Choosing a Quality Dog Trainer: Tips from Spence Canine Academy

Hey, I’m Sarah. I’m a professional dog trainer (currently running my own business), and after running this business for almost 4 years now, I feel like I need to make this post. For those of you out there with dogs that may need training or have invested in a trainer previously and possibly have no interest in hiring another one after the first experience, I’d like to share some information on how to choose the right trainer for you and your dog.

The dog training world is really overwhelming, even for me, because there are so many different methods trainers use. There are different styles within each method, and there’s a lot of bias between methods. It’s hard to know what’s what, so I really do hope that this is able to reach some people and help guide y’all to some quality dog trainers.

I’ve broken this up into the main factors that I find important when searching for a trainer so that it makes it easier to take this process step by step.

• Where the trainer works: Do they work for a local/small business or a larger corporation?

• What your dog needs to learn: What do you want your dog to be able to do? Or, what would you like your dog to stop doing?

• The trainer’s background and education

• Training methods used

• Cost

• Ethics/Morals

Where a Trainer is Employed

This is a factor that I think the general public needs more education on when it comes to picking a quality trainer. From a dog owner’s perspective, there seems to be a misunderstanding that all dog trainers are the same or that all trainers within certain methods are the same. This could not be farther from the truth. Some trainers are employed by large corporations or national chains and are required to train a specific way according to that company. I personally find this highly unethical, which I will get into later in this post.

There’s an entire group of dog trainers that I forgot existed for a second because I don’t necessarily consider them as “real” trainers. I know that sounds terrible, but I say this because these people are required to complete a total of 90 hours of training in order to be considered a dog trainer. That’s it. (For reference, I spent upwards of 2 full years gaining a formal education in dog training. One of the programs I did was 6 months long, M-F 8-5, which is approximately 960 hours, not including time spent on homework and working dogs outside of school hours. In addition to that, I still participate in conferences, webinars, and hands-on training seminars to build new skills.) Now, I know A LOT of people use these places for training, and I promise you I pass no judgement if you choose to take your dogs here or have in the past. For what they offer, it’s not terrible training. Your dog can in fact learn the basics, but they can also learn the very bad habit of only listening in low-distraction environments when there is a treat involved. Some people are happy with that. But a lot of clients I have gained that previously went to these places were not. These are your big-box store trainers. No, I will not name them.

The next group of trainers that make me cringe a little are the ones that work at national franchises. There are a handful of different ones, but they’re all relatively similar. These are not terrible trainers; some of them actually are pretty good and have a background in training from elsewhere or end up leaving these places to pursue bigger things in training. But the biggest reason why I urge you to be cautious with training from them is because it’s cookie-cutter training. By that, I mean each dog is trained in the same way because that is what the company requires. The trainers that work for these companies are sent away for 2-3 weeks to learn the company’s training programs and how to implement them. I’m sure they do learn about some dog behavior (at least I really hope so), but for the most part, they are learning how to train dogs exactly how the company requires and are not hugely supportive of straying outside of that.

Of those two groups, the common denominator there is the fact that these trainers all work for large companies. The issue with that comes down to the incentive for training. Why are these companies offering training? And the answer is…to make money and to make it as quickly as they can. That’s why with some of these companies, you see a lot being promised in a very short amount of time. Not saying it can’t be done; it can, but it’s at the expense of your dog. Faster training does not equal better training.

This is why I would strongly encourage you to look for dog trainers that work for a small or locally owned business. That should be your starting point when looking for the right trainer. Research some local trainers, and THEN use the factors I mention after this to make a decision on which one you want to use. Dog trainers that work for a small business have much more freedom to be flexible on their training with each individual dog’s needs, and they generally care more about your dog’s success than the money they are getting from doing the training. And please know that I say this in reference to the companies, not the actual trainers themselves. These trainers do care, but typically are not even knowledgeable enough to know that a lot of what they do may not be ethical. It takes having experience and education from multiple places to gain that awareness.

