Choosing a Trainer-So much to consider!
Facts or feelings?
Have you ever played Dr. Google? You, a family member, or even your dog have some kind of ailment and instead of reaching out to a doctor or veterinarian, you go right to Google? In some cases, you can calm your nerves and in others, decide that you will be dead by tomorrow as a result of some insidious rare disease. Most of us are not qualified to make medical diagnoses or to know the proper sources to consult to help us better understand our symptoms and possible causes. You will find many sources out there, from peer-reviewed scholarly studies to the most ridiculous quackery and everything in between. This applies just as much to dog training and selecting the best trainer for you and your dog.
Today's dog training culture has become very much geared towards feelings rather than results. Who doesn't like the sound of “purely positive” or “positive only” training? Or even “science based” training? Those sound like good things until you realize that you are not training a dolphin or whale living in a tank but instead an animal residing in your home who is derived from an apex predator. Since many people these days have a tendency to relate to their dogs as their children, or fur babies, let's think about how parenting would look if you subscribed to these current popular training methods. Start rewarding any of your children's behaviors you like but disregard anything you don't like. You are going to try to shape good behavior through only rewards rather than any form of punishment. How do you think that will go long term? Both as a former high school teacher and also as a dog trainer who works with families, I have some experience with variations in parental approaches. I can see children raised in extremely permissive environments a mile away. I can also tell you that families with well behaved children tend to make better dog training students.
If we stick with relating parenting to dog training, let's consider the concept of punishment. How many parents think that extreme beatings are a suitable form of punishment? Punishments in child rearing can be all kinds of things, such as withholding something desirable, time outs, grounding, extra chores, a stern talking to, etc. Despite the fact that most people don't assume that punishment in parenting refers to physically aggressive action, it is not uncommon for people to take that leap in dog training. Dog culture has made the concept of punishment, or correction, and the use of certain training tools into abhorrent measures. Cookies and restrictive devices are acceptable all day long, but a trainer who employs correction can be looked at as abusive. Utilizing a combination of rewards, corrections, and limits imposed through appropriate management strategies allows for a balanced approach, an approach that your dog understands innately.
Reinforcement? Punishment? Good? Bad? Balance!
There needn't be an all or nothing approach to dog training. I recommend staying away from trainers who are especially dogmatic in their approach or have a one size fits all type of program. You are unlikely to get the best results from either positive only training or a methodology based only on harsh correction. Your dog will be best served by a balanced dog trainer. Balanced training involves utilizing a combination of praise and motivation in conjunction with appropriate correction. I use lots of treats in training to both lure dogs in the teaching stages and then reward behaviors when there is more comprehension and better effort. I also praise verbally and use play to reward and motivate dogs. However, there is a lot of accountability built in to developing well behaved dogs who understand “yes” and “no” as well as “want to” versus “have to.” To get to the point where a dog can demonstrate appropriate behavior, self-control, and deference to his handler in a multitude of situations regardless of distraction, you are going to have to tell him no at some point.
A good dog trainer should approach your dog with patience and with an eye towards developing clarity and consistency in your relationship with your dog. This will come about through instruction in both management and obedience training. Management involves strategies you employ when you are unable to directly handle your dog with obedience. These strategies involve crating, setting up gates, closing doors, putting tempting items out of reach of the dog when you cannot supervise, etc. You want to set your dog up to get it right and to keep him, other people, and other dogs safe. Obedience involves holding your dog accountable for commands and behavioral expectations you have taught and reinforced. Again, teaching and reinforcement can happen through praise and motivation as well as correction. So what are appropriate ways to communicate expectations to a dog?
Consider the concepts of positive and negative, reinforcement and punishment, as they relate to dog training. These concepts come from Skinnerian operant conditioning in which you can have positive reinforcement and punishment in addition to negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive reinforcement means you are adding something to increase the likelihood of the behavior. The easiest example is using food rewards when a dog performs a desired behavior. Positive punishment involves adding something to diminish a behavior. To deal with the undesirable behavior of jumping people, this could involve a leash correction or bumping the dog off of you. Negative reinforcement can be the release of leash pressure when a dog offers the desired behavior. For example, if you apply upward leash pressure to have a dog sit, the leash pressure goes away as soon as the dog complies. If I am playing fetch with my puppy and she drops the item at my feet instead of handing it to me, I ignore her, so the game stops. She then delivers the item to hand. Withdrawing attention motivated her to offer the ideal behavior. An example of negative punishment would be calling your dog and then immediately crating him for the length of your work day. He complied with your recall command but then lost his freedom and you leave. He is going to be less likely to come when you call him, at least at times of the day when he anticipates this pattern.
As you can see, there is no such thing as “purely positive” or “purely negative” dog training. Positive and negative do not equal “good” and “bad”. You have to consider the behaviors you want and the behaviors you wish to extinguish and how your dog interprets your behavior. If the behavior continues, the dog sees what you are doing as reinforcement. If the behavior stops, the dog sees what you are doing as punishment. It is only through the association of the word “positive” with the concept of “good” that positive only trainers are able to market their approach as better than that of balanced trainers. In reality, we all use positive and negative methods, just through various techniques and with different expectations in mind. In common parlance, “positive only” trainers are going to avoid physical correction and conflict and rely upon tangible rewards as reinforcement. While to me “balanced” is the only thing that sounds reasonable, in some circles a balanced trainer is looked at as harsh because corrections are utilized more readily and certain training tools that have been characterized as “negative” are more likely to be employed.
