Kind Animal Services took the dive early summer in 2021 to start investing in our continued education and affiliations with organizations in the industry. The first, a membership with Animal Training Academy (ATA).
Prior to joining I (Kelsie) have followed and enjoyed the free content from ATA but until recently I had no idea just how amazing and deep this community is! If you are a training and behavior nerd like I am I can't recommend the Animal Training Academy podcast is worth a listen.
(By the way these links and discussion is more to share the oasis I have found. I am not gaining anything by sharing this with you.)
If I'm being honest I don't think I will be able to part from ATA now that I'm here. The member community is so supportive, responsive, and most of all kind!
When Kind Animal Services gets a tough case or needs some input in solving a behavior related dilemma the awesome (and often much higher educated) colleagues within ATA step up to the challenge. They go beyond just solving animal behavior challenges and providing intelligent feedback, they offer the pat on the back and motivation through social belonging to keep my head up when things get difficult.
The last year in 2021 Kind Animal Services was rocked! As I wrestled the business to stay on track through the continued COVID issue; my own health deteriorated rapidly. Everything was magnified when I got in a horse accident. Over each hurtle I faced ATA found a way help in ways I didn't know I needed.
Shortly after healing form the horse accident, a tumor was found and removed. Hardly healthy again I found myself with 2 wonderful foster dogs. I struggled to pay for their food and care, to provide them with daily enrichment and activity. By the end of 2021 I have been suffering form some of the worst burn out / compassion fatigue.
The ATA community of 500+ people is like my tribe now.
Beyond my personal experiences with ATA the membership is a tremendous benefit to you as well.
ATA provides KAS with new science, procedures, and information about what is happening within the applied behavior analysis environment and animal training. They provide multiple web classes to members covering a variety of topics to their members.
Our process currently usually looks like this: I am an active member in the group and participate in as many web classes as I have time for. When I come across applicable information that will directly benefit our training or care processes I then regurgitate the information to the KAS team. Our team practices and plays with the new strategy to refine it for our purposes . As a team we then communicate our findings till we master the new concepts enough share them to you (the pet owner).
All this means that you are getting the most up to date and humane information about how to handle and live with your canine. I understand that you want answers and you don't want to go out and spend your time becoming a dog trainer. We are doing the hard research for you.
Besides a good animal trainer knows they don't have all the answers. I sure don't, but I have the network behind me and means I can discover answers I don't know. The mark of a quality trainer is one that is constantly learning and then helping you make educated and humane decisions about your animals care and training.
Are you experiencing with a behavior problem with your pet? I wish you would reach out. The knowledge and information is available . For no charge at all I enjoy talking about my passion and may be able to help set you on the right path from one conversation.
Let me know your questions about anything written here or other animal training questions in the comments. I will try to answer them in future blog posts.