Trained Dogs Rock
Choosing a Dog Obedience Instructor
There are many important steps to choosing a great dog obedience trainer. You certainly want to make sure you get it right from the start, as this is a person who will have a profound influence on the future life of your dog. You also want to make sure you find a dog trainer that both you and your dog will feel very comfortable with, so that the process of teaching obedience or learning how to train your dog will be all the more effective and powerful. Today, anybody can call himself or herself a dog trainer, so it helps to have a system in place that will allow you to choose the best one possible.
Step-By-Step Method for Choosing the Best Dog Trainer
The first step in choosing a dog trainer is to find out their level of experience. You certainly don’t want your dog in the hands of an inexperienced instructor. Sure, everyone has to start somewhere, but inexperienced dog trainers should really start by doing volunteering work. In fact, a large number of trainers are going out of business in as little as three to four years due to ineffectively running their business operations, and lack of experience in training all dispositions and temperaments.
Now that you have ensured that your dog trainer is truly a professional and not merely a hobbyist who took an online course at some point, you should check out whether they are licensed to do business by their city or state. You should also check whether your prospect of dog trainer has any special certifications by established organizations, as that can be a good way of gauging their skill level. Dog trainers who truly put attention to these matters are usually very passionate about what they do and will do a great job in training your dog.
Choosing the Ideal Dog Training Method
The most popular method employed by the greatest number of dog trainers is operant conditioning or positive reward method.
Briefly, this method is used to reinforce the correct behaviors of your dog by giving them a reward anytime they perform the required task correctly. Operant conditioning is suitable and preferred for young puppies or adult dogs. It is also the most humane and can be used for any training situation.
Two other methods are more aggressive. Please understand we do not advocate or endorse either of these methods. One is known as the choke collar or forced training method. In this technique, the choke collar of the dog is jerked and released in the right way, in order to correct various behavior patterns. This can also be accompanied by adding distractions to strengthen the effect.
The second is a more extreme method of training involves the use of a shock collar, which can immediately cause changes in the dog’s behavior, as it affects their entire nervous system. This technique must be used very wisely, as there is a risk of all sorts of problems, not to mention absolute confusion to your dog to the point of cruelty if it is not done correctly.
A reliable trainer will always let you know the pros and cons of each techniques used.
