Kindness Code

Welcome to our DogsThat online resources.

Our online spaces are here to support people who are learning the dog training methodology developed by Susan Garrett and the DogsThat Team. We share and discuss training videos, games, classroom lessons, and the positive reinforcement approach Susan has designed and taught worldwide for over 30 years.

These spaces exist to help people and dogs learn through kindness, clarity, reinforcement, and community.

Kindness Code

Our communications on social media, in classrooms, and in community spaces are designed to help people further their learning by supporting each other in a community based on positive reinforcement.

Our Kindness Code is simple:

1. Compose your posts and questions in a positive way and ask for clarification where you need it in relation to your learning .
   
   
2. Please be inclusive in your posts. We welcome your dog training knowledge, ideas and suggestions, and we want everyone to benefit from them. Contacting members through private messaging is discouraged. Privacy is paramount for us, and private messages offering unsolicited dog training advice is not part of our program. In the spirit of our programs, we encourage open questions and answers to be shared so all may benefit.
   
   
3. Assume positive intent from the DogsThat Team, our coaches, our moderators and fellow students. If something feels unclear, please ask for clarification so we can help keep the conversation kind, useful, and focused on learning.
   
   
4. Keep your posts focused on one clear topic or question at a time. This helps our coaches and team members understand what you need and direct your question to the right place.
   
   
5. Please use the right space for your question. Training questions belong in the relevant classroom lesson or forum area. Account, access, payment, and technical questions belong with Customer Happiness. Our social media groups are for community connection, encouragement, and discussion related to DogsThat training.
   
   
6. We want to focus discussions on positive change for trainers and dogs. We want people to spend time training and surrounding themselves with positive reinforcement, so discussions on the use of punishment in any form, verbal or physical will be reviewed. Threads that venture into these discussions may be deleted as our mission is to help as many owners and dogs around the world learn a different and proven way to grow a new understanding through kind, thoughtful discussions of choice-based dog training.
   
   
7. Members may reply from their own experience when they are trying to be helpful. These replies are offered in the spirit of support and are not meant to replace coach guidance. If a reply is not what you were looking for, please thank the member, ask a clarifying question or wait for a coach to respond.
   
   
8. Coaches and team members are located in different parts of the world, so replies may not be immediate. Please allow time for the right person to respond.
   
   
9. DogsThat online spaces are not the place for legal advice, legislation interpretation or country-specific regulatory discussions. Members are responsible for checking local requirements with appropriate sources where they live.
   
   
10. Kindness is our guiding light when our administrators/moderators review posts. From this perspective, each of us will know that we have support, community and a safe place to visit.

Our focus is on reinforcement and game-based learning. This is scientific dog training that is proven to give you exactly what you need to help grow the confidence of your dog to become the dog of your dreams.

We believe dog training that is congruent with the way you want to live your life is dog training that will be consistent day in and day out for your dog. Our DogsThat team believes in reflecting these training values in the way we interact with people as well as dogs.

We really are looking forward to helping each and every one of you. What our social media platforms are “not” are places to post; “Help, how do I get my dog to X or stop doing Y”.

Think of dog training like erecting a building. Let’s hope architects don't solicit ideas as they progress along with that building of that high rise... but rather work from a proven set of well thought out plans that will give them a solid foundation and a final structure that will last a lifetime. The same is true with good dog training… we start with the foundational layers first and grow from there.

We want to build your confidence and your dog’s confidence in all you endeavour to do together. What you will find from Susan and her fabulous DogsThat team is information on these foundational layers of learning for both you and your dog.

This Kindness Code makes our online resources a safe place to visit to help you get to where you want to be in your dog training and live with your dog. However, we ask that you reflect these core values back to us.

Our administrators and moderators may approve, decline, edit, redirect, close comments or remove posts when needed to keep the space kind, focused, safe, on topic and useful for the community.

Participation in DogsThat online spaces requires following this Kindness Code. Members who repeatedly disregard these expectations may have posts moderated, commenting limited or access to community spaces reviewed. Our primary goal is to protect our community.

We believe that dog training can be different and help us become who we want to be. If you are new to our community and are curious on this way of thinking, visit our podcast video "Adding Mindset To Your Dog Training Tools: Who Do You Become?" to discover more.

- Susan and the DogsThat Team

Please Note: The use of punishment in any form, verbal or physical is not within the DogsThat online resources and programs. Our administrators will delete threads that venture into these discussions as our mission is to help as many owners and their special companions around the world learn a different and proven way to grow their understanding of positive dog training. We appreciate you respecting this request.

DogsThat Impact & Equity

Here at Say Yes/DogsThat we recognize and celebrate the diverse backgrounds of any identity or life experience of our team, our students and our worldly community. 

As an online team we strive in our actions and behaviours together to be congruent and in alignment with our personal and professional values as we pursue the mission and vision. 

We acknowledge the growing potential of each of us in developing an environment of learning, collaboration, caring and trust for each other be it within our team or serving our community. 

We are guided by our cultural values as we move toward inclusion and equity which are personal growth, pride for our work, personal integrity and practicing kindness toward each other.