear about the inner workings of our system in every episode, so we made sure to space out our franchise information episodes with those that can help people understand their dog. After all, our mission in life is to help people understand dogs, closely followed by helping people achieve financial independence and own a business by doing what they love: working with dogs! With this in mind, we’ve found that our franchise-facing episodes do well as people who may not currently consider opening a Hounds Town location learn more about what makes us tick, and how we want to treat their best friend like our own.

The Dish on Dogs podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Facebook. Listen to it for information on your dog’s behavior as well as for an in-depth look at what it’s like to own a Hounds Town USA franchise. If you are interested in learning more about our Franchise Discovery Process and how to pre-qualify to own a Hounds Town USA location, visit us here.