Let results be your guide
One of the saddest realities of life with dogs is that they have such short lifespans relative to ours. When selecting a dog trainer, look for someone who can help you get solid results in a reasonable amount of time. If you have to take twelve classes to learn some basic concepts because the only strategy was using food as reinforcement, you are apt to be stuck at square one. If your dog becomes out of control in that environment because of the constant expectation of treats, you are going to have new problems rather than a better behaved dog. Dogs are physical creatures. They use body language, control of space, and physical correction among themselves. An owner who constantly praises and feeds and is extremely permissive about his behavior is apt to be considered weak by her dog. An authoritative owner who controls space, maintains high expectations, and uses physical correction as appropriate will be much more likely to cultivate a relationship based on respect.
Training equipment aids in your ability to communicate your expectations to your dog. While the equipment itself is essentially neutral, some types of training tools have been characterized as positive/good whereas others are maligned as negative/bad. It is the quality of the equipment and skill of the user that determines whether the tools accomplish comprehension of expectations in the dog in a humane way. Therefore, tools marketed as “gentle” or “humane” are not inherently kind. Ask the majority of dogs how they feel about wearing a head halter and odds are good they would tell you they hate it. And yet, head halters are embraced as being positive/good whereas a prong collar is often considered negative/bad. My dogs get so excited to see their prong collars (or any training equipment) come out as it signals to them that we are going to do something together. That said, I will only use high quality prong collars. Training equipment should not do harm to your dog. If it does, it is either poorly made or being used improperly. There are but rare occasions when a dog has an allergic reaction to the metal in a training tool. I cringe to see poor quality prong collars being used on dogs being permitted to pull against them. I make regular use of prong collars and favor them as a humane tool that allows us to communicate clearly and effectively with dogs while using way less force than with most other tools. However, I am not in favor of unskilled handlers utilizing them without instruction on quality and technique. Likewise, I make regular use of electronic collars. These are an incredibly humane tool in that they allow you take physical force out of the equation. That said, I insist upon high quality equipment and appropriate methodology when training with electronic collars. I have seen plenty of people purchase poor quality collars and used them without a clear plan, resulting in dogs who are scared to death at the sight of them. A skilled trainer will be able to guide you as to the appropriate use of this tool whereas someone lacking knowledge and skill may dismiss it as cruel.
The right fit?
Try to let your selection of a trainer be guided by logic rather than purely by emotions. What do you want your dog to know and be able to do? Which trainer can get you there? There are some very accomplished dog trainers out there who have earned much respect through their success in dog sports. Sometimes those trainers are only interested in working with high drive dogs who are geared towards success in dog sports or other working roles. There are many hobbyists out there, people who love dogs and can train a few simple concepts in a relatively uncomplicated dog but who will be unable to assist you with any real problem solving or growth past very basic skills. Look for a trainer whose own dogs demonstrate training that you find impressive because it looks reliable and represents skills that you would want to see in your own dog. A trainer should be able to either show you other dogs she has trained or provide you with testimonials. If you would like a personal reference, it should not be difficult to provide one. You have to be able to embrace the process the trainer plans to follow with your dog. Ask questions. Get education about tools and methods. If you cannot embrace the process, your dog will not get trained, it's that simple. You have to accept your responsibility in this process. Training is never just “done”. Will a runner always be ready to run a marathon because he trained hard and completed one? Was the training “done”? Do professional athletes do all of their training in college, get drafted to the big leagues, and then float along? Your dog will change over time just as we all do as we mature from one life stage to another. Find a trainer who can work with you throughout these changes but be ready to maintain your dog's obedience at home on a daily basis. If you don't approach training as a lifestyle, your dog's behavior will backslide regardless of how good your trainer was and the quality of the initial instruction. You are the glue who keeps it together.
Some questions to ask:
How would you describe your training approach? (Look for trainers who can train the dog in front of them rather than utilize a one size fits all approach.)
What kind of training equipment/corrections do you use?
Do you use food in training? If so, will you teach me how to eventually get past using it? Can you still work with my dog if he is not food motivated?
Can you help me get my dog off leash safely and reliably?
What kinds of problems have you helped your clients solve?
My dog is (fill in the blanks: reactive, barking all day, destroying my house, digging, guarding food, counter surfing, etc.). How will you help me work through this issue? (You should be able to expect an overview of the approach rather than a specific training plan until you start working with the trainer.)
What kind of work do you do with your own dogs? Tell me a bit about what they know and are able to do.
What should I expect my dog to know and be able to do after doing “x” program with you?
What is your background? How did you become a dog trainer? Is dog training your full time profession or a hobby? (You will see that some dog trainers carry “certifications” or membership affiliations after their names. There is no certification or licensing required to be a dog trainer. Consider checking into the requirements for some of these certifications and memberships. They are not all created equal.)
My vet said I should see a behaviorist. Are you a behaviorist? (Anyone can call himself a behaviorist. Your vet is probably thinking about a veterinary behaviorist, a veterinarian who has spent time studying animal behavior in more detail than your average vet. Be advised, many veterinary behaviorists will be pretty quick to reach for behavioral medications. You are likely to be taught a “nothing in life is free approach,” which is a good concept if there is a balanced approach but which can go south if there is no real accountability for the dog. A skilled dog trainer should be able to assist you with teaching standard obedience concepts in addition to handling “behavioral” issues.)