K9 Enrichment at Pet Camp
I recently got scolded by a marketing professional about using the term “canine enrichment” to describe the work we do with dogs that are not candidates for dog group play or need more mental or physical stimulation than group play alone offers. The marketing person was not questioning the value of canine enrichment or the amazing work our canine enrichment (ok, enough typing it out – K9E) team does; he was very much questioning the use of the term K9E in our marketing material and on our website.
This marketing professional maintained that we should refer to our K9E program as “dog training” or “dog daycare” as those were terms that pet parents were already familiar with, but that pet parents have no idea what K9E means and thus the term had no marketing value.
K9E vs. Dog daycare & Dog Training – How do they differ?
Frankly, I’m no marketing wizard and not in a position to argue this point, but I’m not convinced this marketing professional is correct. That said, I’m also not convinced that the failure to know about K9E is a failure of pet parents. When an industry introduces a new service, it has to develop a name for that service. K9E differs from the “traditional” understanding of dog training and dog daycare in countless ways. Yes, K9E can focus on a specific skill (as is done in dog training), but it can also focus on:
- Confidence Building
- Problem Solving
- Exploration
- Physical Fitness – and more!
Likewise, it differs from dog daycare in that it may not involve any dog socialization or at most only specially curated playgroups of a very limited number of dogs.
It may be true that right now K9E doesn’t have much value to marketing professionals, but I suspect that’s what marketing folks said to the first pet care facility that offered dog daycare or (heaven forbid) when Steve Jobs mentioned the term iPod.
Thanks for reading.