It’s hard to say who has the bigger smile: the guy passing by on a Onewheel, the dog running next to him at full speed, or the passers-by who are lucky enough to see you.
This is Eric Howard’s dream job.
Howard is the founder and head dog trainer at Dog Tired, a fast-paced dog training service outside of Seattle. After forays into tech, including data visualization company Tableau, Howard dropped the leash on one company he wanted to hold onto.
“I show up and I’m like the Beatles, and they’re like a girl. They’re so happy to see me,” Howard said of his four-legged clients. “It’s hard to have a bad day when you go to see eight dogs and they all lose their minds, they’re happy to see you.”
An avid adventurer, Howard is a snowboarder and kiteboarder who first fell in love when he stepped on a Onewheel — a self-balancing, one-wheeled electric board controlled by riders by shifting their weight.
He also loves a dog. When the relationship in Portland ended and the dog he shared with his girlfriend was left behind, he got another — a 15-pound poodle mix named Riley — and soon realized he was denied some kind of job in the pet industry.
The idea for Dog Tired came together when a friend of his had a rat with super powers, which Howard said bounced off walls. Howard tried running the dog next to his Onewheel and it soon became a daily – sometimes twice a day – ritual.
His friend noticed the difference immediately. The dog was manageable and happy. And Howard saw an opportunity.
Father’s plea
Howard graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in computer science at the age of 31 – a non-traditional approach that he describes as a theme in his life. He joined Tableau as a senior technical support engineer when the company was in what he considered its early stage — long before it was acquired for $15.7 billion by San Francisco-based Salesforce in 2019.
He spent nearly five years in two different positions at Tableau, which he calls the best employer he’s ever had. But when the start-up situation began to fade away he lost his passion for data analysis, server engineering and team management. He needed a change.
“My father really wanted me to do Onewheel business. I am very grateful to my father for encouraging me one last time,” said Howard. “He was like, ‘You have money in retirement and money in your savings. How long can you live without making money?’
Howard figured he could make it six months or so.
“When I started to stretch out my hand, I spread it, and suddenly a fire broke out,” he said. “People were like, ‘This is a brilliant idea.’
‘Low demand’
Howard soon had 15 clients and a regular weekly schedule. Within six months he was paying off his debts. And five years later, Dog Tired has grown into a full-fledged operation. Howard does 50 a week and the part-time job handles a dozen or so.
“I’ve got about 5,000 dog runs under my belt, about 17,000 miles,” he said, adding that the business is mostly self-marketing, with little profit. “There is an endless need for dogs just waiting to find the work they need.”
Howard has a 100-pound dog limit and sticks to low-traffic areas. It helps him stay in control of Onewheel when his customers want to chase away squirrels or rabbits.
He said the job is really about managing relationships, and he learned a lot from Tableau. It’s a lot of problem solving, but this time it’s dogs rather than computers.
“I’m not rich. I’m not making a fortune, but I feel very rich,” Howard said. “I look forward to every day. I wake up early and the day can’t start soon enough for me.”
