CONSULTING
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Dogs Don’t Write Checks
Mary Jean Alsina gives some tips on how trainers and behavior consultants can better connect with their clients
think it would be fair to say that most trainers get into dog choose a new alarm sound until that one develops the same negtraining because they adore dogs and want to spend as much ative conditioned emotional response that the original one protime as possible with them. However, unless dogs acquire duced. credit cards, bank accounts and opposable thumbs, trainers must Bearing this in mind, I tell clients that one day (in my dreams), learn to work in tandem with humans. Forming relationships and my alarm clock rings and the bedroom door bursts open with connections with humans and being able to communicate what my husband lovingly presenting me with a wonderful buffet to do with the dog is an area in which trainers need to excel in breakfast and $1,000 to spend however I wish. This continues to order to be successful in the dog training arena. happen daily for a while and, over a period of time, I start to noAs trainers, we can possess all the knowledge from every tice that I am actually looking forward to that alarm clock going book, class and seminar, but we still need to be able to communi- off as I am now anticipating all sorts of different fun things. What cate this to the client. Being able to communicate that knowlwill the breakfast be today? Something new and delicious? Where edge to owners is a skill that should continue to be finessed.Very will I spend the $1,000? Will I spend it all in one place? My feelsimply, owners need information put into a user-friendly form. If I ings and emotions about that terrible sound are now changing to have a headache, I would not appreciate a doctor informing me I excitement, anticipation, and fun. This is exactly what is going on have encephalalgia. If a client is working with their dog on desen- with clients’ dogs and now they can start to grasp what I am sitization and counterconditioning and is not delivering the treats doing and why.Years of teaching experience have taught me that quickly enough, I am not going to state that the law of temporal the more people can relate what they are learning to their own contiguity is in place and they are not achieving success because lives, the more they will understand and the more they will sucof that. Dazzling clients with long words and terms would do cessfully apply that information, leading to better results. nothing but make them feel more lost than when I first arrived. Time after time, I am told by clients that in past training exRather, I would explain in layman's terms that a treat used in this periences they have been made to feel stupid and actually chided type of behavior training needs to be immediate or it will not for doing things incorrectly or not achieving success fast enough. work. Most people have heard of Pavlov's experiment and can The absolute keys to training people and dogs are patience and relate to it, so summarizing that for client can also assist them in understanding of learning styles. When I am learning a new skill, understanding the process. This is one of the reasons why Apple for example, being rushed and made to feel inadehas been so successful in business: because of the ease and lack quate certainly will not encourage me to conof complexity in setting up products once the buyer returns tinue, but actually become the impetus to home to use them. frustration and possibly quitting. DeterminI find analogies serve clients very well. The more that they ing the pace to take is crucial. This not can relate training a dog to something in their own life, the more only depends on the dog, but also easily they will comprehend what I am trying to communicate. on the client. One area in which I like to do this is when helping clients to unSome owners (like their derstand desensitization and counterconditioning, and how dogs) are quick learners while the meaning of something scary needs to change for some learn at a much slower rate. Knowing when to adjust the dog before the negative behavior will criteria with a dog is a skill change. Here is an example: I hate my alarm that should be applied to clock as I am not a morning person. humans as well. In teachWhen it rings in the morning, I am ing a behavior, I always often overcome with a feeling of teach the dog first, of dread. If I happen to set that same course, as proper modelalarm clock during the day ing is the key to good for some reason to time Patience and teaching. For visual something, that same understanding of learning learners, this helps feeling comes over styles are key them to absorb the me when I hear it. in training people and process and at the This has not dogs same time, I talk changed, although them through it and sometimes I will 58
BARKS from the Guild/January 2016
Š Can Stock Photo/Colecanstock