When you’re hiring a dog trainer, one of the questions you should ask is “How are you going to train my dog?” Out of all the calls and emails I’ve had from potential clients, no one’s ever asked me that, and frankly, this is the first thing that should pop into the dog owner’s mind.
There are no regulations in the dog training industry. No one has to prove they know basic behavioral science, or that they’re even competent! Anyone can open up shop with as little as a background in dog training from watching popular television shows. Would you go to someone for counseling who’s got a Dr. Phil education? No. Besides being ludricrous, to practice without certification in counselling is illegal.
Professionals such as plumbers, manicurists, hair stylists, and exterminators have to meet minimum qualifications to practice their professions. Dog trainers have no minimum requirements to meet to call themselves professional. Let me repeat that. There is no minimum requirement needed to practice dog training. And there are enough incompetent dog “trainers” out there that are doing more harm than good to dogs that this is reprehensible. By the way, Cesar Millan couldn’t pass a basic test in behavioral science in Germany, a country that does have minimum standards for dog trainers in place.
Dog training has come a long way, and TV is not the place to learn how to train dogs humanely or effectively. Many “trainers” do not train humanely, and with their added incompetence, take the customer’s money then proceed to harm the dog and returned damaged goods. These are people who should be brought up on malpractice charges. That’s what it will take to make changes in this industry. Enough law suits or big enough law suits that people will take notice and demand change.
Until then, please consider this when hiring a dog trainer. Ask yourself if you want your dog, your family member, to be choked, pronged, electrocuted, and basically tortured into obedience when there are much more effective, humane, and competent ways of training our beloved family member. Why chose pain? Pain can have much more fallout on your dog than you can imagine. Think about that before you hand that leash over to a trainer.
Here are three basic questions to ask your potential dog trainer:
1. How will you train my dog?
2. What will you do to my dog when he gets it right?
3. What will you do to my dog when he gets it wrong?
Listen carefully to the answers. Then put yourself in your dog’s paws. And while some trainers will try to explain to you that pain doesn’t hurt, keep yourself grounded, have a tight grip on critical thinking, and don’t let someone convince you otherwise about something that you know deep down is not true. Choking hurts. Prong collars hurt. Electrocution hurts.
Here are my answers to the above questions.
Helen Verte Schwarzmann
Certified in Training and Counseling
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-KA
Certified Trick Dog Instructor
Your Dog Trainer for Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Davie
Broward County South Florida
By Helen Verte
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