Pet Sitter Confessional9 Helmi 2022

256: Fear Free Pet Sitting with Mikkel Becker

What is Fear Free and how does it apply to being a pet sitter or dog walker? Mikkel Becker, from Fear Free and Fear Free Happy Homes, discusses how following the Fear Free philosophy impacts our ability to build trust with the pets in our care. It not only makes our job easier, but also sets up the pet and owner for success. Mikkel shares how fear manifests itself in dogs and cats, and what we can do to help them in those moments. You may encounter client's who don't see eye to eye on these methods, and we discuss ways to talk through Fear Free with them.

Topics on this episode:

What is Fear Free?
How do you define 'fear'?
Preparing before you walk through the door
Communicating with clients
Overcoming our own bad habits

Main take away: Going 'Fear Free' means acknowledging that pets have emotional needs that must be addressed in addition to their physical needs.

About our guest:

Mikkel Becker is the lead animal trainer for Fear Free Pets. She specializes in reward based training and behavior modification with dogs, cats and occasional other species, including horses, pigs and orangutans.

Mikkel is a Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), a graduate of the rigorous San Francisco SPCA Dog Training Academy with Jean Donaldson with a certificate in training and counseling (CTC), a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine (CBCC-KA), a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) and a Certified Dog Behavior Counselor (CDBC). Mikkel also majored in communications and minored in sociology at Washington State University.

Mikkel is regularly featured in publications that include USA Today, today.com, Woman's Day, Real Simple and a nationally syndicated newspaper pet column. She was the resident trainer at vetstreet.com and now is the lead animal trainer at fearfreehappyhomes.com and fearfreepets.com Mikkel has coauthored six books, including the most recent release, From Fearful to Fear Free.

Mikkel lives in Spokane, WA with her daughter, Reagan and the love of her life- a Puggle named Indiana Bones. The rest of the critter crew includes an adorably naughty rescue pug mix, Otis, a rescued stray cat- Mylo, and a cuddly, teddy bear of a horse, Chili.

Links:

10% off the Fear Free Pet Sitter Certification Program with promo code PSC10.

Fear Free: https://fearfreepets.com

Fear Free Happy Homes: https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com

Mikkel on Facebook: Facebook.com/Mikkelbecker

Instagram: Instagram.com/Mikkelbecker

Her email: mikkel.becker@fearfreepets.com

Give us a call! (636) 364-8260

Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com

Full show notes and transcript

Jaksot(705)

705: The Numbers You're Ignoring (and Why They Matter) with Chante Dawston

Ready to earn a CEU? Start here! Are you truly making money in your pet care business, or just staying busy? In this episode, we sit down with CPA Chante Dawston to unpack what "knowing your numbers" ...

3 Kesä 1h

704: Working at 150% (Without Breaking Yourself)

How do we survive the seasons when our business demands more than we feel capable of giving? In this episode, we discuss what it means to operate at 150% capacity and why some seasons require extraord...

1 Kesä 25min

703: Cat Sitting Roundtable: A Maturing Industry

What if cat sitting isn't a side-service anymore, but one of the fastest-maturing lanes in professional pet care? Collin sits down with Beth Pasek (Finicky Cat), Shannon Hendon (Ocala Pet Sitting), an...

27 Touko 1h 11min

702: Stop Typing the Same Thing Twice

How do you communicate clearly when you are tired, frustrated, or emotionally depleted? In this episode, we talk about why templates and saved scripts are not robotic shortcuts, but tools that help us...

25 Touko 39min

701: Leaving False Happiness Behind with Shaheen Riaz

What happens when you realize your "stable" career isn't actually making you happy? Shaheen Riaz spent 16 years in demanding administrative roles before finally choosing to follow her heart into profe...

20 Touko 49min

700: How Fast Can You Reset After a Business Hit?

What do you do when one hard moment in your business is immediately followed by another? In this episode, we talk about the emotional whiplash of client terminations, employee resignations, complaints...

18 Touko 43min

699: The Power of Saying Yes to the Right Clients with Maria Estes

What does it look like to build an entire pet care business around cats? Maria Estes, founder of All About Cats Pet Sitting in Tallahassee, Florida, shares how a side gig started for income and joy gr...

13 Touko 49min

698: Why Employee Retention Starts With Attention

Take the CEU Quiz: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm4lr1fIDcwCwuUdYHsFdEWvGj1xLhGlJeAaWnF1F28aB1vQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=107413215510797164078 How do you keep employees happy when pet c...

11 Touko 44min