What Do Dog Trainers Do Exactly?

Have you ever wondered what dog trainers do exactly? Why they charge so much, and why many don't guarantee results? In this article, you will discover the answer to these three questions to help demystify the dog training industry, and to help you make smart decisions when hiring a dog trainer for your unique situation.

What Do Dog Trainers Do?

Dog trainers are similar to personal trainers. As professionals, their main goal is to coach and motivate clients to develop new healthy, daily habits and break less desirable routines that are counterintuitive to achieving goals.

Like personal trainers, dog trainers create training plans that are tailored to the specific dog and they give weekly homework, which should be practised five days a week. A dog is not going to learn new habits if they only practice them once a week or once every two weeks for an hour with their dog trainer. Just like humans don't develop new habits in a day, dogs don't either. Dog owners need to consistently practice new skills with their dogs before they can become a well-engrained, reliable habit.

In addition to homework, ethical dog trainers should spend time educating their clients on their dog's breed and how dogs express their intentions through both verbal and non-verbal body language. Dogs expertly use their bodies every single day to negotiate their environment and to tell others that they either need more space or less space. If dog owners are unaware of these signals, bites can happen and dog training can be less effective.

Why Do Dog Trainers Cost So Much?

While dog training is not a regulated industry, it is a profession. Certified dog trainers are required to adhere to codes of conduct. And this includes keeping detailed records of interactions with their clients and their dogs. This means that after every session a certified dog trainer is doing two things: 1) writing a record of the dog's and human's successes and struggles, and 2) writing detailed homework notes for their clients. So while a dog trainer is having a one to two hour consult in-person with you, they are spending extra time after the session ensuring their paperwork is in order.

Certified dog trainers are also charging more because of their level of qualifications and education. Certified dog trainers have specialized education. They aren't unqualified social media influencers. Instead, they have invested thousands (and thousands) of dollars on their education, and they continue to show commitment to this industry by participating in continuing education courses, programs and conferences.

In addition, if a dog trainer offers private sessions wherein they come to your house to work with you, they are giving you 1) tailored advice that is specific to your dog and unique living situation (which makes training more effective), and 2) they are travelling to your house to provide a service versus you travelling to a training facility.

Active clients also have the benefit of being able to contact their dog trainer for support in-between sessions either by phone, email or text. Stuck on a specific step? Need a pep talk and some emotional support? Your trainer is here to help you. And that help does take time!

Dog trainers know that their services are expensive. This is why they don't expect you to pay for such prices without getting to know them a little better. This is why dog trainers often offer FREE 30-minute phone calls to ensure that you and the trainer will be a good fit.

Why Don't Dog Trainers Guarantee Results?

There are several different reasons why ethical dog trainers do not guarantee results. Here are some of them:

1) Certified dog trainers are bound by the codes of ethics and conduct of their certifying organizations. Their certifying bodies stipulate that they CANNOT guarantee results. If the certifying body finds out one of their trainers have been guaranteeing results, the dog trainer could lose their certification. It's a big deal. This leads us naturally to point number two.

2) Animal behaviour is highly complex. A dog's health, age, stage of development, stress and arousal levels, and genetics all play a role in how a dog will process and respond to new information. A dog who is in pain will find it challenging to learn new information. Imagine trying to learn a new skill if you had a rash on your body that was super itchy and you just wanted to scratch it all the time. Or you constantly had ear infections that made it hard for you to be at your best? Or if you were genetically hardwired to act in a certain way, but all of a sudden, you're being told that genetically hardwired action is not wanted and needs to stop? The truth is, if a dog is genetically hardwired to chase wildlife, training them to stop chasing wildlife will be a time-consuming struggle. It's possible to modify the behaviour, up to a point, but that point will be different for each individual dog.

3) Dog trainers cannot control what dog owners decide to do in their own homes. They might offer recommendations, and explain why they are offering these recommendations, but it is ultimately up to the dog owner to determine what to do. If the owner cannot commit to following through with certain recommendations, dog trainers cannot control that outcome.

Conclusion

As you can see, certified dog trainers are coaches. They are motivators. They are knowledge givers. They are also homework givers. They want to see their clients' and their dogs understand one another and become a strong, well-adjusted team.

About the Author

Kate Hendriks is a certified dog trainer and certified family dog mediator who lives in London, Ontario with her former rez dog, Millie. She is passionate about animal welfare and force-free methods. Her main area of focus is reactivity, building essential life skills and managing prey drive in gun dog breeds.