2022 at DBI
For us, the end of the year calls for a few things: finding the best bits of daylight for long walks with dogs, pulling out all of the winter gear and light up collars, and looking back on what the year has held.
This year especially has held many big and small things worth reflecting on for us at DBI. We aren’t going to share them all here, but there are a few we’d like to lift up. Starting with how far our reach was! This year, we worked with people (that we know of!) in 18 different states in the United States, and 5 different countries!
We provided 20 different webinars and presentations, both via Zoom and in person at conferences, a vet clinic, universities, private organizations, and a local library! These ranged from 1 to 3 hours long, and audiences consisted of students, professionals, behavior analysts, dog behavior consultants, and dog guardians - and of course many people who hold multiple roles on this list! We have loved sharing our perspective on dog behavior, data collection, gender identity and why it matters for dog professionals, and our paths to becoming dog trainers. We anticipate holding many of these again in 2023.
Through our group classes, we’ve practiced patterns, enthusiastically engaged with myriad muzzles, and filed numerous nails. Our rough calculation is about 125 nails filed! That’s a lot of nails!
Whenever we launch a new training class or professional course, we run a pilot program first; by the time you’re seeing a new course from us, we have run it by a generous and amazing audience who has helped us to shape it into what it is. This year, we held seven pilot courses, and we’re excited to roll out some of these classes in 2023, including a course on research and dog behavior, and a class on responding to Sudden Environmental Changes.
And of course, we have held so many different classes on so many different things! Far too many to list here. We have collected a ton of data, made many beautiful graphs (if we may say so ourselves), and then used that information to plot the best course of action for the families and teams we are working with.
And throughout it all, we have kept front and center that our goal is joy and connection. We don’t count tail wags, but we see them and celebrate them - and we feel comfortable saying it has been a ton of tail wags this year.
Thank you for inviting us into your life with your dog, for reading along, or for simply knowing that we’re here! We hope that you have a wonderful end of 2022, and we look forward to more in 2023.
