Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
THE DOG WIZARD
Pet Services · independent · est. —
The Dog Wizard is a dog training franchise offering group classes, private lessons, and structured training programs for pet dogs. A franchisee runs a training business, from a facility or on location, serving dog owners in the territory.
THE DOG WIZARD net unit count grew +42.0% from 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The main concern in the record: too many owners are failing outright rather than selling.
Exit rate · latest year
13.5%
vs 4.7% across 18 pet services systems
Cost to open
$112K–$424K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
10 loans exist; too few resolved to rate
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 13 of 96 franchised outlets left the system — a 13.5% annualized exit rate, vs 4.7% across 18 pet services systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 38 | 69 | 97 |
| Opened | 34 | 43 | 16 |
| Transfers | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Terminations | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Non-renewals | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 12 | 10 |
| Outlets at end | 69 | 97 | 98 |
| Net change | +31 | +28 | +1 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 10 SBA-backed loans to THE DOG WIZARD franchisees since 2023. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
0 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$144,410
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO THE DOG WIZARD BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $65K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $112K–$424K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$112K–$424K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$65K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
8%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$80K
8% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$800K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for THE DOG WIZARD with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 1 wage case against operators of this system, recovering $2K in back wages for 1 worker. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
1
Back wages owed
$2K
Employees affected
1
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual THE DOG WIZARD franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not THE DOG WIZARD itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2011.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for THE DOG WIZARD. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing THE DOG WIZARD's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →THE DOG WIZARD franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of THE DOG WIZARD franchises closed last year?
In THE DOG WIZARD's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 13 of 96 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 13.5% — compared with 4.7% across 18 pet services systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a THE DOG WIZARD franchise cost?
Per THE DOG WIZARD's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $65K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $112K–$424K (Item 7).
What royalty does THE DOG WIZARD charge?
THE DOG WIZARD charges an ongoing royalty of 8.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does THE DOG WIZARD disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — THE DOG WIZARD makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $146K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.