Listen To The Opening Address at The PPG Summit – Tampa, 2015
A few of the most important points I felt were covered in my opening address at PPG’s First Educational Summit in Tampa, FL.
Click here to listen to the full 19 minutes.
• I reflected on the sometimes rocky but never boring journey it has taken over the last four years to get PPG to where it is today.
• In my humble opinion the profession of animal training, behavior and pet care is a tripod of art, science and relationships, and each is as important as the other. 
• We have a serious responsibility and obligation to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
• We do not have to convince everyone that our way is right. We must simply engage and motivate them to try. The results of force-free training stand up and are supported by science; they work best for everyone.
• PPG’s Guiding Principles are what set us apart, our passion and commitment to not waiver or compromise these principles. This challenges each and every one of us to continually search for better, more effective and more humane ways to deliver our services and apply our craft.
• We must each be ambassadors for our industry, our organization our individual businesses and all our pets.
• I challenge each of us to continually learn from others, network with fellow professionals, attend educational events, mentor industry newbies and a mantra that has been important to me from day one, engage educate and empower other pet professionals, pet owners and anyone that steps into your sphere of influence.
• We must collaborate without boundaries. We must encourage individual initiatives from those around us – and as often as possible reinforce tiny increments of the right changes in behavior.
• We must identify and eliminate functional barriers and conflicts while aligning ourselves and others around a common goal.
• Our communication tactics, negotiation skills and change management protocols all need to support a client- centric force-free approach.
To do all of this we must be able to influence others so we can help guide them in their choice of methods, philosophy and practices. Promote what you love and what you inspire to teach rather than bash and draw attention to what you hate!
Hope to meet you next year at PPG’s 2016 Summit
