Three great Questions to ask when looking for a dog training professional (and three not-so-great questions).
When it comes to finding the right dog training professional for your needs, we know how stressful it can be trying to find the right fit. Not only is there a significant financial cost to signing up with the wrong professional, but bad advice can have a serious negative impact on your dog’s wellbeing. We know that we have national and international readers that struggle to find someone local who is suitable for their needs, so we’ve put together the top three questions we would ask, and the ones we wouldn’t, to find a quality trainer, whatever your needs.
Great Question Number 1: Have you previously had experience resolving this kind of issue/teaching this particular skill/working with these kinds of dogs, or do you commonly work with dogs that express these kinds of behaviours/need this kind of training?
It’s absolutely okay to ask any prospective trainer to talk you through what experience they have resolving the issues that you are dealing with, or teaching the skills you are trying to learn. Whether you are looking for an expert in resolving a fear of traffic, or resource guarding - or maybe you have a dog that you want to teach to track on a scent - its absolutely okay to ask a trainer if this is the kind of work that they normally do.
We all have our own expertise, specialisations and preferences. For example, I am a huge spaniel guy, I specialise in working with chronic fears and phobias - and have an expertise working with reactive and aggressive dogs, because 70% of the cases that we work with show reactive or aggressive symptoms to people and dogs. I am not however anything more than a novice with scent work and tracking - and if you wanted a competition winning gundog or an assistance dog, I’m the wrong person to ask. Any decent professional will be honest (and probably enthusiastic) to talk to you about what they love and what they’re good at. We also normally know other trainers who excel where we don’t.
Not so Great Question Number 1: I have a Norwegian Elkhound/Catahoula leopard Dog/Xoloitzcuintli - do you have experience working with my breed?
We love that you love your rare breed dog - but it’s highly unlikely that you are going to find a professional with a wealth of specific breed experience, particularly if your dog is uncommon. For example, I’ve never worked with a Scottish Terrier, or a Cairn Terrier - but i’ve lost count of the number of Westie’s, Jack Russels, Border, Airdale and Patterdale Terriers that i’ve worked with. I see on average 4 spaniels/cockapoos, 3 Shepherds, 2 terriers and 1 French Bulldog and 1 Daxie every week. Understanding a breed helps with the fine details, and it can be useful to ask if you have a common or popular breed to get some extra perspective - but its probably not a good way of identifying expertise.
“Great trainers across the spectrum of dog training produce happier, healthier dogs and solid training outcomes. Most of them can demonstrate it and evidence it, both through videos and through the feedback and reviews from their clients. Poor trainers across the spectrum make their owners spend a fortune on negligent and ineffective training that leaves the dogs to suffer.”
Great Question Number 2: Could you talk me through how you would approach resolving the issues that I’m having, and the tools and techniques you would use (and why)?
This one is a big one - you shouldn’t need to pay hundreds for a session in order to find out how someone is going to train your dog or approach a resolution to an issue. It’s not ‘giving away your secrets’ to give a top level overview of common training techniques you might use or what tools you would recommend to solve a problem. And no decent professional will have any shame in standing by their work, regardless of what end of the training spectrum they sit on. It allows you to make a clear decision based on your preferences and your previous training history, as well as allowing them to provide you with a different way of looking at the problem. A plumber can tell me how he would approach fixing a leak - it doesn’t mean for one second that i’d know how to do it. It’s okay to ask, it’s reasonable to expect a training professional to provide a basic explanation. Its not uncommon that trainers have social media channels or memberships where they have videos of their training processes - so that you can have confidence in how they work, and how likely they are to be the right person for you.
Not-so-Great Question Number 2: Are you a Force-free trainer/do you use purely positive training/ do you use punishment in your training?
It might seem like a really smart question to ask - but the reality is that training competency and styles are hugely varied, and absolutely cannot be contained within the binary system of force free vs. balanced training. There are some incredibly competent, highly experienced trainers across the training spectrum, and whilst balanced training is much more common within behaviour modification for dogs that already present serious issues, force free training is widespread in both preventative training schools, and for sport and assistance dog work.