Training Goals for Your Dog

This one is pretty simple, so I’ll leave a list of questions to ask yourself.

• What do I want to accomplish with a trainer? What would I like for my dog to be able to do after completing a training program? Are these goals realistic for my dog?

• Does my dog have a behavioral issue or is he/she just struggling with overall structure/obedience?

• Do I have a young puppy I want to start off right to help prevent behavioral or obedience issues in the future?

• Do I have the time, skills, and patience to work on training myself through the guidance of a trainer?

• Would I prefer a trainer to handle most of the training and just educate me on how to keep up with it afterwards?

• Does my dog’s breed require additional training or attention in order for my dog to thrive?

Trainer’s Qualifications/Education

I’m going to put this one in all caps and probably repeat it a few times. NOT ALL TRAINERS ARE THE SAME. DO NOT PICK A TRAINER BASED OFF OF THEIR PRICES. You should be considering their price point in comparison to:

• If they have a formal education and where that education came from. Not all schools are the same, and there are quite a few online programs that sound all fancy, but don’t require hands-on experience, or if they do, they allow the student to pick a trainer at random for the hands-on experience portion.

  • There aren’t regulations on who can or cannot be a dog trainer, and there’s no legal requirement to have a certification to be a trainer. So yes, that does mean that any human being can wake up one day and decide they are going to be a dog trainer.

  • 15+ years of experience alone does not make one trainer better than another one with fewer years of experience. If you see trainers that constantly advertise how many years of experience they have in every post, it’s probably because that is all they have to offer you. I urge you not to be blinded by a number.

• Are they involved in continuing education, are they “self-taught,” or do they only have experience working under one other trainer?

  • A trainer that is not trying to improve their methods and constantly aiming to be a better trainer is probably not a trainer you want to choose. There are a lot of trainers out there that will only train one way and do not have any interest in growth in their own methods.

• If this trainer has extensive knowledge of animal behavior. Dogs communicate extensively through body language, and they pay a lot of attention to human body language and tone as well. A trainer that struggles to properly read your dog’s body language could do some extensive damage to your dog’s training and future behavior.

  • I’m not talking about animal behaviorists when I’m talking about this. There is a special class of people that are animal behaviorists. They are veterinarians with an extra specialty in behavior or people with a Ph.D. in animal behavior. If you look into actual research on the behaviorists, you’ll see that they are highly medication-based and they don’t ever actually step out of their office with your dog. They don’t work with your dog; they just evaluate and prescribe. So if you’re just looking to mask your dog’s issues and sedate them enough to tolerate them, then this is the option for you. I find it more ethical to treat the actual issue and solve it rather than exclusively medicate it.

Training Methods Used by Trainer

This is a lot more important than you think. Training method, philosophy, type, etc., are generally what a trainer uses to identify how they train or market themselves to potential clients.

Some key red flags you want to watch out for when looking at methods are:

• A trainer that tries to put down other training methods or tools as their selling point. You see this a lot with trainers that claim to be “purely positive,” “force-free,” or “fear-free.” They are using fear-mongering to draw you in. I will be going into much more depth about these types of trainers another day.

• Trainers that teach owners that asserting dominance is how to gain control over a dog, and that every little thing your dog does is an attempt at being dominant towards you.

• Ex-military K9 trainers. (Y’all don’t come at me for this one.) I am all for supporting veterans, BUT you need to be very aware of this trainer’s background. Do they train how they learned from the military or have they gotten additional dog training education and experience from elsewhere? A lot of trainers that originally start as a military K9 handlers were taught using highly compulsive training methods, which is not the type of training you want for a pet dog. Compulsion is much more common in working breeds, and most of those dogs are bred to have the right temperament for that type of training. Your average pet dog is not going to have those traits.

