General Questions (Click to Expand)
It is such an important decision to hire a dog trainer! Whether you choose my business or somebody else, here are a few critical points:
- Anybody can become a dog trainer. There are no industry standards or certification requirements.
- Only a very small percentage of dog trainers have formal education. Research the school from where they graduated.
- Ask the dog trainers to show a video of them working with their dogs. Watch the body language to ensure the dog is happy.
- CGC Canine Evaluator badge does not imply an ability to do behavior modification. It is an AKC program for very basic obedience skills.
- Ask the dog trainers what continued education they have done?
- What tools do they use?
- Because there is no formal certification, fees can vary vastly from business to business. Most expensive does not mean the best. It is also not a good idea to choose the cheapest options. Some trainers, such as myself, have to build in continued education to stay well informed and provide the most knowledgeable service.
A common mistake is to confuse Positive with Permissive. I do believe in house rules and upholding dogs to a certain level of expectations. The difference is in which road to take to achieve it. We prefer the one avoiding unnessesary conflict and coercion.
It is a misconception that training takes a long time. It is best to have 5-10 three-minute sessions a day. The session can also broken up into 30-second increments. The success depends on the quality of the training plan, timing of your feedback to the dog and your observation skills. As the Karen Pryor Academy graduate, I studied the Learning Theory (how canines and other species learn based on years of scientific research) quite extensively. I will teach you how to create a successful training plan. It sounds complicated, but it is not and should not require much preparation. We will simply take the goal behavior and break it down into manageable parts that are easy for the dog to understand.
Knowing when the dog is relaxed, happy, nervous or anxious is very important to the success of training. When we were in school, we absorbed information the best when we were rested and relaxed. The same with dogs. Sometimes, dogs' body language is very subtle and easy to miss. I will be glad to share my knowledge with you. For example, did you know that if in the middle of your training session your dog starts yawning it does not mean he is tired or sleepy? It may mean that he is becoming stressed.
A truly motivated dog will learn faster and work harder. Another misconception about positive training is that it relies on food all the time and every behavior is always rewarded. Not true at all. Once the behavior is performed reliably and without errors, we have a proven system of how to fade out the need for reinforcement. Additionally, the reinforcer does not have to be food.
Dominance is defined as a relationship between individual animals that is established by force/aggression and submission, to determine who has priority access to multiple resources such as food, preferred resting spots, and mates (Bernstein 1981; Drews 1993). Resources are not the main focus of our relationship with our dogs. In reality, many undesired behaviors are a result of being inadvertently rewarded. For instance, barking at the postal service employees is rewarded by them walking away. Some behaviors are self-rewarding and require more of the trainer's focus (ex., running in circles around the house - that is fun in itself). Have you heard of alpha-rolls? Advanced studies of wolves show that: "In a pack of wolves, higher-ranking wolves do not roll lower-ranking wolves on their backs. Rather, lower-ranking wolves show their subordinate status by offering to roll on their backs". There is a dramatic difference from what we have been taught before.