Island Kennel Training

24/12/2024

A Merry Christmas to you and yours from Sebastian, Cooper, and Island Kennel Training 🌲

May your poses be better than mine, and have a jolly time!

25/09/2024

Happy dogs having a great time make trainers happy

📷:

27/08/2024

Day 2 of Fetch Kansas City kicked off with common questions behaviorist Lisa Radosta receives, and how she answers them

16/08/2024

Trainers VS..... I don't even understand why there's so much debating about it.

Trainers aren't behaviorist.

Personal trainers aren't physiotherapists.

Social media influencers aren't professionals.

Be an adult and do your due diligence.

09/06/2024

In this educational series collaborated between and industry professionals (trainers, veterinarians, nutritionists, groomers, animal welfare lawyers, shelter founders, more), we will be sharing information within the topic of adoption until August.

Stay tuned and follow Hong Kong Ethical Animal Training Association for more educational content!

05/05/2024

04/05/2024

03/05/2024

The relationship between dogs and humans has evolved significantly over the centuries. Once revered primarily for their practical roles in hunting, herding, or guarding, dogs have now become an integral part of many families, providing companionship, loyalty, and unconditional love. As our understan...

03/05/2024

03/05/2024

26/04/2024

Thank you for having me share about how to use .co enrichment toys in training.
It was wonderful chatting with those who came and I had fun hearing about all your adventures and lifestyle with your dogs!

Training can be fun for you and your dog!

19/04/2024

Never be this person.

Running a small business is hard work. There are no paid sick days. No paid holidays. There’s little job security. If it rains and you can’t run classes for a week, that’s a week’s groceries you can’t afford.

We don’t get paid for the hours of travel, we don’t get our fuel subsidized. We have to pay venue hire, even if nobody turns up. We go home after a long day at work and instead of switching off, it’s time to do admin, advertising and lesson prep for the next day into the early hours. It quite literally is non-stop.

If somebody who is running their own small business doesn’t answer an email, there’s probably a reason. Maybe they’re totally snowed under. Maybe they’re sick. Maybe they (god forbid) have taken a bit of time off to relax. Maybe they didn’t see it. Maybe it went into the junk box. Maybe they accidentally overlooked it. Maybe, and with my lack of object permanence I do this a lot, they fully formulated a response and forgot to press send.

A one star review, for a small business, is the difference between a 5 star reputation and a 4.8 star reputation. What justifies a one star review? If I took your money and never showed up. If I did a really shoddy job and made your dog worse. If I was rude or unprofessional. If I promised something and put no effort in to deliver. One star is the lowest review you can give. Receiving this review from somebody I’ve never met is appalling.

Because to them, it’s faceless. It’s ’this will show her for ignoring my email!’ For a small business owner, it might be the difference between getting more work or being overlooked. It’s reputation. Because if someone is willing to give the lowest possible review, surely that must be justified?

Realistically, I would never want to work with someone like this, who is willing to drag a business through the mud at the slightest inconvenience. I’ve saved myself the stress of likely working with someone rude and entitled, probably somebody unwilling to wait for results and instead wants a quick fix- something that just doesn’t work in my business. And if this person needed instant responses, it’s probably a good thing we didn’t work together anyway, because I can’t possibly deliver on that.

This was 11 months ago. It’s fine. But next time you’re considering leaving a one star review, just put yourself in their shoes. Have a bit of compassion. Do you really want to attack a business that, in this current climate, is probably just trying to stay afloat? Do you want to potentially destroy the reputation of someone you’ve never actually met? What good can come from leaving this review, because I promise all it will do is ensure I send any subsequent emails from them straight into the deleted folder.

Just try to be the kindest version of yourself. Something minor like this, which they probably forgot they did a few days later, can leave a lasting impact on others.

16/04/2024

It's pretty much as straight forward as this. It does require a lot of planning, and studying, and of course empathy.