There’s a moment that happens at playgrounds everywhere. A toddler finds something interesting — a truck, a shovel, a bucket. They pick it up. They start exploring it. Another child walks over. And almost immediately, the parent steps in: “I think the other child wants to play too. You should share.”

Spend time around toddlers and you start to notice something strange. Parents everywhere are seemingly speaking in the exact same way: “Come on…”; “Do you want to put your shoes on?”; “Should we go brush our teeth?”; “Let’s gooo.”

It usually comes a few sessions in. A client watches their dog respond to a cue, walk calmly beside us, or settle more quickly than they expected. Then they pause, smile, and say something like: “Wait… are you training me right now?”

One of the hardest parts of dog training often has very little to do with the dog. It’s the conversations between two people who both care — and don’t see the situation the same way.