It’s hard to find a good dog trainer, and sometimes nearly impossible because the industry and profession is completely clogged with thousands of subpar dog trainers. I’m not saying there aren’t good ones; there are a ton! I know so many great trainers all around the world. But there are probably 100 times that number of bad ones. It’s like trying to find a particularly beautiful piece of hay in a haystack. It would be easier to find a needle.
Scrolling through Instagram, you will find plenty of “dog trainers” doing tricks with their own dogs, showing cute dogs on place boards, or even heeling someone else’s dog off-leash through crowds of people. The problem is, the proof is not always in the pudding.
Do they have the knowledge base?
Are they using correct vocabulary and terminology?
Do they have the book knowledge?
A lot of these people think it’s acceptable just to call themselves dog trainers when they are really amateur dog training enthusiasts. Enter the certification.
Certifications are on the list of things to look for, but they don’t tell that much of the story. I was out in the world with business cards, a sign on my car, and taking money as a professional dog trainer for eight years before I ever got any certifications. I had done two separate apprenticeships, and I also personally have a particularly useful type of neurodivergence which set me up for success. My brain was built for this. As soon as I learned about operant conditioning and the four quadrants, the entire world around me made more sense. I became obsessed with classifying human, dog, and even corporate behaviors into different types of reinforcement and punishment. Just because I wasn’t certified didn’t mean that I wasn’t qualified.
This may be the case with other people as well. With the state of available knowledge, YouTube, apprenticeships, and dog sport clubs, a person may autodidactically absorb and learn a lot without a structured course.
There are also many different varieties of certifications. Some are simply web-based informational packets and test modules. You may never get to ask a human instructor about the how and why. Again, this may still be a starting block for a good trainer, but there are programs with both practical and technical knowledge that can provide an even higher degree of education.
Imagine the difference between watching someone spread cream cheese icing on top of a carrot cake and spreading the icing yourself, practicing in front of an instructor, until you get it right.
Dog training is made up of thousands of physical movements in infinitely different combinations.
How much experience do you have? Is your experience good?
When I meet a dog and handler, there’s a lot more than what’s going on in front of me that I need to know in order to help them be successful. Approaching the 20 year mark of training dogs daily, I have many dog lifetimes of information that I utilize for each individual client that I meet. I see behaviors or habits of an owner that will lead to problems five years down the road. I’ve coached people through those five years and I’ve also met plenty of people after those five years have passed.
Tenure, or longevity in the field, is important to look for. You could have some natural talent and some good information from professionals that will get you started, but that is not a substitute for having raised dogs from puppies, trained them throughout their lives, followed their progress and behavioral concerns, and seen how they played out all the way till the end of life care, counseling their parents for peaceful passage.
I’ve heard a lot of trainers and I’ve watched a lot of clients. Over the years, I’ve had some clients that are harder to engage than others. When you start talking about conditioning or reward patterns, some clients’ eyes just start to glaze over and you can see their attention disappearing. That’s not always your fault, but it’s possible that if you change your approach, you could interest them more. Maybe more energy, maybe less; maybe more analogies would keep them focused. Perhaps they just need to start moving and feel some movement and progress before the lecture.
Just like dogs, each person is an individual and needs to be treated differently in order to provide an optimal lesson. The trainer is the tutor in the lesson environment. By educating the client, the trainer does better for the dog long term.
When deciding on a trainer, in addition to the subjects above, ask yourself these questions:
Do you get along?
Is the trainer speaking to you in a way that you understand?
Do you get good vibes or bad?
Most of all, trust your gut! It’s OK to question the trainer. If they can’t explain to you why they are doing something in a way you understand, they probably aren’t right for you.
