FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source

2023 FDD · 2+ years old — too old to rate

Paw & Order

Dog training · parent company: not identified

Paw & Order is a pet-services business (its name plays on dog training/behavior). It provides dog training and related pet care to help owners with obedience and behavior. A franchisee operates a local pet-training service. (Specifics are limited, so this is a general description based on the brand's name and category.)

Paw & Order went from 1 → 9 units over 2019–2022 — too small a starting base for a meaningful percentage 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. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:

  • 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, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.

Our rating · opinion

Filing too old to rate

The newest FDD we hold for this brand is from 2023, more than two years old. Franchise systems change a lot in that time, so we don't rate it until we have a current filing.

Exit rate · fiscal 2022

14.3%

vs 5.2% median across 22 comparable systems (pet services)

Cost to open

$29K–$52K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan losses

No loan record

no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand

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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from Paw & Order's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2023, extracted 2026-06-19) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.

What each source says

FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor

Our answer: Filing too old to rate

We don't rate on an FDD more than two years old; the loan record and model are shown as context until a current filing arrives.

FDD record · Item 20

Filing too old

Latest FDD we hold is from 2023.

SBA loans · vs same-year loans

No SBA loans found

No 7(a)/504 loans matched to this brand.

Modeled risk

Not scored

Too little evidence for the model.

Auditor opinion · Item 21

Not extracted

We did not extract the audit opinion.

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth41%

latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1

Fair
Exit quality29%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Fair
Transfer / churn18%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Weak
Promise-keeping12%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Not Disc.
Transparencynot in verdict

Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict

Strong

Systemwide units

2019–2022

1 → 9 units
12019220207202192022

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2022, 1 of 7 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 14.3% (fiscal 2022), vs a 5.2% median across 22 comparable systems (pet services). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.

Show the outlet tables ↓
Status (FTC)2019202020212022
Outlets at start1128
Opened0154
Transfers0010
Terminations0001
Non-renewals0000
Reacquired by franchisor0000
Ceased — other reasons0000
Outlets at end1279
Net change0+1+5+1

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $24,900 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $29K–$52K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$29K–$52K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$24,900

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

7%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$500K/yr

Starts at a placeholder of $500K — a round figure for the sector, not from Paw & Order’s filings. Set your own figure and check it against this brand's Item 19 and what owners tell you.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$35K

7% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$350K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.

This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on labor, rent, supplies, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).

Build a real pro-forma for Paw & Order with a buyer-paid CPA

How the earnings claim is built

FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2023 FDD

This filing makes an Item 19 earnings claim; we have not yet read how it is built. Open Item 19 and check which units it covers, which it leaves out, and whether it shows costs.

Show the basis ↓

Public records

Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored

We have no verified public-record signals published for Paw & Order. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.

7 questions to ask a Paw & Order franchisee

Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls

The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what Paw & Order has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.

  1. 01

    Paw & Order’s own Item 20 shows 1 of 7 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2022 — about 14.3%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?

    A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.

    FDD Item 20 · FY2022

  2. 02

    You pay 7.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?

    Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.

    FDD Item 6

  3. 03

    Paw & Order makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?

    Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.

    FDD Item 19 · 2023

  4. 04

    How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?

    Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.

    Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner

  5. 05

    What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?

    Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.

    FDD Items 6, 8, 11

  6. 06

    If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?

    The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.

    Ask every owner you speak to

  7. 07

    Who else should I call — including someone who left?

    The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.

    Ask every owner you speak to

Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?

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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing Paw & Order’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Don Drummond, CPA — Virginia #43775 · what I charge

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This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.

Paw & Order franchise questions, answered from the filings

How many Paw & Order franchised outlets left the system last year?

In Paw & Order's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2022), 1 of 7 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 14.3% — compared with a 5.2% median across 22 comparable systems (pet services) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.

How much does a Paw & Order franchise cost?

Per Paw & Order's 2023 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $24,900 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $29K–$52K (Item 7).

What royalty does Paw & Order charge?

Paw & Order charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2023 FDD.

Does Paw & Order disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — Paw & Order makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2023 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.