We recently connected with Kasey Dugan and have shared our conversation below.

Kasey, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I took a huge risk and gamble when I decided to venture out to start my own dog training company-and by myself, without a business partner to fall back on and to help navigate the challenges that come with being a business owner. I actually never intended to venture out on my own as soon as I did. It was at the encouragment of a few friends and training clients! I also left a training company where I wasn’t responsible for any of the marketing or finding clients to work with. There was a whole team of people that did that and all I had to do was look at the email they sent me and either accept the client or not. It was really simple. But, there was a lack of creativity and thinking out of the box since there were rules, regulations, and protocols to follow and I was having some difficulty staying within a certain box. But that box was also guaranteed safety.

My first few clients were actually friends and a couple of clients that I had worked with previously. I had established very good relationships with the clients that I had previously and was currently working with, so I wrote an email to everyone letting them know that I was leaving the current training company to start my own. The response and level of support that I received was overwhelming and amazing! Many people either made the transition with me or reached out a later time for training support. I had no idea I had that many people rooting for me to be successful and wanting to continue to be a part of my journey.

Even though it was scary as heck, I am so thankful that I did take the leap into the unknown. I didn’t know what to expect or what would happen or if I would even be able to be successful and make it on my own. But I had many people willing to catch me so when I hit the ground, I could hit the ground running!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hi everyone. I’m Kasey. Just an animal loving girl with a passion for helping others. Thank you for being here and reading my story!

I have always been fascinated with behavior. One of the very first dogs that I trained was my Border Collie/Giant Schnauzer mix Piper. We did many fantastic things together and she was an amazing dog! I was also blessed to have horses in my life growing up. My mom and I started taking riding lessons together when I was about 7 and horses have been a huge part of our lives ever since them.

Horses are amazing creatures. If you haven’t had the chance to be around them and work with them, I highly recommend you do. They are magical. You give them your heart and be vulnerable with them, and they will give that back to you with no questions asked. I have had many amazing horses in my life and have experienced first hand the awesome power of having an actual partnership with a horse. Not one based on force, fear, or intimidation, but one based on mutual love, trust, and respect.

Growing up, I often had trainers who would tell me to intearct with and treat horses in ways that I wasn’t comfortable with (such as using spurs to make them go faster, hitting them with a crop when they stopped at a jump, yanking on their reins when they didn’t stop soon enough and on and on). I wouldn’t do any of these things and ironically enough, was accused by multiple trainers as being “stubborn” and “disrespectful” as a child and teenager. But I didn’t care because I had amazing relationships with each of the horses that were in my life. There was a different and better way of doing things and I finally got so fed up with people telling me to be mean to horses, that I left the competition and training worlds for good (best decision I ever made!)

Before I specialized in just working with dogs, I worked with rescue horses. These were horses that were now safe, but came with a past and sometimes heaviy baggage. They needed time, patience, kindness, and compassion. Once they felt safe with you, the sky was the limit on where they would go with you and for you.

All of the work that I did with horses, directly applies to the work that I do with dogs. If you think about it, dogs and horses are very similar. The main difference is that one is a larger prey animal and the other is a smaller predator animal. But at the core, there is always behavior and animals never act a certain way or do certain things without reason.

If we take the time to understand them as individuals and their respective species, we can discover a lot about how to more effectively communicate with them and provide them with an enriched life in which humans are to be trusted and cherished friends not mean and dominating dictators.

My high levels of compassion and kindness don’t just extend to the dog. They also extend to the other end of the leash too. Dogs and humans are partners and relationships can be amazing when we take the time to understand and teach. I help others learn how to have the best relationship and partneship possible by using positive reinforcement, rewards based learning, and playing! It is extrmeely important to me that every dog and person that I work with feels safe and supported by me. Your dog is so eager to connect with you. Let me show you how!

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

This is actually a 2 part. Part 1 is that I can’t be everything to everyone. Part 2 is that I can’t do all of the things..

Part 1: I can’t be everything to everyone.

This is one that I am still currently working on as I want to be able to help everyone who has pain points with their dogs. Living with and training our dogs can be overwhelming and disappointing. I get it. But I can’t provide people with a magcial wand that will magically change everything. I also can’t help fix what people aren’t willing to work on. I’m not going to slap a band aid on anything, even if it will bring about immediate and desired behavior change from the human stand point. I will always consider the dog and if you ask me to do things and suggest things that are either unrealistic or not going to work on promoting partnership, I won’t do them. I have lost clients because I didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear or use training methods that they wanted to use. I will not compromise myself and my values to work with a client. if you are willing to learn about and look at kinder and humane training methods, then I am absolutely your girl!

Par 2: I can’t do all of things
I really want to and I definitely try, but sometimes I’m running in too many different directions at the same time that I am actually not running anywhere. I’m a very enthusiastic person and love learning about new things, but sometimes I can get in my own way with focusing on too many things. I think they call it “shiny object syndrome” where your’re like oooo that’s a good idea. But that’s also a good idea. And I really like that idea too! And then you just have too many balls up in the air and can’t catch any of them. I’m constantly learning and reminding myself to slow down and not get too lost in trying to do all of the things. I can do many things and a lot of things. There is no need for me to try to do all of the things!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Atomic Habits by James Clear has been absolute gold for me. I use it in my life, but also use in when setting goals for working with dogs. It’s amazing to have BAG’s (big audacious goals) but we often get so focused on getting to the end goal, that we forget to set up systems and habits which are absolutely crucial in making the BAG a reality. A destination is great, but you have to have a map of how to get there, otherwise you run the risk of running off of the road and getting lost!

I also really enjoy and regularly listen to the following podcasts:

“The One You Feed”
“Creativity School”

I highly recommend both!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.getsitdonedogs.org
• Instagram: getsitdonedogs
• Facebook: Get Sit Done Dogs
• Youtube: Get Sit Done Dogs

Image Credits
Alyssa Sanchez, Amanda Keleman