Jamie Genereux Of Packleader PetTrackers: Lessons I Learned From Last Year To Take Our Organization to the Next Level in 2024
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Don’t Listen to the Noise: if you run your business based on everything you see and read on social media, you’ll be chasing unachievable goals.
This series aims to discuss the experiences and lessons learned by top executives over the past year, and how these insights are shaping the landscape for change and innovation in 2024. The past year has been a time of unprecedented challenges and opportunities, requiring adaptive leadership and innovative strategies. We believe that sharing these experiences can inspire and guide others in their endeavors to drive positive change in their organizations and industries. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie Genereux, Founder of Packleader PetTrackers.
Jamie Genereux is the founder of Packleader PetTrackers. His training in search and rescue (SAR) for humans combined with decades spent as an outdoorsman observing, interacting with and tracking a variety of animals, sets him apart from almost everyone else working in his field. Genereux started his SAR career with Rhode Island Canine Search & Rescue, training search dogs to find missing people generally and after natural and man-made disasters. This work also included state certifications in land navigation and basic search and rescue. In conjunction with that work, he spent 8 years as a full-time private investigator/detective, refining his investigative skills, including camera and video surveillance, and interacting regularly with witnesses and law enforcement. With nearly two decades of search, investigation, tracking and K-9 training behind him, Jamie started Packleader PetTrackers in 2010 and have helped locate hundreds of missing pets since then.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share a little about your background and what pivotal moments led you to your current position as an executive?
My training in search and rescue (SAR) for humans combined with decades spent as an outdoorsman observing, interacting with and tracking a variety of animals, sets me apart from almost everyone else working in lost pet recovery. I started my SAR career with Rhode Island Canine Search & Rescue, training search dogs to find missing people generally after natural and man-made disasters. This work also included state certifications in land navigation and basic search and rescue. In conjunction with that work, I spent 8 years as a full-time private investigator/detective, refining my investigative skills, including camera and video surveillance, and interacting regularly with witnesses and law enforcement. With nearly two decades of search, investigation, tracking and K-9 training behind me, I started Packleader PetTrackers in 2010 and have helped locate hundreds of missing pets since then.
What were the early challenges you faced in your career, and how did they shape your approach to leadership?
When Trigger (my last K-9 trained for human SAR) and I first began the transition of his scent skills to search for missing pets, the idea of a “pet tracker” was unheard of to most everyone. I would have to explain in depth how the K-9 scent tracking process worked and debunk many myths about search dogs that were inexplicably being spread by volunteer groups in the area, who had no training or experience working with, training or handling off-leash scent K-9s. My experience led to the development of my K-9 remote collar and scent training program. This proprietary training is what allows our dogs to work both independently and in coordination with the handler through electronic and silent communication, using their “toolbox” of cross-functional scent skills to seamlessly mix and match scent disciplines on-the-fly, at their discretion, to best follow the target scent trail. These unique, off-leash, multi-scent discipline dogs are not something even many skilled search dog trainers have seen and are essential to getting close to shy, skittish dogs in survival mode. Believing in the multi-faceted approach I created which was unheard of, and seeing this approach becoming successful, gave me the confidence to become the effective leader I am today.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
As alleged in the lawsuit I brought against them, for years a local lost dog recovery organization, Missing Dogs Massachusetts, actively discouraged owners from using me and my company by defaming, disparaging and casting doubt on my skills, knowledge and character and interfering with my business. It did this using a systematic campaign on social media and through its directors’ and volunteers’ direct contact with lost dog owners. The mistake I made was to let this group defame and disparage me and PackLeader PetTrackers for as long as they did before taking action and filing a lawsuit. It was a valuable lesson that taught me to address business critical issues at the onset rather than assuming lost pet owners and the public will be able to recognize disingenuousness that does not put the well-being of the lost pet first and that the problem would go away on its own. These claims and allegations at issue in the lawsuit can be found at https://www.packleaderpettrackers.com/lawsuit
As an executive, how do you define success, both personally and for your organization?
Every time I’m able to successfully educate a lost pet owner or simply an animal lover on what our search process and program is all about — conveying and demonstrating to them that deep knowledge of lost animal behavior and nearly 15 years of experience in the field searching for, locating, and securing lost pets is the most valuable tool they can have to help their search — and I see that “lightbulb” go on for them, where from that point on they “get it” and are partnering with me to execute our plan and no longer susceptible to being led astray by random social media advice, improper and ineffective guidance from volunteers or even professionals with little to no experience with lost animal behavior. I am truly thrilled because when that “ah-ha” moment happens, I know we’re on the best path possible to help an owner and their pet be reunited.
Reflecting on 2023, what was the most unexpected challenge you faced, and how did you navigate it?
