“How Dog Training Makes You A Better Leader” w/ Rosemarie Williams of K9 THIS Dog Obedience Training

Jonathan (0s):
Welcome back to Radio Entrepreneurs. I’m Jonathan Freedman and our next guest up is Rosemarie Williams, owner of K9 THIS Dog Obedience Training. Welcome to Radio Entrepreneurs.

Rosemarie (11s):
Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Jonathan (15s):
So we talked a little bit before we came on air, but I want to hear from you, tell us a little bit about what your message is for pet owners.

Rosemarie (23s):
Well, when I’m, when I would like for pet owners to understand, is that if you speak the dogs language, which is silent messages with your body, you got, you can lead your canine pack and your human pack with the same methods. It’s the way you manage yourself, your body language and your senses.

Jonathan (45s):
So much of, of what we’re trying to do as we train our pets and train our dogs in particular is, is having them recognize who the leader of the pack is. And ultimately the human is the leader of the pack

Rosemarie (58s):
And the leader of the pack.

Jonathan (1m 0s):
And so how we communicate both verbally, non-verbally how we interact with that. Dog sends a whole host of messages to them,

Rosemarie (1m 7s):
Right? The, the whole host, the dog is going to recognize your body language before they’re going to listen to your verbal commands. So if you’re using your body language and your movements it to, to guide and direct your dog, it’s called socializing. Social learning is actually up there with imprinting, but social learning is higher ranking, but the body language is what everything does for you and your dog. So if the, if the dog doesn’t see you as leading the pack, they’re going to step up to it. So

Jonathan (1m 41s):
I, I would imagine in, in your field, you seen, you’ve seen it all, so to speak probably a lot of what you would consider, just people doing it all wrong. What, what, what comes to mind? Good. Share with us. Some, some, some situations or some most common pitfalls that you see in people trying to interact with their dogs and trying to train their dogs.

Rosemarie (2m 1s):
Well, okay. So like, like maybe a decade ago, this would have surprised me or stunned me. But when I go into a home where people are asking me to come in, because they’re ha they have multiple dogs in their, in their pack and they don’t have control of what’s going on, or they’re starting to see fist fights among them or reactive toward things and other people. And when I go in and I say, okay, so who’s leading this pack and the humans will talk to each other and look around and then they’ll point to one of the dogs and I go wrong. The dogs don’t leave nothing. One of you guys, you’ve gotta be leading this pack and you see the shock come over their faces when they realize that they haven’t taken, because they want to love their pets and flourished and with all these love and everything.

Rosemarie (2m 48s):
But when it’s an unhealthy balance between affection and obedience, and then you’re going to see all his aggression and reactiveness to, to their environment and the people in it. So,

Jonathan (3m 1s):
You know, it, it’s probably the same principle can be applied to dogs. I’d imagine as kids get them early and train them early, but, but can you break dogs of bad habits?

Rosemarie (3m 14s):
Absolutely. The dorks bad habits, or what we in printed you in print those bad habits on them. We’re enablers. Exactly. Right. And let me say this one owner, a handler and a dog approached me for the first time. I, by the way they’re managing their dog is the way they manage their lives. It’s the way they manage the people. And it’s the way they manage their household, their business. I know exactly what’s going on within those few seconds that I see you walking toward me with that dog. And I know which avenues I need to bounce off of to get you straightened out.

Rosemarie (3m 55s):
So when you’re dealing with people, it’s the same concept. If you are screaming and yelling, like you’re, you’re yelling at somebody, why’d you do that? Or you’re, you’re quiet. Which one do you think they’re going to go to the quietness? Because that quiet, calm is leadership is confident. Loud is not. And then the other thing that happens is, and this is what people, kids, canine, whatever you want, if you’re shouting, you’re emotional, that’s what they’re focused on. They’re focused on your emotion and not the task at hand that you’re trying to resolve.

Jonathan (4m 35s):
So again, a very basic premise is consistency and calmness is what I’m hearing you say, calmness, and making sure that they are, are responsive to not only your voice commands, but obviously your body language and things of that nature as well. So when you get involved and, and I imagine you’re, you’re called on for training of all sorts. You know, whether it’s, and again, your name, the company is obedience. Obedience can take on many forms. I would imagine behavior. You know, one of the things I think a lot of people struggle with are vocal dogs, dogs who bark at all sights and sounds, I’ve just recently been in a number of business meeting with somebody who’s who says her dog is quiet the entire time until she gets on a zoom.

