03/25/2026
Imagine someone gives you a recipe for the best cake you’ve ever had and while you have baked cakes before, you REALLY want to make THIS persons version. While attempting to bake that cake, you cut corners with ingredients. It calls for 2 cups of flour and you skimp on it or add more than the recipe calls for because you want to make that cake how YOU think it should be made, or are fine with altering the essential ingredients required for the cake to turn out the way it’s supposed to. The person who gave you that recipe cringes when you tell them you felt it didn’t need 2 cups of flour, it was “fine” with one, or you felt it needed and extra cup of sugar and added it in just to see if it would make it better. But, the cake turns out flat or dense or too sweet, etc. You settle for mediocre with a dense, flat cake because it was “too much” to simply follow the person’s recipe because you’re not good with change and are used to baking cakes YOUR way and you think it’ll be okay the way you want to bake it. The person who shared that recipe with you, who is so dedicated to their craft of baking, decides not to share anymore recipes with you.
Now, apply that to dog training. You’re given the specific recipe to help you with whatever training goals you have for your dog and when the trainer checks in you tell them you haven’t been doing what they’ve recommended in order to get the results you want. You make excuses and say “I think they’re fine” but you also point out negative behaviors your dog is doing, want them changed, but you don’t want to do what the trainer recommends and think it’s okay to skip that part simply because you don’t want to change. You want the best dog possible, you might even say you have high expectations but you skimp or fast track on the recipe that’s been provided to you. It’s a form of manipulation. Here’s the thing, though- I don’t do manipulation and would rather part ways than have mediocre or poor results that reflect on my name and business. That’s because of the standards I have, which honestly, still isn’t asking a lot.
Change is hard. Staying the same or being mediocre is hard. Choose your hard 🤷🏻♀️