Next Level Account

Woman with dog in training

If you didn’t catch last week’s blog post, check it out here.

So now that we’re building our accounts with our pets, let’s take this one step further.

Trainers are known for doing amazing things with animals of all different kinds. It’s also a common complaint that I hear from clients that the trainer can do things way better than they can.

This is usually met with a little defeatism and frustration on the client’s part, which is totally understandable.

Let’s unpack this a little bit, shall we?

Trainers can get better results with your pet than you can for the same reason that a high end car dealership is going to pay attention to the person that walks in their door wearing a suit with a briefcase as opposed to say jeans with holes in them and a ratty hoodie.

The first person exudes confidence and awareness. They know how to dress for the part, and know the level of investment that goes into purchasing a high end car. The second person appears to not take very good care of themselves, or not have the patience/time/money to have quality things.

This is, of course, a judgement of appearances, which certainly isn’t fair in the human world, but it’s a great reflection of what happens with our pets.

The trainer spends a lot of time practicing their craft. They work with lots of animals through lots of different scenarios. They’ve made a lot of investments into the accounts of a lot of animals over time, which builds up their own ‘portfolio’ if you will.

As a pet owner we’re lucky if we’ve dealt with three or four different animals of the same type over the years. That’s a pretty big difference in the investments that have been made by two people.

Our pets are aware of that, and can tell whether we’re the suit and briefcase type of person, or the ripped up jeans type of person.

And yes, they will judge you for it.

There really isn’t wrong with the ripped up jeans, as long as you know what they are and where you are working from. But when it comes to experience, our pets are going to ask us to step up to the plate and make investments in the relationship together.

Trainers have the longevity of investments that they’ve made, and pets can sense that from miles away. Our pets are well aware of someone’s ‘portfolio’ long before they ever take any actions, much like the dealership is going to judge the suit much higher than the jeans from the parking lot.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t build up to being a suit wearing professional with your pet over time. You totally can. And each pet is different, some pets are going to be the luxury type that insist you step up to the suit level, and some are going to be ok with someone in the jeans level. There’s nothing wrong with either, as long as you take an objective look at your own portfolio and what you are reflecting with your pet.

So don’t be offended that the trainer can get results. That’s what you want, right? The key is that the trainer takes the time to teach you how to build your portfolio yourself so that you’ve got what it takes to manage your (probably luxury level) pet.

This is why it doesn’t work to ‘send the pet’ to the trainer. If your training program doesn’t involve you as much as your pet, then you’ll be left disappointed outside the luxury dealer yet again.

Seeking assistance training your pet is one of the best ways to make investments in your relationship with your pet. Just be sure that the trainer is investing in you as much as your pet.