Jonathan (5m 23s):
And then the dog is very vocal. But what, what are some of the things that, that, that you see people struggling with is it is barking a common concern for people.

Rosemarie (5m 35s):
Yes. And I’m glad you brought that up because that, that, that has a lot of it people would want, because dogs are barking out their windows and there’s nothing out there. Well, they smell in here, things that you don’t, and it’s the way you react to them. So the funny thing, when would the zoom is that the what’s happening with, I don’t know what breeder dog is, but I can guess it’s about, there’s a change and her focus is on something else. And he, the dog hears all this other stuff going on. So instead of asserting, like, okay, everything’s fine. I need you to go over here, get in your place, take your bone and your toy. And I’ll be with you in a minute, you know, to assure it in that way. Now a barking dog had a window.

Rosemarie (6m 15s):
Imagine this dog barking, barking, and you say, Oh, Hey, shut up, shut up. The dog looks over at, you goes back to Barkin and you yell louder. Right? So the dogs, right? That’s right. I got back up, man. My, my, my owners are barking too. That’s how they read all that. Versus if you went over to the window, looked out, not saying a word, just looked out and walked away as a pack leader. You just said, I don’t know what you’re barking at, but there’s no danger. And the follow you away from that.

Jonathan (6m 47s):
So, so you really, what I, what I’m hearing you say is you’re looking to emulate the behavior that your desire and your dog. So again, it really comes back to being the leader of the pack by emulating the behaviors and the, and the activities that you’re looking for in your, in your pet.

Rosemarie (7m 2s):
Yeah. You want to, you want them to enjoy them. You don’t want a constant chaos. And there’s another thing I do is that dogs do dogs should never answer the door. You know? So that, that’s another training session I do with people. And it’s about the way you respond to the way the dog is acting. So you teach, you teach the dog and people the same way. If you have a crying child in the store or something, and the way you react to that child just makes it even worse. Right? So it’s the way you respond is the reaction that you’re going to get. So if they’re loud, you’re loud, it’s all going to be the same thing. It just brings it up higher.

Jonathan (7m 44s):
So, so Rosemary, what’s the typical engagement that you do with somebody? Is it something that is, is, you know, can you pick a longevity or is it depending on, is every case different? You know, can you look at something and say, this dog’s going to take, you know, six months to cure whatever the obedient issue is. Do you have a good sense when you look at it or are there a lot of unknowns in the process as well times?

Rosemarie (8m 8s):
And there’s sometimes there’s some unknowns and I say, I have to get a visual, like a lot of phone calls and people want to talk to me about stuff and I go, I would need to see you and how you’re acting. But now I can tell by the tone of someone’s voice, I had a guy recently that he just introduced another dog into his pack. And he says, the first time we’ve had any problems and I’m listening to him. And I said, the dog’s not the problem you are. And I brought something to his attention and he was like, I never realized I was doing that. I said, I can tell. I said, two-three, I would need to see it and get a good visual on what’s happened in there, but you’ve just rescue this dog. He shouldn’t even be with the pack just yet. He’s fearful, doesn’t know what’s going on.

Rosemarie (8m 50s):
Just lost his original owners. He’s in an unfamiliar environment. And then you throw them into a pack and then you’re yelling at him because he’s grounded and snapping at everybody get away from me. It’s like, imagine you go into a brand new job, scared to death. You got, Oh, you know, all these people around you, and you’re trying to do the best job you can. And then, but your, your fear, you know, cause fear clogs the brain. You can’t think straight. Does that make sense?

Jonathan (9m 19s):
Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And you know, so, so it sounds to me like a big part of your message is you’ve got to stop and think. I mean, it sounds to me a lot of what you’re playing is you’re, you’re, you’re playing a psychologist for the owner as much as a trainer to the dog. And a big part of it is understanding the human dynamic and how humans react to the, to the

Rosemarie (9m 40s):
Yes, because I did have one, couple, the woman said to me, I used, I use the, your method on my husband and he sat down right away and behavior and it works. That’s great. I said, but don’t play me.

Jonathan (9m 58s):
That’s wonderful. So given that we’ve gone through and, and I’d imagine there’s a, you know, I looked at some statistics the other week about dog ownership and it’s just gone through the word. I it’s shocking to me how many dogs there are in this country. It’s somewhere, it’s like one of 330 million people. There’s something like a hundred million dogs or some, you know, craziest. So it’s almost like one out of every three people in this country has a dog.

Rosemarie (10m 24s):
Yeah. It’s gone up to 60%.

