Douglas County Business Focus: Good Family Dog - Denver Post

Interview with Laura Brody, owner


How did you get involved in this business?

I was motivated by my deep desire to help dogs stay in their homes.


What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?

What humans don't know about their dogs could fill a book, and someday I'll write that book, but for now, I share my vast dog behavior expertise, one owner at a time. Training dogs is easy. My specialty is behavior. Dogs respond to me, and I love teaching owners how to get similar results. Dogs are honest creatures. Their behavior is always a result of their emotions. They learn what they live. I teach their humans how to deal with the cause, not the symptom, how to train skills they can use as tools and how to tell the dog what they want them to do instead of what they don't want. I tell the human to use rewards that are valuable to the dog. Rewards are always defined by the learner, not the trainer. Very few dogs want to work for praise alone. To sum it up, there's nothing special about me, other than years of education and experience learning to read dogs, not whisper to them.


Laura Brodie gives instructions as she leads an obedience class Jan. 26, 2014, at Good Family Dog Training Center in Castle Rock.

Laura Brodie gives instructions as she leads an obedience class Jan. 26, 2014, at Good Family Dog Training Center in Castle Rock. (Seth McConnell, YourHub)



What do you like best about your line of work?

The magic "aha" moment when the owner sees the success they get from reward-based training. I love creating a cooperative, enthusiastic and kind partnership between dog and human.


What is your business' biggest challenge?

The dominance theory is my biggest challenge with owners. It's a myth that has been perpetrated by television personalities. Television broadcasts what sells whether it's true or not. Dogs are not in a constant struggle to take over their homes and families. They need to be understood, not bullied. Not even natural wolf packs behave the way the media has portrayed them in the last 10-15 years. There are so many misguided owners that blame every unwanted behavior on dominance. The scientific data have already proven this to be false. I can't wait for the general public to catch up with what we in the behavior world already know. Kind, consistent and purposeful training goes a long way.


Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:

I rarely get to train dogs. Most of my time is taken up by training the owners.




Business: Good Family Dog

Address: home-based business, Franktown

Hours: by appointment

Founded: 2006

Contact: 720-289-7498, goodfamilydog.com

Employees: 1


To suggest a business for us to profile, e-mail cwoullard@denverpost.com.

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