King-Taylor is a Capitol Hill-based people therapist and dog trainer, nicknamed the Doggie Lama.
How did you make the switch from treating people to dog training?
What I discovered, and interestingly this comes up a lot in couples counseling, is that the principles are the same. There are some very basic principles, like you should ask for what you want, rather than what you don’t want. Using positive, measureable and specific requests are going to get the behavior you want from a person as much the behavior you want from a dog.
Sometimes I’m playing with my dog and I want her to drop a ball, but she won’t.
That’s asking for the behavior that you want, but it depends on how you ask it. And you’ll notice that’s also the same with people. If you turn away from her a little and put on a high happy voice and say “drop, girl” chances are much better because you’ve made it a game that she’ll comply.
So not only do you have to ask for what you want you have to do it ask nicely.
Exactly, and didn’t you learn that on the playground when you were really small? And science says that punishment doesn’t last. It just teaches you dog how to be afraid of you.
Which type of clients do you prefer, humans or dogs?
I love them both for different reasons. I will tell you that one of the great things about working with dogs is that the results are instant. It doesn’t matter how old the dog is, how severe the problem is, how long its been in place, when I help people to understand how their dog’s mind works, then their behavior changes and the dog complies immediately. That is so much fun I can’t even say. It takes longer with people because we are smart enough to talk ourselves out of being happy.
– Alan Suderman