There are also a huge number of trainers both at the ‘balanced’ and ‘force-free’ end of the spectrum that are inexperienced, lacking in competency and negligent in their practices.
I have seen force free trainers with exceptional timing and precise application of a clicker to teach competition obedience, disengagement work and scentwork, and i’ve seen trainers who will tell their clients to throw a handful of cheese on the ground to deal with reactivity, or left a dog terrified, lying in its own excrement in a crate for 6 months because it would have been ‘aversive’ to get the dog out of the crate and the dog would ‘warm up in its own time’ (I have to admit this is a sore memory).
I have seen balanced trainers that are so subtle and sparing in their corrections and so fluid in their handling that most people don’t realise they are balanced trainers at all - i’ve seen e collars used to save lives - and i’ve seen balanced trainers who call a chain with a bag in it a ‘behaviour pillow’, will fry a dog for leaving a heel position, or will spend 45 minutes backing a terrified dog into a corner in the name of submission.
Great trainers across the spectrum of dog training produce happier, healthier dogs and solid training outcomes. Most of them can demonstrate it and evidence it, both through videos and through the feedback and reviews from their clients. Poor trainers across the spectrum make their owners spend a fortune on negligent and ineffective training that leaves the dogs to suffer. Ask the question, let them talk. Have them make it clear how they work and how they solve the issues you are having - before pulling out your wallet.
For our part, we’re significantly less aversive than the average balanced trainer most of the time, and we use significantly less food and overstimulation than the average force-free trainer most of the time. We focus primarily on the relationship between the dogs and their owners, rather than dogs behaviour in isolation - and all of our training works around the goal of creating the calmest and most relaxed dog possible. You tell us where we belong, because we can’t!
“When looking to hire a professional - find out ahead of time exactly at what point that they will assess your dog practically, and if it isn’t in the first session - don’t hire them. ”
Great Question Number 3: Are you going to work with my dog practically/how much does it cost and how many sessions for you to look at my dog and their behaviour or teach me practical skills?
There should only ever be one answer to this question - Yes absolutely we will work with your dog practically, yes we will assess their behaviour and yes we will do this from the very first session.
The surprising and infuriating reality is that many behaviour professionals think it is acceptable to charge their clients for services when they will come to your home, not look at the dog, not take the dog outside, not work with the dog or interact with them in any way - and still by some miracle provide you with a diagnosis and a roadmap to success. Some professionals will even offer a number of repeat visits prior to working with your dog practically - which is in our view as much of a con as there could ever be.
You would not go to a doctor who would ask you to stay in the waiting room and not assess your symptoms. You would not hire a builder who will send you a booklet on how to build a stud wall in the post. You would not pay money to a physiotherapist who sat and asked you questions about your back pain but never actually touched your back, or gave you the treatment you needed.
When looking to hire a professional - find out ahead of time exactly at what point that they will assess your dog practically, and if it isn’t in the first session - don’t hire them.
Not so Great Question Number 3: My Dog is really aggressive to visitors in the home. Can you come to my home and see it? Because the symptoms only happen in the home.
No thank you. No, No and No again. It is not reasonable or necessary to ask any professional to put their safety on the line by walking into a highly volatile situation with a dog that you cannot keep under control. There are very few behaviours that have to be addressed in-situ, and the overwhelming majority are actually better dealt with away from the environment where the expression of those behaviours is most intense.
There is a good reason why all seasoned professionals who work with reactive and aggressive dogs do so at a dedicated centre with enclosed paddocks (like ours) - because we can do so safely. We’ve all started out offering home visiting services. We’ve all walked into dangerous situations, and we’ve all walked away with bites that could have been a lot worse. And I promise you that a qualified professional can do everything that they need to do - both in terms of diagnostics, and in their ability to teach you the skills you need that will make a difference, without having to walk into a fire fight.
Learn what’s causing the problem. learn how to control your dog safely. Learn how to put the changes you need in place. Do it all - then invite people into your home. Not before. If you are dealing with reactivity and aggression, and you find a professional with a dedicated premises (that you are allowed to attend - home boarding is different!) then its decent sign that they’ve earned their stripes and probably know what they are doing.
