Understanding Systems, Part One: Puppy Love - a podcast by Ty Brown

In upcoming weeks, I’m going to devote a handful of posts to a topic that’s very important to me: systems.

What I’m talking about when I use the word “system” is any process that we go through to achieve a desired result. Nearly every profession has its own set of systems. When you go to a restaurant to get a hamburger—whether it’s a McDonald’s or a high-end burger joint—there will be a system with which they take our order, send it to the kitchen, and cook it. That’s the case when you’re building a car, or getting a home loan. There is always a system to make things happen smoothly and properly.

For some reason, however, dog owners often don’t apply this principle when training their dogs. Instead, they get stuck constantly playing catch-up. As soon as their dog starts to do something undesirable, they immediately start wondering what they should do about it. They spend very little time thinking about a systematic approach in order to solve problems.

For this reason, an overwhelming number of dog trainers in the country are single-operated companies. One person gets good at dog training, but because they don't systematize it, they can’t teach it to others. They might teach their clients how to solve something, but they can’t teach someone else how to be a good trainer.

One of the reasons my company has had success over the years, and been able to hire other trainers, is our ability to systematize approaches. Every system has to make room for customization and making each client’s experience unique, but if you don’t have a system to solving problems with your dog then you’ll do a lot of wheel spinning. A system allows you to collect your thoughts, organize your efforts, and push forward in the right direction.

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