Pet Professional Mullings

One of the great things about the Internet is being able to develop a network of other dog pros for support, input and continuing education- which everyone needs. Doesn't matter how long you've been "in the field" or what you think you know - things change fast and often in the dog world. Whether it is diet, equipment, or standards of medical care, keeping abreast of things is critical. Without others to talk to, it is easy to miss what's going on, and very easy to become isolated in our lines of work.

As I was walking in our back field this week, I got to thinking about what I had wished I had known when I started. I asked this question on our message boards at www.mysmartpuppy.com and here’s some of the wisdom that came streaming in:

I wish I had known more about structure and body language when I started in rescue. Not that I am a structure pro now, but I at least would've known a bit more what to look for when pulling dogs from the shelter. - Sheltercat - Rescue

Isn’t that the truth! So many "problem" dogs – whether they are lingering at the top of an A-frame, growling when their rears are handled or snarky in play group - are dogs in pain or fearing pain. I’ve learned a great deal from Debbie Gross Saunders – enough to know I have a lot more to learn and to give a good eye to the dog before assuming too much. Structure and soundness should be an ongoing part of any dog pros education.

How quickly the owners could dismantle the training and then state that the dog hadn't learned a thing! - Susan Hunt

I tell people that getting their dog back from a trainer is a little like getting your PC back from the repair place. If you don’t know which buttons to push or codes to use, you won’t see any real difference. Every trainer who does board and trains can relate to this. Upfront and clear conversations early about how this routines the dog but that results are relational and require practice to access, etc.. etc…prevent mutual frustration later.

With the advent of inexpensive and good little video cameras such as The Flip (we own two), all trainers can now send home discs displaying what the dog knows clearly which limits unhappiness all round (not the least of which is the dog’s!)

As a pet sitter; time is not your own. You can't make your "own hours". The more successful you become can put a strain on your family life due to your schedule. – vegarose

True for all kennel people – holidays are your busiest times and, being a service business, people will happily take 26 hours of your day if you let them. Set reasonable hours and then close your doors. Your mental health is critical to the success of your business and there is rarely a reason for you to be open 24-7. Leave a machine on and screen your calls. Often it is fear that makes us grab the phone, fear that there won't be enough business, that we won't succeed. Fear is exhausting. Do good work and drop the fear.

I wish I had known that I needed to put as much (if not more) effort into honing my people skills...as I did with my caring-for-animal skills. – Begaul

Exactly. Dogs can change but we have to change first – and getting people to change is something courts, counselors, and clergy have wrestled with for thousands of years. It isn’t easy and the more skills you have in your inner “tool kit” for coping, the more successful you will be!

Just remember, you're at least 50% of any interaction, so someone who annoys you may just be hitting your buttons and probably not, in fact, be a "bad" person. Being professional means separating personal reactions from professional behavior. We are lucky that our work tends to attract really nice people to it but when we have a less than positive reaction, put it into business gear, do your job well and move on. Then try and figure out what triggered you and why, so things will be easier next time.

I wish I'd known that what matters most is what the owner's goals are, not mine for them and their dog. – Toni Kay-Wolff

Me, too! It took me about ten years to figure out that people didn’t want to be dog trainers, they just want a well mannered dog (by their definition and with nods to Toni's business name). So my enthusiastic descriptions of why something would work generally caused the same politely glazed expression as my mechanic detailings of the working of my spark plugs. This is when I dropped a lot of talking during classes in favor of doing and then wove my tidbits in when relevant. Talk for a few minutes, DO something, talk a little more, DO more… people love it and I got as much information across as before, just more effectively.

I am thankful that I'm gaining a Social Work background in school as it has already helped immensely in my training business. – Heather White

While not all of us are lucky enough to study such things, the information is out there and is a real treasure trove for how to speak to clients about implementing change. What isn’t written about our work IS written about counseling – esp. what is called Brief or Solution-Focused Counseling - as well as anything about coaching other sorts of sports. Go forth and read, your clients will benefit (you will benefit!).

I wish I had known that there was more than one "right" way to train, and many good tools out there that were humane and effective, despite what I had heard and read. I feel like I may have done some dogs and owners a disservice by not knowing more about the different tools and how they worked.

I would say I wish I hadn't been so extreme in my "method beliefs" so early on, but by moving all the way to the edge ("positive only") for almost a year (so far to the edge that I nearly fell off), I encountered obstacles that forced me to return to a more manageable middle ground. The greatest of these obstacles is that no tool or method works for every dog. Someone could have told me that extremism isn't any more helpful in training dogs than in any other belief system, but unless I experienced it myself, I might not have realized it. – PoochProfessor

I’ve always said, if you don’t regret what you did a few years back, even just a little, then you aren’t learning and growing. About ten years ago, I got a lot less “pushy” about my methods with other people and trainers because I realized they had evolved a great deal from a decade back and I certainly hoped they would continue to do so. Now I say is “What I currently do...” or “...currently believe…”

Regret is a badge of growth.

PoochProfessors words are wise ones – good ones for any pet professional to ponder as we head out into our days. Really grasping them allows us to be more supportive of our client’s inevitable learning curves. And since, IMO, we’re in the empowerment business, appreciation for where we have come can give us tolerance for where our clients are.

If they are asking for help, they are trying and effort should be saluted.

I wish I'd have known: that after a decent length of time in one place (currently 14 years) I'd become so attached to, and feel so responsible for, so many dogs who I alone have been grooming for their entire lives. I see them every one or two or three months for years and years. At a time when I'm going to be moving in the near future and leaving my business, I'm finding this to be, well, devastating to think about. – Neek, Professional Groomer

We go into this work because we care and here is someone, 14 years in, who loves her work and her clients. It is that attachment and sense of responsibility that makes us all good at what we do. The dogs you’re leaving will miss you, neek, and the ones you’re going to don’t know how lucky they are.

I wish I had known that there would be some owners who come to class but are totally resistant to actually implementing what I'm trying to teach them and seem unabashed when after 5 weeks their dog still can't/won't hold a sit stay for more than two seconds. If I had known, maybe I would be mentally more prepared for the frustration. – Lisa/eowyn

People really – REALLY – don’t know what to expect from training and come to class often thinking it has something to do with the DOG. ;)

Finding ways to change our expectations so we can genuinely support and applaud those two seconds is an act of spiritual calesthenics. We know what the dog is capable of but… it is not our dog. So we learn to be as positive and step-by-step with the people as we are with the dogs. When that happens – many other good things may start happening (or not, some people just aren’t ging to “do” but if they are happy, be happy!)

... as mentioned this is a people business more than a dog business. If you wanna train dogs (unless you do exclusive board and train and even then you must teach the people what you've done anyway) you'll need to know how to teach and deal with people. Came in realizing that as I did quite a stint of apprenticing.

I learned the "old school" way so my perspective may be different but I really wished I knew I didn't have to "correct" all the problems away way back when.– Doug/Underdog Pets Plus Dog Training, London, Ontario

Thank you, Doug! That was the time and that was the way, and the pendulum swung and went to from correct everything - the dog knows better - to correct nothing - the dog only learns through positives and negatives always ruin learning - and now it swings back a bit to a different sense of what "correction" means and everytime we swing along, we learn a little more (if we’re lucky – clearly you are)… It's been baffling at times but generally fun to watch the profession grow and change and grow some more and change some more…

Working with people and their dog is the best work there is – and some of the hardest. At its best, it makes demands on us emotionally, mentally and spiritually. We are better people for it.

ONWARD!