Dogs are teaching humans to be better bosses in this management training program
This is a special guest post from Whoopi, one of our team members at Ripple Effect Group. From time to time, Whoopi adds commentary about the way we work – always insightful getting perspectives from a four-legged companion.
Whoopi says: Aaaawwwww, cute puppies!!!
I can hear you now – everyone goes all soft and gooey over fluffy puppies! Personally, they’re just another group that need their behaviour shaped (aka training) – although I prefer the approach of guiding and mentoring – which is why this article particularly resonated with me. I have extensive experience in managing young ones, having had a few litters myself and also helped other young mothers manage their entourages! But what I’ve found more rewarding, and challenging, is working with people. Shaping their behaviours to understand my needs, while at the same time providing people with a supportive environment to extend their communication skills.
I know Anne says training is for dogs and babies, but I beg to differ. Dogs, just like people, combine complex patterns of communication to navigate their way through every day. Now, what I love about the program described in this article, is the use of guide dogs to draw awareness to communication patterns. Anne is one of the best-trained humans around, I didn’t have to work on her that much, she was already familiar with complex people/dog communications from her experience as a volunteer with the Guide Dogs.
There’s a valuable comment made by Richard Bauer, a blind person with his guide dog Logan:
“… demonstrate consistency in the treatment of people around you, Brauer said, using his partnership with Logan, his current dog, as an example.
“I treat Logan with the greatest respect and the same way every day,” said Brauer. “What happens if you are happy one day, angry the next? … Logan wakes up every day knowing it’ll be a good day because I’m consistent in being humble, kind and if I ask him for something, he knows from my tone, that I am going to help him succeed.”
This describes my perfect working relationship with all my team, Sansa and Lluna, they always know their boundaries, while I mentor them to adopt the special style of communication needed between dogs and people. I would personally recommend everyone spends some time with dogs, we have so much to share with you and if we can all learn to communicate more effectively it will improve the likelihood of a contented state of well being (something all dogs strive for).
This post is part of a weekly Friday Faves series contributed by the team at Ripple Effect Group. Read the entire series and collections from other team members here.
Digital Dialogues 