By Malena DeMartini The voicemail message was a funny one. It said, in a charming Italian lilt, “I need help getting my dog off the feet.” Ninety nine percent of my caseload is made up of separation anxiety cases, so I had some inkling right away what the woman calling me meant by that. When […]
Training Practices
Training Practices
Got Confidence? Treating Separation Anxiety
By Malena DeMartini, author of Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs My second client ever was a separation anxiety case. The dog’s name was Guinness, like the beer, and his owners had found him sickly and tattered, scavenging for food somewhere on a California back road. They rescued him, bought him life-saving medical treatments, and nursed […]
Open Enrollment Classes
Filling classes can be challenging, particularly for smaller businesses. So many stars must align for potential clients: The right class on the right day of the week at the right time and starting on the right date. Larger, established facilities offering a full schedule can stagger multiple classes to meet this challenge, but new and […]
Training the Clients
Most trainers agree that working with clients is the most important—and most challenging—part of the job. Even when the trainer does the training in board and train or day training situations, the work with the client remains the central ingredient to success. Transferring complex skills and understanding to a human is tremendously more involved than […]
The Business of Curriculum
Frustrated at classes that end with fewer students than you started with? Disappointed that more clients don’t sign up for the next round? All the more perplexed because your class evaluations are glowing, your rates competitive, your reputation strong, and your class schedule full of choices? More often than not the problem is the curriculum. […]