Life & Work with Dan Skultety of Scottsdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Skultety

Hi Dan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been around dogs since I was a little kid (my first dog was a Rottweiler that was 9 months older than me) but I came to dog training a bit later in life. I started my professional career as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry. My engineering career always felt like it was a great job, but it wasn’t really a true passion. After getting married, moving to Phoenix, and picking up a couple dogs of our own I truly realized how much having dogs in my life really meant to me. To give back to the dog community I started volunteering for local rescues. I really enjoyed my time volunteering and started to really connect with some of the dogs that other volunteers struggled to work with (sometime known as behavior dogs). I had the skill set to be able to deal with the large, jumpy, and mouthy dogs through play but really wanted to do more so I started my education journey. What started with a few books on dog behavior proceeded to a more formal education. I went through the Fear Free Shelter volunteer training, graduated from the CATCH Canine Academy and became a Fear Free Certified Trainer. I’ve then continued my education journey by attending different national training conferences and working through a variety of other educational programs every year.

I started my professional training career by working in a shelter environment as part of a behavior team. Working in a shelter provided me a vast amount of experience which I am so grateful to have had early in my career. It gave me an opportunity to learn a lot about animal welfare, to be able to work on a variety of dog behaviors and with a large variety of dog breeds. The longer you work or volunteer in a shelter setting the more you realize that preventing dogs from going into the shelter is one of the best ways help the shelter dog population. This prompted me to start Element Dog Training. I focus my training support on 2 main areas: foster/new adopter support and behavior (fear, reactivity and aggression) cases but support all dog owners who reach out asking for help.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting a new business is never a smooth road. Not only do you have to develop the skill sets to do your job, but you also have to learn about all the managerial aspects of owning a business. I had to figure out which software to use to best manage all of the required scheduling, how to collect payment, what kind of insurance was needed, how to write and collect signatures on contracts, and how to create an online presence through a website and social media. For me creating a website and social media presence was one of my largest struggles. I’ve never been an active social media user at any point in my life so learning to be comfortable sharing information on these social platforms was difficult. Learning to use the tools and building the confidence needed to share both personal and professional information in order to connect with people and get them engaged with my training philosophy has been a lot of work and will likely always be a work in progress for me.

The other struggle with working in the dog training industry is also the most rewarding part of working in the dog training industry: the people. Trainers learn how to work with dogs but learning to teach people is a whole different ball game. Teachers go to school to learn how to teach. They learn how to work with people with different learning styles, different communication styles, and different needs. Most trainers don’t have the opportunity to learn all those skills and we have limited time with each of our clients. Finding ways to build trust and work collaboratively with clients is key to being successful. I’m constantly updating my resources so that I can provide information to clients in a variety of mediums. I want to maximize the chance that they understand the new skills required to support the training plan so that they and their dog can be successful.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My goal as a trainer is to teach people to work cooperatively with their dog to achieve their goals. I help pet parents learn how to effectively manage their dogs and then team them how to teach their dogs new, more desirable behaviors. My main focus is on supporting two different groups of pet parents: dogs in rescue or newly adopted from a rescue/shelter and dogs with “behavior” problems like fear, aggression, and reactivity concerns. I’m really proud of both aspects of my business. My rescue and new adopter support focus allows me to be part of the movement that saves dogs from our shelters and allows me to spread the message of kindness and consideration in helping these dogs recover. I don’t believe that in a healthy relationship, including the one with our pets, that the intentional use of pain, stress, or discomfort in modifying behavior improves those relationships. Finding ways to respect the needs of both the people and the dogs allow us to develop a training plan where everyone/everything can feel safe and work toward achievable goals. Working with “behavior” – in quotes because all dogs exhibit behavior, sometimes we as people just don’t like the behavior we see – cases allow me to help heal dogs and sometime(s) the relationship between dogs and their owners. Watching dogs who are fearful of other dogs and people learn to walk calmly on leash, helping dogs who are scared of strangers build relationships with their family or make new friends, or watching two dog who were fighting, living peacefully together in a new home is a really rewarding experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elementdogtraining.wixsite.com/dogs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elementdogtraining/