As dog trainers, we often excel at changing dog behaviour, but may forget the importance of communication skills. Our role as animal advocates and client advisors requires us to excel at communication too. Our ability to share our knowledge and coach new skills ultimately facilitates changing our client’s behaviour in order to change their dog’s behaviour. Good communication builds relationships, gets buy-in, creates passion, develops patience and fosters motivation when our clients are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, confused or frustrated. Yet, relatively little of our education encompasses communication skills. This webinar focuses on communication strategies for obtaining a case history, the practical use of empathy and compassion, and providing constructive, personalised coaching and reinforcing feedback. We will discuss the value of silence, the use of analogies and humour, our own body language, and how to measure your communicative success. After all, good communication is a skill we can develop if we are self-aware enough! Participants will learn tips for tailoring communication for each individual client to optimise outcomes for training success.
Learning objectives:
- Understand the role communication skills play in building relationships with clients
- Identify opportunities to provide reinforcing feedback to clients
- Identify opportunities to provide constructive coaching to clients
Presenter: Petra Edwards PhD, BSc (Animal Behaviour) (Hons) Cert IV TAE. PCT-A, TAGTeach Level 2
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