The language we use when discussing our training methods can sometimes be slightly misleading. Much discussion is given to the use of terms such as force-free, rewards based and positive reinforcement. Sometimes there will be shared-meaning and at other times, these terms will be used and attributed to diametrically opposed training methods. The words ‘reward’
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By Niki Tudge Whether we train, teach, or both, what are we ultimately impacting? Buckingham and Coffman (1999) differentiate between skills, knowledge and talent and propose that, together, they form the three elements of any one person’s performance. The dissimilarity between the three is that, while skills can be trained and knowledge taught, talent
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Listen to a five minute podcast about the DogSmith and our training and behavior services. There is a difference between the two. Alternatively you can contact your DogSmith who will help guide you in your choice of services. So What Is The Difference? Dog Training is about building up new and appropriate skills and helping
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by Niki Tudge Many people working professionally in the pet care industry have different letters or alphabet soup as I term it behind their names, in their email signature and on their business cards. There is a selection of colleges, online schools and professional workshops that will issue credentials to pet care professionals. These credentials
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The Marketing Equation Once you have a marketing plan in place I can guarantee it will include activities like social media posts, newsletters or simple sales tools such as rack cards, business cards or home printed flyers for community notice boards. These can be very effective marketing tools if used correctly. Remember that nice graphics
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In the pet industry, most of your clients will come from referrals, usually from professional pet-related organizations like humane societies, rescue networks, veterinarians, and consumers as well as by word-of-mouth from past and present clients. Because of this, a good portion of your marketing dollars will be spent on marketing materials and promotional items
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Introduction Here at the DogSmith, professional members of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG), we like to focus on building relationships with our pets by using positive reinforcement to train new skills, and to build new behaviors as replacements for problematic ones. Because the emotional brain inhibits the rational brain (and vice versa), nobody, and that
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According to the American Pet Products Association (2017), 68 percent of Americans return home to a pet (or pets) each day. An estimated 48 percent of US residents are dog owners while 38 percent share their home with a cat (or cats). In spite of this, for many people, more time is spent planning the
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