Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenn Gavin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jenn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Dog training is an unlicensed industry, and because of it, there is a wide variety in the both the caliber of services you will find in our industry and the foundation in evidence based approaches, you know, science backed stuff. While we have become the recognized leader of our field in our area and throughout the state, that doesn’t stop people who are still using outmoded approaches to animal behavior from loudly crying out that positive reinforcement is permissive, ineffective, or wrong. This is something we consistently butted up against, especially in the early stages of our business.

So, we took a risk. We set out to prove our results through peer reviewed evidence. We formed a research committee at A Pleasant Dog, and we began gathering data to demonstrate our results. And it has paid off. We have authored five studies that have been selected for presentation before the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (the top of the food chain in our industry), and those studies received extremely positive feedback. We’re working on seeking publication of these studies in the scientific journals next.

This risk was a leap of faith. We didn’t have much training in scientific research (thank you to Dr. Jill Sackman of Animal Behavior Consultants of Michigan for her tutelage), and we didn’t have any funding. All of the time that we have spent researching and sharing our research comes out of our pockets, but it’s paying off. We are doing it. We are proving our results.

Jenn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jenn Gavin, and I am the founder, owner, and head trainer at A Pleasant Dog. I got into animal training through rescue work 30 years ago, though I have always had a special interest in animal behavior. My mom noted in my baby book that my first word was, “dog”, and everything was a dog. I made the leap from private rescuer to founding a school for dogs when I recognized that city dogs in our fair city really had a much more restrictive environment in which to grow and learn, and the vast majority of dog trainers and behavior consultants were suburban or rural residents. Since our inception ten years ago, we have grown to become the premier source for companion animal training in Michigan.

A Pleasant Dog, and our sister brands, A Pleasant Cat and A Pleasant Horse, provide positive reinforcement training and behavior consulting to dog, cat, and horse guardians, as well as force free grooming to our canine friends. We have a small daycare where carefully selected dog friends and puppy “campers” can learn about good play while they study. But mostly, we solve the toughest behavior problems animal guardians experience. Our clients come to us with problems related to anxiety and aggression especially in dogs but also in cats and horses. We help with separation anxiety, confinement anxiety, noise phobia, all kinds of aggression and reactivity, fear of the vet or groomer, and even more benign issues like house soiling.

I can tell you I am most proud of the significant improvement in quality of life we are able to help our clients and their companion animals achieve. It’s what keeps me going each day, even as I sometimes admit that I overbook myself to meet the significant need in our community.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A tough lesson for us as a practice was to ensure that we didn’t fall into our industry trap of client blaming. I think it’s the mark of an undereducated trainer to blame one’s client for failures to progress as expected, but unfortunately it’s a refrain one hears all too often in our industry. There was a time early on at A Pleasant Dog where you might have heard complaints from a trainer or two about clients being “non-compliant” with instruction, or not progressing. But you won’t hear that anymore.

We recognize that we usually have two learners before us: the dog, cat, or horse; and the human. When one of them does not make the progress we expected to see, we take the time now to find out why. Did we overload the human learner with too many tasks? Is there an emotional response to the animal’s behavior that is interfering with the client’s ability to respond appropriately? It’s usually a matter of stepping back and figuring out WHY that animal didn’t progress as expected, tweaking our plan, and moving forward again. Progress isn’t always linear, but ensuring it happens means assuming both human and animal learners begin in earnest, and using positive reinforcement for all learners. Even (especially?) human ones. In short, every learner is doing the best that they can with the skills and information before them. If that isn’t “good enough”, then we need to help them, not malign them!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This is an easy one. Early on, even when I was a sole practitioner, we earned a reputation in the veterinary community for providing extremely highly quality services. It’s something upon which we pride ourselves, and we continue to hold ourselves to a very high standard as a result. Because of this, we receive referrals from the vast majority of veterinarians in our area, and elsewhere. We even receive referrals from veterinary behaviorists in other countries and continents!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://apleasantdog.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apleasantdog/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apleasantdog/
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@apleasantdog

Image Credits

Amy Carroll Photography