Jonathan (10m 26s):
And so what, what is the, if you could pick one piece of advice or guidance that you would give to a new pet owners or any pet owner, even if people have done it multiple times, what’s, what’s what, where’s the, what’s the foundation. What’s the starting ground to making sure they get off on the right, right foot.

Rosemarie (10m 43s):
My thing is that as soon as you bring your dog in the house, now, when you do adopt a dog from a shelter, you need to use that dog at least two to four weeks for adjustment period. So bringing everybody in the home, it’s like, if you brought a baby home, you wouldn’t want everybody in the house touching your baby. You’re trying to relax. So, you know, and the rules have to be established immediately when you come in the house. Because one of the big things that I get calls on is jumping and dragging around the leash. So when you bring a puppy home or a new dog home, and he runs to greet you at the door and they jump up and you love that and you hold them and you love them and you come home and I always go, yeah, that’s cute. Wow, wait til they’re a year old.

Rosemarie (11m 23s):
And then he gonna be calling me and saying, I can’t stop this dog and jumping all over everybody. Right. And then if you, and if you teach right away, I tell people, when you come home, your dog should be the last thing you pay attention to wait till they’re calm, quiet, and collective and not asking for the attention. Then you go ahead and give them some, some of your love, maybe throw a ball, some activities to them, right? So it’s like, when you’re introducing a dog into your family, the rules have to start immediately. No biting hands, no, no climbing in the bed with you. All that stuff has to be established right away. And you can do it. That takes 16 week old puppies and they sit down, stay recall.

Rosemarie (12m 8s):
So no leash. So,

Jonathan (12m 11s):
And, and how important is it? Cause one of the things that comes to mind when you say that, and I think it’s, again, it’s instinct, right? And most of what a dog does is instinctual. You come in the door, they greet you right away. Or they come, come to you and, and does it change the dynamic? If, if you get down to the dog’s level, in other words, you know, dog is happy to jump up on you. You don’t want that to happen. Is it okay to get down and play with the dog and be on their territory? Or are you seen as a leader of a pack and doing that?

Rosemarie (12m 40s):
Let me verify what you’re asking though. Are you saying when you first came in the door and you’re doing this, when you first came in the door?

Jonathan (12m 46s):
Well, again, so I think your, your initial response is let the dog settle, let the dog realize,

Rosemarie (12m 53s):
Right? Because what you do when you’re in print in that, yes, this is what I want you to do. When anybody comes to this front door, I want you to jump all over him, lick him. You don’t want your guests inundated with hogs. And they come to the door. Right? Cause others, I say, put a sign on the door, don’t touch my dogs until I say, it’s okay. You know what I’m saying? Cause you create that high energy and that high activity and they’re up here. We are high. And then everybody starts pushing and shoving. Right? And then the dog feels your anxiety. So now that makes it, that impacts it. Oh, you’re, you’re you’re upset. Let me, let me love you and bring that up. Let me let it love you some more. They’re trying to fix it now. So it gets really out of control and

Jonathan (13m 35s):
It becomes a vicious cycle. So

Rosemarie (13m 38s):
It’s the same thing as petting the dog or the dog and holding the dog. When they’re fearful, you think you’re Sue than a dog. You’re not what you’re doing is that you’re telling the dog. Yes, this is correct. This is how I want you to act when you, when you give them that affection for that behavior

Jonathan (13m 58s):
Ex excellent stuff. Some great fabulous tips arose Marie Williams, owner of canine, this dog obedience training. If people want to reach out and talk more to you about what it is that you do and how they can gain from your services, what’s the best way for them to reach you.

Rosemarie (14m 15s):
You can reach me on Facebook or LinkedIn, any of the social media’s on the Rose Marie Williams. And you can also look for, because I’ve got a book in process it’s called lead the human pack. Think like a dog trainer. So I’m excited about that coming out soon too. So, and I just did a TEDx talk on this. So if they wanted to reach out, all you gotta do is look for me on Facebook and look for Rosemarie Williams or canine this dog training either way it’ll come up.

Jonathan (14m 45s):
Excellent. Well, it’s some, some great advice and great guidance. And it sounds as though about one in three people in the country, can your benefit from the messages that you’re providing. So I wish you a great success on the book launch and, and we’ll have to come back and, and, and, and get some more tips from you. Thank you, Jonathan. Our guest has been Rosemary Williams, owner of canine, this dog obedience training. And we’ll be right back with another segment on radio entrepreneurs.