Meet Shane Montes

We recently connected with Shane Montes and have shared our conversation below.

Shane, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Overcoming imposter syndrome is hard. You feel like you don’t know enough to be where you are at or that you should be further along than where you are currently at.
What has helped me to feel more confident is to be trying to improve in the areas where I feel I lack.
I face these moments with my dog training career and in my Brazilian jiu jitsu training. However, putting a focused effort in to the areas that I feel unsure of myself has helped me to gain my footing and feel better about what I am doing. The quest for knowledge, practice, failure and success is ongoing and ultimately what has helped me feel less like I am doing something that I am unsure of.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a dog trainer by trade, a father a home and a Brazilian jiu jitsu student.

As these are the three main things going on in my life they are all very much related. I try to approach them all with the same kind of mindset. Open, try to understand, being subtle, practice, being open to failing and trying to improve with baby steps.

I have been invested in dog training for about a decade. I run a business with my brother, Kindred Dog PDX, and work with all types of dogs and their owners. People always think that it is playing with dogs all day but it is a bit more intricate. We do play a lot but there is always a methodical approach to it to be able to utilize all of our interactions together to help understand the dog better, teach them and also create a outline for their owner.
The hardest part about dog training is training the dog owner. We have to help change their habits and the perspective of their dog to make the changes that they want to see in their dog.
One of the most rewarding things is seeing owners and their dogs click in to a rhythm together instead of having conflicted interests. This comes from understanding the dog and what they need and how to communicate to them.

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

The three most important qualities that have led me to where I am at is patience, being open minded and going slow in developing my skills and understanding of concepts.

Most folks try to rush the process and move too quickly to get to the end goal. They can also be close minded because something could be the opposite of what they know so they are reluctant to try something new. I used to be that way and as time has gone on, I’ve learned to be patient in my learning and reaching my goals.
I’ve also maintained an open mind even if something is way out of left field, there is always something that can add to what we already know and make us better.
Going slow can help really fill in the gaps of technique and understanding. Will will never know it all or everything but you can get pretty damn good at something by just taking your time. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast is phrase I got from and friend/old Muay Thai coach

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Feeling overwhelmed is a recurring feeling in life. Things pile on, they pass and then it appears again. One of my strategies is to chip away at it piece by piece. This can by doing one task at a time or just dedicating a bit of time to particular tasks. Over time things will get done and the feeling of working on something creates satisfaction that you are doing something about the problem.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.kindreddogpdx.com
• Instagram: @Dogtrainershane
• Facebook: @dogtrainershane
• Twitter: @dogtrainershane
• Youtube: @dogtrainershane