SPECIAL REPORT: Surviving the First Year — Golden Hour Dog Training, Hastings

By Mary Beth Roach

Entrepreneurship is booming, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report issued in February.

This trend includes several new entrepreneurs profiled here who have opened their businesses within the last year in Onondaga and Oswego counties.

They have traveled very different paths to start their respective businesses and while they may have experienced some trepidation doing their journeys, their passion overrode any nervousness.

They share their stories with us — some of the surprises, good and bad — that came up, some of their marketing strategies for their start-ups; and resources they have found helpful.

Golden Hour Dog Training, Hastings

Emily Moore: Involved with Animal Welfare for About 10 Years

Emily Moore’s love of dogs has led her to create Golden Hour Dog Training, which she launched earlier this summer.

Based in Hastings, Moore offers training sessions for dogs and their owners based on what she called the positive reinforcement method.

Coupled with her training work is an initiative she calls “Paws for Safety,” aimed at teaching children how to act around dogs.

Moore said she has been involved with animal welfare for about 10 years. When she and her husband were living in San Diego, she began a dog-sitting business and soon went to work at the San Diego Humane Society as a full-time adoption counselor. As such, she advised people on the dogs in the shelter and how to introduce the rescues into their new homes, other animals and kids.

“That was my dream job. Absolutely loved it,” she said.

And when she wasn’t working there, she shadowed a leading San Diego dog trainer, learning even more about the different breeds of dogs and their behaviors.

After three years, the couple moved back to Central New York and has been busy raising their two children.

But her love of dogs never wavered and for the year prior to her business start-up, she was attending the CATCH Canine Trainers Masters Class Program Academy and doing hands-on work with trainers in the area. She graduated with distinction, received her certification in June and started the business on July 1.

Her training, she said, specializes in positive reinforcement, calling it the “least intrusive and minimally aversive method.” She uses treats, praise, play, fun games and patterns.

Currently, she hosts group lessons on her property in Hastings, but she said her primary focus is private lessons in people’s homes.

“That’s where the training is going to be most effective before you take that dog out to the real world,” she said.

The training package includes an assessment during which the owner’s schedule and routines and the dog’s needs are reviewed and a specific plan is developed.

She also offers the Paws For Safety class — ideally for children aged 4 to 9, showing them how to properly communicate with their dogs; how to avoid an altercation with a dog they don’t know; how to recognize when a dog wants to be touched; and how to properly ask an owner if their dog can be petted, Moore explained.

She has since learned that some of the kids are teaching their parents the correct ways to approach dogs.

She even includes her own dogs, Bella and Ruby.

As for the name of the business — Moore admits it’s partially a shout-out to her favorite breed — the golden retriever. But moreover, she said, she sees the golden hour as the best hour of the day and spending time with her dogs is one of her favorite times.