Several of my dog training buddies attended a seminar given by one of the world’s top dog training gurus.  When they came home, I asked them how they liked the seminar.  The said that they felt “squashed like a bug.”  The seminar leader made them feel embarrassed and stupid – not a good way for a participant to leave a program.  There’s a lesson to be learned here for all trainers regardless of subject:  each and every participant should leave a session feeling motivated, inspired, and up-beat.  That’s the job of a great trainer – to tailor the message and the feedback to each participant’s skill level in an appropriate way.  It involves a combination of calibrating the message to the individual’s sensitivity level, giving honest, specific feedback, and giving encouragement for change.