Choosing a Dog Trainer…part 1

First of all, you should look at a dog trainer as a coach. No one has a magic wand and no one can own your dog for you. And, a dog is not a remote control that someone can just program to do whatever you tell it to do. So don’t fool yourself, a dog trainer, experienced or not, can only do so much. Ultimately you have to own and control your own dog. A dog trainer can either train your dog or teach you how to train your dog using certain methods and techniques. SO, those methods and techniques matter, and will determine the success in training you dog. SO, experience and proven results matter. Ask questions that will help you understand if someone has the experience and results that will be helpful for you and your dog. You can ask questions regarding his or her experience and success training a specific breed, or dealing with a particular problem. You should be able to find reviews, get references, or watch some training demonstrations and sessions. (Thinking seeing is believing, I always recommend seeing an example of someone’s training.) All of these things should help you make an informed decision of whether someone is going to be able to help you or not. In addition to those things, you probably want to seek out someone who can communicate with you in a comfortable and helpful manner. Learning how to train a dog or handle a dog is new to most people. It should be an enjoyable learning experience and one that you’ll want to pursue because of the dog trainer’s approach to teaching.