An Animal Welfare graduate from Solihull College & University Centre is on a mission to share her knowledge of running a successful canine training business, with the launch of her new book and a highly successful two-day conference.
Jo Moorcroft is a mum of 2 and has just finished her degree. She started her career in advertising, but this all changed when she got her husky Laika. She comments: “Everyone told me I was mad to get a husky, but owning a dog really piqued my interest in dog behaviour, psychology and training and I wanted to learn more.”
Jo set about launching her company with local dog trainer Vicky Davies. They wanted to set up business coaching and mentorship for other dog professionals. She then enrolled on the Animal Behaviour & Welfare Foundation Degree run at the College in partnership with Oxford Brookes University. Jo and Vicky launched their ‘Lets Talk About Dog Business’ podcast in February 2024 which has now had over 70,000 downloads from across the world and often tops the podcast charts about dogs. They worked to reach as many other canine companies as they could, supporting them with the day-to-day running of their business.
Canine Business Academy offers group online coaching programmes as well as delivering one-to-one sessions with clients all over the world – including America, Australia, South Africa and Thailand. The pair were invited to speak at a worldwide dog conference in America earlier this year.
Jo comments: “We really want to help improve the experience and knowledge of dog training for the dog owner. To do that, we want to help business owners to ensure their knowledge is delivered in the right way. We now have clients all over the world and sometimes find ourselves on a Zoom call at 4am! But we passionately believe in helping to improve the industry and share our knowledge of running a successful dog business.”
Jo and Vicky have been hosting their first ever CBA conference in Solihull. People from different arms of the dog industry attended from all over the country.
The pair also have a book under their belts – ‘Lets Talk Dog Business Strategy’ which they wrote in under 6 weeks.
Jo is passionate about helping people become entrepreneurs: “The workplace is changing. More and more people are aiming to set up by themselves and I hope to be able to give people confidence to do that. “
