My Yorkie puppy, Josiah, is nearing his first birthday. I know it’ll soon be time to transition him to adult dog food. But when, exactly? And how? Can your pet pro blog help me?
The response is usually, “Ask your vet.” And I get it. As a pet parent, I understand and appreciate how there are safety limits to what you can write on your blog. Every breed is different; every dog is different. A vet who knows the dog well can give the best advice.
But I would love to see information that can help me prepare and make the best decisions. There’s a lot of guidance pet professionals can share without crossing that line of giving an answer they can’t give. Your blog doesn’t need to provide specific advice in order to be really valuable and helpful.
As a dog trainer, you want to create content that will resonate emotionally with puppy parents. They are struggling with how to raise their puppy, and they want to understand how training will help. One key to connecting through your content is to anticipate and answer their unspoken questions.
Raising a puppy is often a roller coaster ride. Sometimes, puppy parents wonder if their dog is crazy; at other times, they feel like their dog is making them crazy.
Following are some of the questions that come up for puppy parents at different stages, often during the adolescent months. These questions reflect their confusion, fears, hesitation, and hopes.
Raising a puppy is like a roller coaster ride filled with unvoiced questions. If your content anticipates and answers those questions, you will build trust. Photo by Janet Eriksson at janetpetwriter.com
What’s normal? What’s not?
Am I too late? What did I miss?
How did my sweet little puppy become a monster? Why is this getting worse instead of better?
Which behaviors will my puppy outgrow? What needs help now?
Is my reaction making this worse? If I mess up, does it undo everything?
Do I need something stronger or stricter to fix this?
As puppies grow into adolescence, puppy parents may wonder what happened to that sweet little puppy they first brought home. Photo by Janet Eriksson at janetpetwriter.com
Puppy parents don’t always ask these questions out loud. They don’t want to feel like they’re doing something wrong. They don’t want to look bad. They might even be afraid of the answers. So, let your online content voice their concerns for them.
If you anticipate and answer these questions in your content, you’ll be making an emotional connection with puppy parents who may need your services. You will help them feel seen, heard, understood, not alone, not crazy. That’s how trust grows. That’s how your content keeps puppy parents engaged and wanting more.
By showing puppy parents you understand their unspoken struggles, your content will offer hope and build trust. Photo by Janet Eriksson at janetpetwriter.com
Anticipating unspoken questions can be part of your content strategy in several ways:
Blog Posts: A blog post can focus on one question and answer, showing potential clients you understand what they’re going through and can give them hope.
FAQ: Beyond your normal FAQ page, you can have a specific FAQ for puppy parents. This FAQ is different from your logistical FAQ. You can put it on your Services page, or on a New Clients or Start Here page, on a blog post, or in an onboarding email.
Services Page: When potential clients visit your Services page, they are trying to decide if you understand their specific struggles and if you have solutions that will help. As you describe your services, you can keep their unspoken questions in mind. Let those questions shape how you present your services.
When you create content that meets pet parents in their unspoken questions, they will feel connected and want to learn more.
January is coming up soon. Before it arrives, you can write and schedule a blog post pet parents will need: How to handle the post-Christmas puppy or kitten overwhelm. Your expertise and encouragement will be exactly what they need.
My beloved 13-year-old dog died a few weeks ago. I’m heartbroken. I realized very quickly I needed another dog, so I got a puppy of the same Yorkie breed. He is absolutely precious. But of course, raising a three-month-old puppy takes a lot of energy, made more difficult when you’re already exhausted from grief and the fight for life that preceded it.
I’ve been scouring the internet for blog posts that would offer helpful suggestions—not just for how to raise a puppy, but also how to keep my sanity in the process. I’ve only found one article that’s truly helpful. That makes me think there’s an open opportunity for you to blog about this topic, to reassure and guide pet parents like me.
Janet Eriksson 