Meet Kelly Keebler

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

Kelly, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Behavior is behavior across species, so the concepts I use for my canine clients apply to myself as well. In order to build confidence in any learner, it’s important to listen (I think the term is mindfulness when speaking of ourselves). Our bodies know what we need and will tell us where the starting point is. After we find a comfortable starting point where we can be consistently successful, then it’s important to remember that learning happens under stress – which means the occasional difficult repetitions are necessary! The most finessed in this process are able to practice a very few difficult repetitions scattered into easy, successful repetitions that remind the learner they know what they’re doing!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I love helping people and dogs understand each other! Dogs don’t lie, so it’s a lot easier for me to work with canines. One part of my job is helping dogs learn how to regulate their emotions when they have previously struggled doing so. Another part is teaching the human parents how to communicate with their dogs. A lot of unwanted dog behaviors are a result of miscommunication. For example: When going for a walk some dogs think their parents are angry at an approaching dog on leash, so they need to act loud to help the situation. In reality, the parents are frustrated that their dogs are barking and lunging on leash. When we create a way for the dogs and humans to communicate in these situations, everything gets a lot easier. This looks different for every dog-human pair, and it’s a lot of fun finding the working techniques for each unique pair.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Empathetic listening allows me to hear what the clients really want. It’s easy to show up and push my professional opinion about what I think the client needs. But a more sustainable training plan checks in with what the clients want for their and their dogs’ lives regardless of my opinion.

The Five Freedoms of Welfare provide a good foundation to return to when the training plan gets overwhelming. The Five Freedoms are: Freedom from hunger and thirst, Freedom from discomfort, Freedom from pain, injury or disease, Freedom to express normal behavior, Freedom from fear and distress. These freedoms need to be applied to both the canine client and their humans.

Adaptability for my neurodivergent brain is not easy, but I’m more capable of adapting my techniques/processes FOR the client. If the client thinks they’re failing, the training plan will not go far. It’s important to make sure the training plan is set up and continuously adapts to challenge the humans and dogs in a way that is fun and provides a lot of wins.

I wish I could have actually heard the advice “There are an infinite number of correct answers. It is not your responsibility to provide your clients with THE answer, but to help them figure out a few working solutions. And just because they work today, be ready for them to not work tomorrow!”

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I came out in 2022, and it turned my world upside down. I cared too much about what others thought of me that I wasn’t capable to listen to what my own body wanted or needed. I feel much more comfortable in my body now, but I have 32 years of practicing behaviors that relied on what other’s thought. It takes time to change habits, especially when they’ve been practiced for so long! Reminding myself how others aren’t walking in my shoes and will never understand all aspects of my perspective helps me remember that my opinion is the most significant when making decisions about my own life. The cool thing with behavior change is that even though there is some spontaneous recovery of caring too much about what others think, the longer I practice listing to myself the easier it is getting.

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