WHY HIRE A TRAINER WHEN YOU CAN READ A BOOK?

Dog training is as much art as science.  Granted, the science aspect to dog training is proven and necessary.  It provides an understanding of learning, theory, and principles, as well as how to apply them to get a desired specific behavior from a dog.  However, dogs are living, thinking, and intelligent creatures with their own unique personalities.  They don’t fall easily into a single formula. When we add another critical component to the dog’s list of challenges for us, that being the particular family it lives with, you can see how some cookie-cutter “puppy owners manual” can get very complicated quite fast.  Just as your dog is unique and different, with his own special needs and quirks and personality traits, so is each member of the family he lives with.  The key is being able to bring everyone together, as much as possible, so life with each other will be enjoyable and everyone’s needs are met.

 

Most professional dog trainers have not simply read one book on how to train a dog.  They more than likely own and have read – or should have read – hundreds. Even more important, it’s not the knowledge of the science of dog training they can offer you and your pet.  It is also the ART of training.  They know when and how far to push the dog forward, and when to back off and let certain things slide.  They know the best approaches and techniques for getting the intended message to the puppy or dog. They also know if a particular training method is not working when to abandon that one and try something different. This skill does not come from reading a book or surfing the Internet.  It comes from hands-on work with dogs.  Not just a few dogs, but hundreds.

 

Excellent dog skills and abilities are not the only ones required by professional trainers. Dog trainers also need people skills, which are developed from working with the thousands of family members that come with all those dogs.  Sometimes the hardest part of a trainer’s job is not in the training of the dog, but in the training of the owners, so it is not enough for a dog trainer to just think that he or she is going to work with animals. That is only half the job! When you hire a dog trainer, it is not so you can have someone that will recite quotes to you from a book that you are perfectly capable of reading.  In essence, you are really hiring a coach.  You are enlisting the help of someone that will meet with you and your pup, and listen to your specific goals for your dog in his role as a member of your family.  You will be able to discuss what may or may not be frustrating to you.  A trainer is someone who, unlike a book, will be able to recommend and develop a training program tailored to your pet, and provide feedback and guidance that will help you reach the goals that you have set.

Private Lessons versus Group Classes

Dog owners frequently ask which is better – private lessons or group classes?  The short answer is this: What are your priorities for your dog? If you will be happy just to have your dog know enough to listen to some basic commands and behave in the public, then a group class is by far the most economical way to train your dog. If your goal is to socialize a puppy with other dogs in a safe environment, or your dog understands the basics (come, sit, down, walk on a leash, stay) then a group class is the opportunity to add distractions in a controlled environment.

On the other hand, if your non-dog-owning (or loving!) relatives are coming to visit and your adolescent pup is totally out of control in the house, then perhaps a private in-home class is a better investment. If you are frustrated with a new puppy, but he is still too young for puppy class, then a home visit is probably in order. If your dog is so distracted by the presence of other dogs, and you are too frustrated with him to get anything out of the class, this would also be a reason to consider private lessons.

Private lessons can be done in your home or at a training facility. While more expensive than group classes, I find private lessons usually require fewer visits since you are essentially buying all of the trainer’s time to be devoted just to you and your dog. Instead of dividing their attention between six and 10 teams of dogs with their owners, the trainer can focus strictly on you and your dog for the entire lesson.