Dog Training Tips with Ryan Gwilliam

I wanted to share something with you that’s important to me. At Train Walk Poop, we believe in something called Emotional Support Humans. It’s a term we use for all of our employees who prioritize the emotional well-being of the dogs we work with.

To be an Emotional Support Human, there are 5 key traits that we think are important:

1. Be like the best teacher you ever had growing up. The one who genuinely wanted to connect with you and help you. The one who wasn’t just getting through the day. The one who helped you feel like you had potential when you didn’t realize you did.
2. Give before you get. The dog’s needs come first. An Emotional Support Human makes sure the dog’s needs are being met consistently before asking for good behavior or expecting them to be well behaved.
3. Seek out help for a dog in need. When struggling to help a difficult dog, an ESH finds someone to guide them who has already helped a dog in a similar situation.
4. An ESH assumes responsibility. Assume the dog is innocent and that humans haven’t been clear enough for the dog to succeed.
5. Be more stubborn than the dog. When you know what is best for the dog in the long run you both lose if you give in.
6. Admit mistakes. When an ESH has a bad training session, they take a break, they think about what went wrong, own up to how they fell short, and try again with a new approach. Dogs are extremely forgiving and thank goodness for that! Deep down they want to be praised (even the Huskies), and they will make progress as soon as you teach them in a way they understand.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it resonates with you as much as it does with us at Train Walk Poop.

Sincerely,

Ryan Gwilliam

P.S. Our team of Emotional Support Humans are standing by to help your dog be the best dog they can be! When you’re ready, here’s the next step: