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Training Dogs and People

Even if you don’t have a dog, you just might learn something about leadership, your own self-development, and training humans from this newsletter, so please humor me on this one.

As a life-long dog person and someone who’s been deeply involved in dog sports all my adult life, you might guess that dog training is something I’ve done a lot of, and you’d be right. I’ve trained my own dogs, as well as worked with people to train their dogs to show in conformation competition, which is what you see when you watch the Westminster Kennel Club, the National Dog Show and the AKC National Championship dog shows on TV.

I’ve also worked with people and teams, coaching and consulting, teaching mental wellbeing, team dynamics, leadership, and communication skills. What I’ve discovered is that when training people and when training dogs, many of the same skills are needed.

Many people add a furry family member during the winter holidays, live with the puppy through January and might be at their wits’ end by February, hence February being designated as Dog Training Education Month. I believe that’s a month too late.

Dogs don’t come with a set of behaviors that you want them to perform. Those behaviors need to be taught, ideally beginning the day you bring them into your home. When you have a picture in your head of how you want the adult dog to behave, you can begin shaping those behaviors in your puppy right from the start.

Employees don’t come with a set of behaviors that you want them to have. Those behaviors need to be shaped, ideally beginning on their first day of employment. When you have a picture in your head of how you want the new hire to fit in and contribute, you can begin encouraging them and educating them right from the start.

The longer you let a puppy or a person get away with behavior you don’t want, the longer it will take you to convince the puppy or person to change that behavior into something more appropriate. And if you’re inconsistent with your directions, praise and/or averse consequences, double or triple the time it could take to create better behavior.

When you combine immediacy, positivity, and consistency, that creates a clear path for either species to follow. In both cases, clear leadership combined with vision is the key to training success. If you need a little inspiration on working with your team, check out these three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast:

The Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites podcast is a daily, 90-seconds-or-less podcast delivering self-development, team dynamic, and leadership tools. Find it where you listen to podcasts and here on the Center for Workplace Happiness website. Already love it? Please subscribe and share.

And for this final day of Dog Training Education Month, think about who and how you educate each day, and whether your leadership is clear for them to follow. If I can answer any questions, fire away and happy Tuesday!

Wags, Sandy Weaver, Program Director, Center for Workplace Happiness
Author of Happy Vet Happy Pet, The Original MBA, and co-author of The Happiness Recipe and The 28-Day Thought Diet

PS... Want the perfect way to start each day? Check out the Mind, Body, Soul Sessions podcast – something for your whole self, for just $7 per month.

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