• Compulsion. This one is harder to recognize because most trainers are not going to use this word when describing their training methods. And compulsion is somewhat flexible. You see this the most in ex-military/police trainers, nationwide trainers that have chains everywhere, NePoPo, etc. Again, if you have a working dog that you are training specifically for sport, this may be the type of training you do want, but generally, this is not going to be as successful for a pet because it’s more forceful training and much more successful with a very well-bred dog from working breed lines that also has the right temperament for it. The majority of pet dogs do not have these traits. Yes, I know I repeated myself, but you have no clue how many pet dogs I get for training who have zero confidence and have previously been trained by someone that uses a collar at a level between 90-100 as a baseline level. (Most dogs I do ecollar training with respond to a baseline level of 6-8)

• Trainers that automatically start with some sort of training collar, whether that be a prong collar, E-collar, choke chain, martingale, etc. There is nothing wrong with these collars, but these shouldn’t be used as the training itself if you have not specifically asked for this upfront, or your trainer has not evaluated your dog and discussed with you the best starting point as well as already worked on a foundation with your dog prior to this.

Some green flags you want to look for in a trainer/their methods:

• A trainer that has a strong knowledge of several different training methods and understands how each works in order to recommend the best training for you and your dog.

• A trainer that is flexible with their training and does not automatically try and train each dog the same way. Essentially, a trainer that does not conform to one specific training method. A trainer that utilizes the best training method for each dog based on the dog’s need and owner’s goals is going to be a much better trainer than one that adheres strictly to one method.

• Relationship-based training. Overall, our job as dog trainers is to better the relationship between you and your dog. If you find one that wants this and checks some of the other criteria I mentioned, then you are probably in the right place.

• A trainer with humility. A good trainer is not going to BS you. They will tell you what they are or are not capable of. You want to have a confident trainer, but you probably don’t want a trainer that is so beyond confident that it’s off-putting.

Price

For the most part, you get what you pay for. A quality trainer is going to cost you about $80-150/hour for private lessons, and anywhere from $2000-5000 for a board & train. This is because you are paying for quality education and experience. Like I said earlier, don’t pick a trainer based solely off of their pricing. If your goal is to spend as little as you can on training, you’re much more likely to end up wasting that money on a trainer that isn’t worth your time and may or may not make your dog’s issues worse. Behavior problems are much easier to prevent than they are to fix, and prevention begins with quality training.

Ethics

Is a trainer ethical? This is a very heavy question. My personal beliefs are that big corporations or large franchises do not have a dog’s wellbeing in mind. Places that train dogs exactly the same or all dogs very similarly, are not thinking about the wellbeing of the dog. All dogs are different, just like all people are different, and dogs have different personalities and training needs. Therefore, training in this way can be extremely detrimental for some dogs. Each and every dog needs to be trained in a way that is suitable for that dog. It may take some trial and error to figure it out, but in order to do that you need to pick a trainer that has the skillset to do exactly that.

A big part of me hates writing this post because I really don’t want to increase the controversy between trainers. There are already so many politics in dog training, and it has created such a divide in the dog training world. We all as trainers should have one goal in mind, and that should be to help dogs. So many dogs are getting surrendered to shelters or euthanized daily due to several reasons, but one of those reasons is because it’s so difficult to figure out which trainer to use because of how much we all differ. There’s no good reason for that. So my message to any other trainers out there is to re-evaluate what you stand for as a trainer and genuinely ask yourself if what you are doing is benefitting the dog, your pocket, or your own personal values. If any trainers out there need guidance, I am here to help.

To my dog owners, the absolute best thing you can do is take your dog’s training seriously. Ask potential trainers the hard questions and find a trainer that lines up with what you want to accomplish with your dog. You should want to have a conversation and ask questions prior to setting up a lesson or board and train. I’m not saying that word of mouth doesn’t go a long way, but you should still be asking questions to determine if a trainer may be a good fit for your dog specifically. Check out their social media and website and see what all they do, and then reach out to this trainer and ask questions about things you saw. Having a conversation with a trainer is the easiest way to get a feel for their personality and to see if this trainer may be a good fit for you and your dog.

Thanks for reading, I hope this helped!