The Missing Deli Meat or How I Became a Dog Trainer
Anyone who has known me for longer than 5 minutes will know that I don't love talking about myself (I’d rather talk about YOU and your DOG!), but this needs to be done, so here we go: The Kathy Santo origin story!
Many people ask me how I started in this industry, or “When did you know that you wanted to be a dog trainer?”. My answer is usually along the lines of “from the minute I met my dog!” Which is true. But more specifically, it all started with some deli meat (sorry, mom!), my childhood Great Pyrenees “Teddy”, and a six-year-old (me!), wanting desperately to prove my parents wrong!
It’s not an exaggeration to say that after that first dog training experience with Teddy, I knew that it was what I wanted to do forever! I wanted to learn everything I could about dogs so that I could communicate even better with them. And possibly get my dog to do some even cooler tricks……..
And even though I’d never met a dog trainer (plus I was 6, and you don’t have that big of a friends circle at that point, right?), I still had this burning, never-ending passion for training. And pretty soon, I announced to anyone who would listen that it’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.
My attempts at training (and eventually my ‘system’) went through trial and error (more errors than trials in the beginning), but every step of the way was great, because I was doing something I loved!
So, if you want to learn more about how my career as a dog trainer began and evolved, the infamous deli meat incident (again, sorry mom!), and how I went from backyard training by myself to a 16,000 sq ft facility with 50+ team members, tune in to this week's episode now!
Key points discussed
- Intro (00:00)
- How it all started (01:32)
- Moving into competition obedience (05:32)
- When I started training student’s dogs (10:30)
- The therapy dog program (16:34)
- The book deal (20:46)
- TV and radio appearances (25:08)
- Making the right decision (27:39)
- Back to the present (32:16)
- Puppy Prep School (35:14)
Additional resources
Check out Kathy’s book here: https://amzn.to/3mMjR5R
Learn more about the Puppy Prep Course: https://bit.ly/3egb3S3
Learn more about Kathy Santo Dog Training: https://bit.ly/3wVrtrq