You Should Ask Your Dog Trainer These 5 Questions

The dog training world is completely unregulated. There are no requirements or licenses needed. There is no one checking in to make sure the services being provided are ethical and humane. Similar to the fitness and health industry, fancy marketing schemes and promises of quick fixes can lead to undesired consequences. How many have gone on a diet only to gain everything back, plus some at the end? Behavior change just isn’t easy for us, and it’s definitely not for our dogs either.

To make things worse, in our beautiful state of Vermont, there is no kennel inspection process or oversight or any state run animal control division, which leaves little protection for you or your dog should things go wrong with your trainer.

Unfortunately, meeting with the wrong dog trainer or having your dog subjected to the wrong techniques can lead to life-long damage. And the pieces aren’t very fun to pick up- I’ve been here with many clients’ pets.

Here are the 5 things I think are the MOST important to ask your dog trainer when you meet them:

1. How many years have you been working in the field of dog training and/or behavior?

   1. Just like I ask my clients, “how long have you had your dog?” always ask your trainer how long they’ve been practicing. I want to know a dog’s behavior history and how much experience the dog has performing behaviors we are seeking to modify. You want to know how much experience your trainer has producing positive behavior change results in their career. Does their experience match what you are seeking?

2. What type of dog training have you done?

   1. There are tons of different fields withing the dog training community, from competition obedience and agility, to nosework and search and rescue, working dogs, such as police K9’s, to pet dog basic obedience training, to behavior modification of aggression, fear based behaviors and more.

   2. You want to make sure the trainer you are working with has experience dealing with the problem behaviors or goals you are seeking to achieve. For example, a highly experienced police K9 trainer may not actually be qualified to work with aggression. A trainer such as myself would not be qualified to teach a competition agility course. An ethical trainer will refer out cases they do not meet the criteria to see.

3. What type of preliminary education in learning theory, behavior analysis, animal husbandry, and ethology do you have?

   1. Having “lived and worked with dogs all my life” and I took a course with “so and so famous trainer” doesn’t cut it unfortunately. In a time in which we can teach tigers to let us trim their nails through positive reinforcement, it’s silly to have animal trainers out there who don’t have a solid educational background in the animals they are training.

   2. The trainer you are working with should have a degree in psychology or animal behavior (not just science) in addition to canine husband and ethology, or a certification(s) that demonstrate their knowledge in all of these areas. If the trainer you are working with does not have a solid understanding in all of the above categories, they may be missing important components of a comprehensive training plan. If the answer to the problem behavior, is “dominance,” for example, then we’ve got a problem with the trainer, not the dog.

4. What do you use to reinforce and reward correct behavior?

   1. An experienced and qualified trainer will be able to assess your dog’s personal wants and desires. Yes, food is always a primary reinforcement tool, but there are many other motivators that can help your dog feel successful with training. Praise, play, sniffing, and running are just some examples. Your trainer should be able to access all of these reinforcers to be able to produce and train you to get the most desired behavior from your dog.

5. What if my dog makes a mistake?

   1. An experienced and qualified trainer will assess your dog’s environment and teach you the best way to set them up for success first and foremost.

   2. They should also be able to foresee situations that may arise with your dog, and teach your dog alternate behaviors, so you are prepared with a positive reinforcement approach in “uh-oh moments,” while you are working on modifying the initial problem behavior.

   3. Your dog trainer should avoid the use of punishment (physical or emotional intimidation), except in some very, very limited circumstances (see LIMA). A simple Google search will produce a vast amount of studies you can read. These studies have shown punishment is confusing, harmful and sometimes detrimental to a positive outcome and emotional well being of the learner. The fallout of the use of punish- yes, even something as simple as a squirt bottle- is usually not worth it. Ask a professional!

Some of my favorite organizations I like to refer folks to when looking for qualified trainers include the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers, The Academy for Dog Trainers and the Karen Pryor Academy. I refer these organizations because of their codes of conduct, ethical values and accentuation of education and accountability in the field. Don’t see an organization on this list, and want to know why? Feel free to ask away at here!