Cathy Brooks is founder of the Hydrant Club, which offers canine care, obedience training, behavioral study seminars, social gatherings and educational lectures and workshops in downtown Las Vegas. Her expertise in canine behavior has also led to a consultancy offshoot, working with businesses on team-building, leadership and group dynamics. “The premise,” she says, “is that clear and effective leadership in a human group could well be improved by acting more like dogs — except for the butt sniffing part, of course.”
Do you have any recent news you’d like to share?
In the few years our business has been in operation, we have doubled our membership and continue to grow, now offering a private canine concierge transport service — picking up/dropping off dogs for services. This has enabled us to expand our reach across the valley.
I also spent quite a bit of time in 2016 working to raise money for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s K9 Unit. After the death of a K9 officer, and discovering that the department lacked sufficient protective gear for the K9s, the Hydrant Club began helping raise money. As of Dec. 31, we had raised almost $6,000 for this cause.
What is the best business advice you’ve received?
So goes the courtship, so goes the marriage.
It was advice originally given to me by someone mentoring me on negotiation. The point was that the way in which a business relationship starts indicates how it will proceed. If someone proves to be disingenuous from the outset, you can expect the same throughout the relationship.
What’s the biggest issue facing Southern Nevada?
The way this area struggles with the evolution into a more urban environment. Las Vegas originated as ranch land that evolved into a gaming town — a place designed first for very spread-out living, and then for people who were transient. As the land evolved into more dense living, it was still done spaced out — suburban sprawl. Houses had yards, neighborhoods didn’t have sidewalks and people lived apart from one another.
This creates a substantial challenge as it relates to dogs and their living. Dogs from rural and suburban settings are notoriously weak when it comes to socialized behavior — walking on leashes, being around lots of people, commotion and the like. About 10 years ago, the city began placing dog parks in established park settings. It might seem logical, but unfortunately, collecting large numbers of dogs that don’t have social skills and humans who don’t have urban handling skills into contained areas is an equation that can lead to serious issues. We need more education on handling a dog in a densely populated urban environment.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
If there is one thing that the experience of launching the Hydrant Club has taught me, it’s that any and all of my future plans are written, at best, in sand at the edge of an encroaching tide.
That aside, I can say the Hydrant Club is merely the beginning of a much bigger picture on helping develop people’s understanding of their dogs to be better pup parents. This won’t happen from a single location in downtown Las Vegas.
The “how” of spreading this message further is something on which I’m pondering. It could take any number of forms — virtual/online community and education, authoring books, consulting and perhaps the expansion of physical locations.
The one thing I know without question is that the presence of and importance of working with dogs and their humans is now firmly cemented in my world experience.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
I get more than a little bunched up when people are late, including myself. Early is on time, on time is late and being late isn’t OK. When someone is late (especially chronically so), it sends a message that they believe their time is more important than someone else’s, or that they don’t respect your time, or both. Some people might say that’s a bit harsh but there seems to be a lack of attention to this sort of thing these days. Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned, but when I make an appointment with someone for a specific time, I make sure I’m there when it’s scheduled.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Being more patient couldn’t hurt. The irony is that I’m infinitely patient with dogs. When it comes to humans, however, sometimes I have a harder time toeing that line.
In fact, the more time I spend with dogs, seeing how clearly they communicate, how simply they navigate group dynamics and how easily they settle into a balanced group with little effort, the more frustrating it can be to deal with people.
I love people. But sometimes I wish people were as honest as dogs are.
Why did you start the Hydrant Club?
In August 2012, I came to Las Vegas for what was supposed to be a 10-day exploration of the freshly minted and quickly evolving Downtown Project. Within 24 hours of my arrival, it became clear that amid the blocks and blocks of asphalt, something was conspicuously missing — any resources for folks with dogs. During that first 24 hours, we met nearly two dozen dogs and their people. When we asked where they went for walks, to do dog baths, buy good dog food and the like, we got nearly 24 different answers. Over the next 10 days, I had 3-4 conversations a day with people about what a fresh take on dog community services might look like in this new world being built by DTP.
Seventeen months later, the first phase of Hydrant Club opened.
What have dogs taught you?
I have learned more about communication in the time that I have been working with dogs full time, than in more than 20 years working in any other communications role.
When you remove language from the equation and are forced to break communication down to the most fundamental elements — energy, tone and body language — there is a simplicity that is breathtaking.
What all of this has taught me above and beyond anything else is that the most important element to any group dynamic begins with the individual. To be a constructive, contributing member of a group, I first must be clear on my own role and boundaries. I then need to be clear on the interplay of my role with those around me and do my part to respect their boundaries and space. Finally, leadership of a group needs to be strong, clear and structured with firm direction and enforcement of consequences when rules are broken.
Oh, and that when all else fails, roll in the grass. That makes everything better.