by Rachel Michak
Dog trainers do not have to be licensed or certified in any way
to call themselves professional dog trainers. Unlike professions
such as doctors, teachers, or dentists, there is no body governing
all dog trainers and requiring standard techniques or qualifications.
Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer, regardless of their level
of experience, methods, or skills. Most dog trainers have
no formal education in canine behavior but instead acquired
knowledge and experience through hands-on apprentice/internships
with established trainers, working in animal shelters, boarding
kennels, or doggie daycares, attending seminars, and training
their own dogs. There are several organizations, including the
Certification Counsel for Profesional Dog Trainers, that offers
certification programs for trainers*. Until this program was established in 2001, there was no true
certification process for dog trainers. In order to become a CPDT, trainers have to pass an exam and
take several hours of continuing educational credits each year to renew their certification. There are
also schools that teach dog training and offer certification or "study-at-home" programs, but these
programs are not nationally recognized and only reflect the methods and quality of the schools
themselves.
It's important to evaluate each trainer individually. There are many excellent dog trainers who have no
certifications but do have a solid knowledge of canine behavior, positive training techniques, and good
people-skills for communicating with owners. There are also bad dog trainers out there who make
dogs' problems worse and have little or outdated knowledge about canine behavior. Choosing a
trainer who will treat both you and your dog with respect and compassion is important. Having
"20 years of experience" or "trained hundreds of dogs", dazzling a client with OTCH titles on multiple
dogs, or having numerous "certifications" doesn't necessarily equal a thorough understanding of dog
behavior or high quality training.
Do research and ask questions! Don't be afraid - this is your dog. You have to live with
him/her everyday and correcting mistakes from choosing a bad trainer can be very difficult.
 | Look for a trainer who uses positive reinforcement training and rewards dogs for doing the | |
| right thing rather than punishing incorrect responses. Beware of trainers who claim to employ positive methods but use corrections such as collar or leash jerks. |
| Ask about the trainer's experience, qualifications, memberships, etc. Membership in | |
| organizations like the APDT or IAABC is beneficial because trainers from around the country can network and share ideas and techniques. The IACP (International Association of Canine Professionals) is another professional group, but be careful - many of these trainers use electronic shock collars (aka "remote training"), are "balanced" trainers (using both positive methods and as well as physical corrections), or do not use positive training techniques. |
| Look for a trainer with a solid knowledge of positive reinforcement methods as well as | |
| behavior modification techniques like counterconditioning and desensitization. |
| Look for a trainer who has the ability to work with difficult dogs. If a trainer has only worked | |
| with puppies or "easy dogs" she may not be able work with a dog who is difficult to motivate or able to handle a tough case of separation anxiety, housetraining issues, or aggression. A good trainer should be persistent and will try different approaches if one method doesn't seem to work with a particular dog. |
| A good trainer will give you an honest assessment of your dog and will refer you to another | |
| trainer if she feels she is not qualified to handle your dog's case. Please note that there are many experienced trainers who do not take on aggression cases. |
| When calling around for a trainer, do not expect trainers to give out detailed free advice over | |
| the phone. After all, we trainers need to make a living! But, a trainer should be willing to give you a general idea of how she would address your dog's issue, the types of skills she would teach your dog, and if she has successfully worked with similar issues in the past. |
| Observe a group class before signing up. Do the dogs and owners look like they are having a | |
| good time? Do you like how the trainer handles the class? Talk to a few students about their experiences. If you are not allowed to watch a class before enrolling, this is a red flag - don't sign up and look elsewhere! Also look at the student to instructor ratio. Avoid classes that are too full - 8 or more students per instructor or assistant - or classes that are in so small a space you cannot get more than 4 feet from another dog. |
| Don't be afraid to tell a trainer to stop if she is doing something you don't like to your dog. | |
| Before working with your dog herself, a trainer should also throughly explain what she will be doing. |
| Don't let a trainer intimidate you, bully you, make you feel guilty about your dog, or force you | |
| to do something you don't think is in your dog's best interest. |
| Avoid trainers who guarantee specific results. A dog is not a toaster or a vacuum - he is a | |
| living breathing being and no one, not a even a great trainer, can guarantee the results of her training. So many factors influence behavior: genetics, environment, health, owner's consistency with training, owner's training ability, stress levels, and breed traits to name a few. A trainer who offers guarantees either doesn't understand the complexity of canine behavior or chooses to ignore it. |
| Also avoid trainers who offer "quick fixes" Although there are occasionally simple things you | |
| can do to improve your dog's behavior, in the long run quick fixes usually don't work. |
| Good trainers should not be "breedists". While most trainers have a favorite breed or two, it | |
| should not affect the way the trainer feels about your dog's breed or the way she works with your dog. Avoid trainers who refuse to work with a dog based on breed alone, make broad (often negative) generalizations about breeds such as "all Pit Bulls are dangerous" or "all Jack Russells are hyper" or who consistently single out a specific breed in class for praise and attention. |
| Look for a trainer who is friendly and approachable. You should feel comfortable talking to the | |
| trainer and asking questions. Good trainers should treat both dogs and humans with respect. Avoid trainers who take an "I'm the boss" attitude with dogs, who talk down to you or are demeaning, or try to confuse you with tons of technical behavior jargon. |
| Look for a trainer who has a genuine interest in your situation, asks lots of questions, and who | |
| enjoys petting and interacting with your dog (the exception to the latter is when working with an aggression case). Trainers should answer your questions politely and thoughtfully, never snippy or short. After all, you are there to learn too! |
| Avoid trainers who E-collars (electric shock collars - and watch out for euphemisms such as | |
| "stim" or "tap" or "remote training"). Using this equipment means you are SHOCKING your dog. Avoid trainers who consider food rewards to be bribery. At Pawsitive Results, we are aware that with some tools it is not necessarily the tool themselves but how they are used (or misused) that is the problem. Nonetheless we are not fans of, nor do we use, choke chain collars or prong/pinch collars in our training. |
| Training should be fun and should NEVER include methods that inflict pain or fear such as | |
| Alpha rolls, scruff shakes, hanging, finger poking, yelling, kicking, leash jerks and corrections, or hitting. |
| How do you feel about the training? You probably don't have the training experience, handling | |
| skills, or knowledge of canine behavior that the trainer has but does what the trainer is saying or doing make sense to you? Does anything the trainer suggest make you feel uncomfortable? If so, ask questions - a lot of questions! How do you feel, on a gut level, about the methods the trainer is showing you? If your dog responds but you don't like what you have to do to him/her to get that response, don't do it! Don't do anything to your dog that may jeopardize the relationship you share. |
*Rachel Michak, owner of Pawsitive Results, currently meets the criteria and qualifications for the
CPDT exam and plans to sit for the exam in the fall of 2008 or spring of 2009.
