FINDING A DOG TRAINER
People often use social media to ask about training or behaviour problems. FB can be great for exploring and sharing problems, and getting opinions from people who have experienced them, but it’s best to have someone meet you and your dog(s) since what people say and report they are experiencing is often a far cry from the what the DOG is saying and doing. But social media can attract the very worst dog trainers – keen to show off, collecting followers but frequently with very dubious techniques. Some are downright abusive.
A qualified (in its broadest sense) professional, experienced in coaching skills with a commitment to continuing their own learning and development, is usually much better placed to offer informed and up to date advice either in your home or in a class.
But at the moment the whole industry is unregulated to the point of anarchy and sorting put the good trainers from amongst the bad ones can be very tricky.
Experienced and qualified?
There are some excellent people who have no paper qualifications, but oodles of great experience. There are plenty of people who have excellent academic qualifications and loads of knowledge, but not so much hands-on experience. With all shades of both (or neither) in between. There are also people who may have high profiles but whose self-promotion skills are far greater than their dog training skills. There’s no easy way to know who would be best to help you.
The best you can do – in the absence of informed personal recommendation – is probably to go with someone who belongs to one of the reputable organisations who have a commitment to evidence based, positive techniques, with an effective procedure for handling complaints about members (not all do) to make sure their code of conduct, or ethics, and rules are adhered to. Literally ANYONE can set themselves up a trainer or behaviourist – and some people WILL do harm if they are let loose on your dogs.
If the problem is a serious aggression or behaviour problem it is always best to get a vet to check the dog over first – undiagnosed pain is a common factor in aggression and other behaviour problems.
Dog training organisations
Here’s a list of some organisations (in alphabetical order – not in order of any kind of criteria of excellence) I’d suggest are worth checking to get help – all of them have guidelines about who they accept as members which should give you some useful information. It does NOT mean all their members are necessarily suitable for your needs, so don’t just assume they will be. The older organisations may have members admitted under older, less rigorous, criteria.
ABTC – the Animal Behaviour and Training Council. A newish organisation which brings together members of a number of organisations. However, it is in its infancy, its tool for finding trainers very cumbersome and can be very frustrating to navigate (http://www.abtcouncil.org.uk)
APBC – Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (https://www.apbc.org.uk)
APDT – Association of Pet Dog Trainers (UK) (http://www.apdt.co.uk)
IMDT – Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (https://www.imdt.uk.com)
PACT – Professional Association of Dog Trainers (http://www.pact-dogs.com)
Do your research
It is essential to do your research. Dog training and behaviour work doesn’t have a single, straightforward set of skills that will produce the same result in every case once you’ve mastered those skills since there is a very complicated and complex variable we lack so much information about…the dog. It’s not like building a wall, cooking a soufflé or learning to drive. At least, not yet. 🙂
1 – Internet – Google (of course 🙂 ) . Your place name + dog trainer or similar. Ask on FB groups.
2 – Check the websites of likely candidates. Does it give a person’s name? Do you know who you would be letting loose on your dog? Does it tell you what their qualifications and experience are? Are they relevant to what you need? “I became a dog trainer because I love dogs” might be necessary, but its not sufficient! Google their name – see if it throws up useful facts about their experience e.g. wins in specific activities which may or may not be relevant to your needs, interest in specific breeds or problems
Are they members of any reputable organisation? (See above).
Do they describe HOW they train? Do they state what approach they take? They should. But of course be sceptical. People can say what they like on websites and some trainers are pretty creative. Plenty of them use punishment techniques which we know do harm, but they don’t tend to be upfront so don’t take their word for it. The word they might use to describe their work is likely to include the word “balanced”. Go and watch them at work.
3 – Go to a class and observe. Contact trainers first (it’s the polite and respectful thing to do) and ask to go and watch a class. Be prepared for them not to have time to chat
to you there, but just observing will inform you. Do they put across what they want people to learn in an effective way? Do the dogs look happy and relaxed and enjoying themselves? Are the methods consistent with up to date techniques and practices? i.e. no check chains, water squirters, tight slip leads up around the ears or other forms of nasty aversives. If they won’t allow anyone to go and observe then they need to have a jolly good reason for it. Don’t just rely on their (edited) video clips online. Go see them in action. Reputable trainers welcome the opportunity to let you see what they do before you book their services.
4 – Ask other people locally – chat to local dog walkers, your vet, the local pet shop. Be prepared for them to offer biased and uninformed opinions though (both in favour and against). Gossip and badmouthing people didn’t start with FaceBook! Just be ready to ignore what may just be scurrilous rumours about bad practice, but you are likely to get a picture of how well respected a trainer is, and the techniques they use, by talking to a range of local people who have experience of their services.
5 – Consider getting a vet referral to a qualified behaviourist for any major behaviour problem. A qualified behaviourist is likely to ask for your vet to do a health check before they will work with you and it is often needed to eliminate pain, the fear of pain or other health issues.
Once you’ve settled on a trainer or class, well, enjoy yourselves! Training your dog should be a load of fun for both of you so have a great time learning together.