Though not totally unexpected, it never ceases to surprise me just how much faith and credence lost pet owners will put into advice they receive on social media. Facebook is a particularly concerning breeding ground for the spread of bad advice and misinformation when it comes to searching for a lost pet.
There are a lot of animal lovers out there and hundreds of “lost pet” Facebook pages, many with a small group of active commenters. For some of these commenters, when they see a post for any missing pet, their heart goes out to the pet and the owner, and they are genuinely worried for them both. Unfortunately, good intentions do not always mean good advice, leaving social media littered with inaccurate or misguided information for finding lost pets that is seen by many and robotically repeated over and over. The more people hear a message, they come to believe it is fact and continue passing it on.
I see this happen day after day on these pages and it can be difficult to counteract because especially for the lost pet pages for our area, one small group controls the vast majority of them. It would likely come as a surprise to the tens of thousands of page followers that the page admins own or are affiliated with a lost pet tracking company and a thermal drone company, both with limited experience and expertise, who are recommended and lauded on the pages over and over. These followers have no idea of the page’s connection to these businesses and believe the page is a neutral, open forum, where they are getting unbiased advice and recommendations. These admins though have their own agenda, suppressing negative comments about their companies and ensuring positive ones. Healthy competition is a-ok, but unfortunately when lost pet owners flock to these pages in their time of crisis, they are prone to acting impulsively and being drawn to the loudest voice on the page. This leaves them ripe for being taken advantage of and wasting precious time and resources on assistance at the outset of their search that might not be the most suitable for their situation.
We continue to try and educate and get the word out to as many owners as possible that the best first step when your pet goes missing is to contact an experienced expert for clear guidance and recommendations. Owners are often surprised that some of our advice is very simple (and yet very effective) and even counterintuitive to what they want to do or have been repeatedly advised to do by the social media masses. Finding a lost pet can be difficult, but with guidance early on from an expert, we can often help streamline and ideally shorten the process.
What was a significant risk you took this year, and how did it turn out?
Suing a tax-exempt organization for defamation and sharing the news publicly announcing the resolution of the lawsuit against Missing Dogs Massachusetts. I’m happy I did because my relentless and unwavering pursuit of this legal action only reinforced our company’s commitment to being able to provide top-notch professional expertise and assistance to lost pet owners and to uphold high-ethical standards in the pet tracking and dog recovery industry. The public support has been overwhelming and very touching, and I’m very grateful for it.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
A common thread between reuniting owners with their lost pets, and the circumstances of navigating through filing and resolving the lawsuit, were determination and perseverance. The terms of the settlement are confidential but I’m happy with the resolution, which will not only help restore our reputation, but also reaffirms the critical importance of integrity in the face of trying circumstances. We challenged and stood firm against accusations and statements made toward me and my company, and it’s that commitment, level of determination and perseverance that has made PackLeader PetTrackers what it is today.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
Relating to the lawsuit allegations, when you’re being publicly criticized constantly for charging for your services by members of a non-profit organization whose own operation runs on extensive donations, being accused of taking advantage of lost pet owners in their darkest hour, maintaining profitability can be daunting and quite frankly, a challenge. We all have expertise and a specialty that we utilize to make a living, but for some reason, I’ve been targeted with this narrative that I should not be allowed to earn a living providing my expertise. So I put that noise aside and remain confident in my skills, experience, knowledge and forge on. I consider myself lucky to be able to combine my job with being able to help others by having a direct impact helping lost pet owners when they don’t know where to turn or what to do.
Could you list the top five things you’ve learned in 2023, with specific examples of how these lessons impacted your decisions or strategies? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1 . Expansion of Remote Lost Pet Consultation & Search Management: Scent K-9s and thermal drones are great tools to have, but at the end of the day, what is most critical is extensive real world, lost pet behavior and field experience on hundreds, if not thousands, of lost pet cases. Even without these tangible tools, application of the right experience and expertise to create a customized search plan for the specific circumstances of each case, collaboratively executed on the ground by the owner is often just what the owners needed to locate and recover their beloved pet. This is exactly what we harness and deliver when assisting clients remotely.
2 . Thermal Drones: Most humans want a quick fix and these days expect technology to be the best way to solve any problem. But in the case of using thermal drones as the only method to help locate missing pets, this misplaced confidence and over-reliance on the drone can lead to longer recovery times, misinformation and incorrect/discouraging conclusions — just because the pet wasn’t seen by the drone in a certain area. We have seen this happen time and time again, but when searching the same area with a scent K-9, we are able to pick up the pet’s scent trail and hone in on a purported location where the drone couldn’t see. We then begin execution of a ground recovery plan, something a regular drone operator lacks the knowledge and equipment to do.
