It was a mistake. I was wrong.
Not only was it a mistake, it created damage and fallout far beyond what I had intended. While I built strong and long-lasting relationships with colleagues all over the world, I was creating division within my geographically close colleague community.
I grew up in the cult the Duggars are in. I was in that cult throughout my childhood and early adulthood. Today I’m going to tell a story I’ve never told publicly
I have no solutions here, just a conversation I would like to have about social media and dog trainers and what our responsibility is and should be. A good friend and skilled trainer made a post yesterday about her medically fragile and behaviorally complex long-time heart dog. It was a quick post, she sharedContinue reading “Canine Professionals and Social Media – have we missed the mark?”
This particular blog subject has been ruminating in my mind the longest of all my cult thoughts. it’s also the most unfinished. I considered not writing it yet but I felt like I couldn’t write the rest without this messy bit.
There will be journals/blogs from me in the coming months talking about various aspects of growing up in and eventually leaving a cult. However, today, I really want to share about the feelings that come when you realize it was all underpinned by lies and half truths and that the leaders care nothing for you or your soul. Leaders that were using their position for their own gain and not even remotely following what they conditioned you to believe and blindly follow. I want to talk about that feeling when you are left with the tatters of their doctrine and you have no idea what to do next.
We must, as a profession, refer out early and often. There are cases that, even after 15+ years of excelling in my profession, I simply have no business seeing without the oversight of a Veterinary Behaviorist. Each and every one of us owes the general public and our own profession that honesty and courtesy. We own the public honesty about who we are and who we are not. I am not a Behaviorist. I have dedicated my life to excellence in my profession and I am very proud of who I am, which is a Certified Trainer and a Certified Behavior Consultant. I want my clients to trust, implicitly, that if I cannot help them I am both humble and educated enough to refer them to a Behaviorist who can.
I think one of the hardest things about chronic illness is the downswing. Those days or weeks right after you’ve just had a really good spell. You spend the entire upswing waking up and reminding yourself to enjoy it. Don’t forget it’s just a spell. Remember the downswing is normal. These things are cyclical. ThoseContinue reading “And the rain comes tumbling down …”
So, do my fellow chronic illness warriors ever feel like an imposter? This is something I really struggle with and, stupidly, act on about once a year. Here’s the latest version: I’ve been having a rough season medically. My “good” is still pretty gross and my bad is fairly non-functional. I’m feeling sluggish, which IContinue reading “Chronically ill, or chronic imposter?”
The puppies are 3 weeks old today and things are BUSY! The puppies are starting to explore their environment more and more each day, sometimes it seems like each hour. They are presenting with new behaviors all the time. They had their first adventure into food today. We feed our puppies a mixture of FrommContinue reading “Puppies – 3 weeks old”
Expanding the whelping box for enrichment in the puppy toddling stage. Puppies are 17 days old today.
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