Story & Lesson Highlights with Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage of We travel to you!

Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Kristyn, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
On a personal level, my kids are a constant source of pride. They work so hard to achieve their dreams even at a young age. They have grown so much emotionally and are maturing into incredible, grateful, and giving individuals. Striving to be the best mom I can be is the most challenging and most rewarding work I will ever do. Oh, and for the laughter part, our 10-year-old daughter keeps us laughing every day. I always say that she is the funniest person I know. She gets that from my dad. She is funny without even trying — the kind of humor that is innocent and marked by impeccable comedic timing.
Professionally, I could not be more proud of our current “product”—the behavior change we produce with the animals we work with, our team’s conduct with our clients, and our ever-evolving, ever-improving treatments and protocols. These together create an experience for our clients that I could not be more proud of. Each time I attend a training session, I feel an outpouring of pride in what we have built in Beyond the Dog. Our team strives every day to be better, and it shows.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Kristyn Savage. I am one of the founders of Beyond the Dog, am a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. On the surface, Beyond the Dog is a consulting company that provides comprehensive dog training and behavior modification services. We focus on the prevention and treatment of problem behaviors using our unique methods, which are founded on over 20 years of research and development. If you dive deep into Beyond the Dog, not only are we a sum of our experiences, but we are a team of people that, together, do unmatched work motivated by a love for animals that cannot be measured. Our team, our work, our clients, and the animals we work with are what make us Beyond the Dog.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who taught you the most about work?
As a young child and early adult, my parents taught me the importance of a strong work ethic and pursuing one’s dreams. There was never a doubt about what could be accomplished.

Professionally, animals, especially dogs and cats, were my early teachers. Clients also shaped my initial professional experience. Pets and their caregivers played a crucial role in the development of some of the early work and specific training protocols I created. They continue to teach me every day. Most recently, over the past decade, our team has taught me a great deal about my work. For some, my weaknesses are their strengths, which gives me the space to do what I love. Each team member, in their way, is a teacher to me.

What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
I have faced some significant failures, both personally and professionally. What I’ve learned from those failures is that when you encounter adversity, instead of dwelling on the aftermath—stress, anxiety, worry—act toward finding a solution. Accept that it is your responsibility to rectify the situation. No one is coming to save you, and the solution is usually something you can begin working on right away. Then, when you come out on the other side of that failure, know that you will be sharper, more intelligent, and ultimately better than you were before. Now, I look at failures as an opportunity.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
Two things really:

1) What you say both aloud and silently about yourself and your goals ultimately becomes your experience.
2) If you do the right thing, it will eventually pay off in some form or another. Always take the higher ground.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
In a single word: evolution. I love being presented with a problem behavior that can’t be easily solved with our current solutions. It’s about experimenting and discovering new approaches. It’s sharing information with our trainers and seeing their appreciation for the resolution. It’s the evolution of our practice to tackle what seems impossible and the resulting changes in the animal’s behavior. I can’t think of anything more professionally rewarding than that process.

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