What Makes a Good Dog Trainer? | Key Qualities & Skills Explained by FMK9
With ever increasing numbers of dog trainers, dog walkers who offer training tips and the endless debate on social media, it can be difficult to choose a good dog trainer. Knowing this we have compiled a short list on what qualities to look for when picking a trainer for your dog.
Documented Results!: The first and probably most important thing to look for in a dog trainer is documented proof of their training methods working. More often than not you will see a trainer online whose whole online presence is solely based on saying how their methods are the best methods but rarely are those claims backed up with any documented evidence. Always look or ask for documented proof which could be in the form of before and after videos before spending any money.
Qualifications? Useful or not?: The first thing a lot of people check for on a trainers website is their qualifications. Unfortunately in an unregulated industry the vast majority of qualifications are gained online which you pay for and cannot fail. I have personally had messages off other trainers saying they’ve just qualified in a particular online course and could they shadow me for a day or so. Unfortunately most of the time when presented with a dog that reacted differently than the course said it would, they had absolutely no idea what to do next and even though they had a big fancy qualification under their belt, they often lacked even the most basic of handling techniques. So in my opinion, experience and documented results trump paid for qualifications every single time, or better yet a combination of qualifications AND experience. (Disclaimer- this does not apply if you are looking for a behaviourist- please check university level qualifications before paying)
Training approach?: One of the most important things to check is how much you as the owner are involved in the training process. While I have no problem with long, residential training courses which is something we are looking at offering in the future, make sure you as the owner are getting a comprehensive handover plan and regular follow up support. Unfortunately we see a lot of dogs that have been sent to a 2 week residential course and then just handed back to the owner with promises the dog is now fixed and this is not the case. All of our courses come with comprehensive handover sessions and constant 24/7 support on WhatsApp. Even if it just a couple of 1:1 sessions, make sure you are being taught as well as your dog.
Is your dog being trained or is your dog being managed?: A good dog trainer will give you some simple things to do after the assessment and before their first session. This is very important as a good trainer will take a holistic approach to training, taking in a dogs biological drive, biological fulfilment, their motivations, general health, sleep schedule, their diet etc. If your dog trainer mentions these BEFORE training the dog then chances are you’re in good hands. Also it is important that in training sessions you are getting actual results and not results, we see this all too often with trainers on both sides of the equation, on one side we see a dog looking like it’s not reactive anymore but in reality its body language is shut down because it’s just been thrashed on a prong collar for an hour, and on the other side a dog looks well behaved but it’s actually just been lured round a private field following some cheese. The lesson here is, whatever your trainers method, Make sure the training is creating LASTING change not temporary fixes.