3 . Educate: You are the expert at what you do and there is so much about your business that your clients and the public likely don’t understand. The good news is they don’t need to know what you know, but helping them better understand how your services work (and don’t work), important dos and don’ts will eventually translate to less circulation of bad advice and more widespread dissemination of accurate recommendations for lost pet recovery that will actually advance the search for lost pet owners rather than hinder it or worse.
4 . ABC — Always Be Creative: creative thinking, approaches and ideas are critical to evolving and changing. As long as you’re doing that, there will always be a place for you.
5 . Don’t Listen to the Noise: if you run your business based on everything you see and read on social media, you’ll be chasing unachievable goals.
How have these top five lessons from 2023 changed your outlook or approach for 2024?
These lessons have had a large impact on our 2024 activities and will continue to be top of mind as the missing pet recovery industry evolves and grows.
In terms of innovation and adaptation, what’s one change you implemented in 2023 or plan to do in 2024 that you believe will be crucial for the future of your business?
Expansion of our Remote Lost Pet Consultation & Search Management service. So far we’ve assisted clients in 18 states outside of our immediate local area — Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas. We are thrilled that some of these clients have posted wonderful Google reviews.
As a leader, how do you foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your team or organization?
As a sole proprietor, I am the heart and soul of Packleader Petrackers and the buck always stops with me, though my K-9 team may have some unlodged gripes, it’s nothing a snuggle on the couch or a treat won’t fix. In all seriousness though, it’s about having an insatiable curiosity to grow, continue training and learn about anything and everything that can positively impact the search for a lost pet.
Looking at the broader industry landscape, what emerging trends do you think will be most influential in the coming year
With the release of DJI’s thermal drone, every day we see more and more pilots hitting the skies looking for lost pets. Unfortunately, they don’t teach lost animal behavior for the FAA pilot license exam. I’ve been flying DJI drones since 2015 and am an FAA licensed drone pilot with a thermal drone ready to deploy when appropriate. But I’ll be the first to tell you, they are not the golden ticket people think they are and can often do more damage than good.
At the start of a search, a strategically baited trail camera is often more likely to capture a pet’s image late at night when all is quiet and doesn’t risk scaring the pet out of the area and into danger. Search drones can be even more dangerous at night when using spotlights to ID targets. You have to fly lower and closer putting more pressure on the lost pet. Though circumstances can vary, we don’t typically start a search with the thermal drone unless there’s no scent trail left for the search dogs to follow or if there is a sighting of the lost pet far from home. Early in a search, the search dogs are far more effective than drones at narrowing down a target area, and properly trained, off-leash search dogs will not scare or chase the dog away. Leveraging this targeted location information from the scent dog makes for a more efficient and productive drone search. This information isn’t likely to have much effect on all the people going on and on about thermal drones on the lost pet pages, but if it helps even one lost dog and their family, it’s worth trying to get the word out.
If you and I were having a conversation one year from now, and we were looking back at the past 12 months, what specifically has to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Continued growth deploying our lost pet recovery strategies remotely with lost pet owners outside of our immediate geography. As mentioned, this year we’ve added clients from Arizona, California, Michigan, Georgia, Connecticut, New York, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, Florida, Maine, Indiana, Maryland. We’re thrilled that our lost cat recovery strategies, implemented through our Lost Pet Consultation and Remote Search Management services are remarkably effective and incredibly straightforward. Anyone can follow it and in fact, it stands out as the safest and fastest method for reuniting lost cats. Frantic owners think they need drones or dogs to find their missing cats when often all they need is some good advice. Anyone interested in learning more about what this service entails can go to https://www.packleaderpettrackers.com/service-page/lost-pet-consultation?referral=service_list_widget
Successful resolution of the remaining claims in the lawsuit still ongoing against Worcester Digital Marketing LLC, owned and operated by Aidan Kearney, who most people know as Turtleboy. Regarding those claims, evidence gathered shows that Missing Dogs Massachusetts’ volunteers, with the knowledge of the organization’s President, collaborated with Turtleboy to widely disseminate false, misleading and disparaging information on Turtleboy’s website and social media channels in an effort to tarnish my reputation and that of Packleader PetTrackers.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
I’m always happy to chat and discuss how we may be able to help you locate your lost pet. Even if you’re not in located in the Rhode Island area, as mentioned, we also provide Remote Search Consultations and Search Management and have had great success helping remotely, which you can see from our Google Reviews. You can also visit our website at www.packleaderpettrackers.com, follow us on social media at @packleader_pettrackers on Instagram, on TikTok at @packleaderpettrackers, on Youtube at www.youtube.com/@packleaderpettrackers6994 and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/packleaderpettrackers.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Jamie Genereux Of Packleader PetTrackers: Lessons I Learned From Last Year To Take Our Organization… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.