speak from your heart…
Here at GHK9, we do not want to police your word choices, your emotions, or your boundaries. what we do value is ethical, empathetic, authentic, respectful and collaborative communication. we look for the heart of what you mean and truly enjoy earning your trust so we can build a relationship with the authentic you.
this means that you can use express your feelings and worries about your dog and about training them with us, even the messy or embarrassing feelings and worries.
This post is inspired by a really helpful article from Anti-Racism Daily on moving beyond “therapy-speak”
We know first-hand what it feels like to be stuck in a “therapy-speak” conversation that feels inauthentic, and this is a terrible feeling. we never want you to feel that way when working with us. if you feel angry, betrayed, or sad about your dog’s behavior…. we get it. and will not judge you for using whatever words you find helpful for communicating (of course, abusive language and behavior of any kind is never okay).
While working with you, we make choices about communication based on the following expectations of ourselves and our clients:
ethical: what is most likely to help (not harm)
empathetic: looking for intended meanings instead of holding out for ‘perfect’ words and behaviors
authentic: being as brave and honest about who we are and what we know
respectful: you are the expert in your life, your dog, your self; we are experts in dog behavior and our self; your dog is an expert in dog-stuff, and we are all living beings deserving respect and satisfied basic needs as a baseline!
collaborative: we are team members working to support each other in pursuit of the same goal: a better human-dog relationship. we are here to help each other.
At GHK9, we will always work on becoming better communicators — and understand that our personal communication style is only one of many. there are many equally valid cultures of communication. people come from different ethnic, language, class, educational, religious, racial, geographic and cultural backgrounds — and these things affect both how we speak and how we hear the words of others. we are all different and at GHK9, we value that difference, because that is what makes the world fabulous!
we hope that you can find a dog trainer (even if it’s not us) to work with who makes you feel safe, heard, valued and challenged — that is what you and your dog deserve!
we also know that sometimes working on your dog’s behavior can be really vulnerable, frustrating, scary or disappointing. sometimes, communication between two different humans can make that even harder — just know, want to improve your life and that of your dog — and we know you do, too.
