17 Srp Part 1 – How to find, recognize and keep a good dog trainer – Before you contact the trainer

If you ever have been or are currently looking for a trainer to help you with your dog, you’ve probably realized there are plenty out there. The internet is literally full of people saying they are dog trainers who are willing and able to work with you. That’s great! Well, most of the time…

You see, the unfortunate truth is that not everyone out there has what it takes to be a trainer, to help other handlers, to take their money and really give back some value. Some are downright scammers (fortunately, a rare exception) and others just don’t have the necessary skills to be really helpful to you. 

Most of them are people who are qualified and genuinely want to help, but the problem is telling the two apart. How is a newbie, someone who has their first dog or who maybe wants to dive into dog sports the first time, supposed to do this? They are enthusiastic, they can’t wait to begin and they have no clue what it’s all about. How do they tell if a trainer is a good one… or if they had the rotten luck of coming across a bad one?

In this series, I will break down everything that’s important in a good dog trainer. If you use this information, I doubt any subpar trainer will slip through your net. You will rest assured you are in good hands, and on your way to successful results. If you work hard and stay mindful, of course. And if you are a dog trainer yourself, this article will offer you some helpful tips on how to improve.

You should start thinking about what you want in a dog trainer before you ever meet for your first session. Checking someone out online can of course never compare to meeting them in person, but here are some things to consider as you research.

• Recommendation. This is by far the best way to find a good dog trainer. Is anyone you trust –  a friend, family member, colleague – working with a trainer? Are they satisfied? You better get that contact info and try them out yourself. 

Most of my new offline clients actually came to me by recommendation from my satisfied existing clients. I personally would only resort to looking for a trainer online if I really had nobody who could recommend someone to me. 

The only caveat here is: that the person who is recommending their trainer to you should be at least somewhat knowledgeable. If they are still a beginner, they might not be able to recognize a truly qualified trainer. 

Not bashing on beginners, mind you! I’ve just personally witnessed how long it can take an inexperienced handler to recognize a trainer’s incompetence, and I don’t want you to get stuck with a less-than-knowledgeable teacher.

• Results and accomplishments. Your trainer should have already accomplished what you want to accomplish. Otherwise, it will be difficult for him to guide you. 

This doesn’t mean he has to be in the top ten at the last FCI world championship. But if your goal is to compete someday, your trainer should have experience with that. If you want to get an IGP 3 title, a trainer who has ever only gotten an entry-level title just isn’t going to cut it, no matter how good of a trainer he is. 

Unfortunately, the best of the best often aren’t good teachers. But some level of expertise is definitely required, and this expertise should be compatible with your goals. When you see your trainer’s accomplishments, you should think, “Yes, that’s what I want! This aligns with what I envision I want to accomplish with my dog”. 

• Clients’ results and accomplishments. Every good trainer is proud of his clients’ accomplishments. I cherish every title, every advancement, every success of my clients, and I like to show off what they were able to do with a little bit of my help. 

So one of the things I recommend you look at is the results of clients of your potential new trainer.

Not having them published on their website isn’t necessarily a bad sign; it might be because of privacy concerns. If everything else seems to be in order, ask for them when you contact him later. The trainer should be able to provide them, and more importantly, you should feel that he is truly proud of them. 

I love telling stories about how former couch potato dogs and first-time handlers got their first titles. Or how I helped turn around a supposedly ruined dog and helped his handler rekindle their competition career. 

The results of their clients should be near and dear to the heart of every good trainer. Use this as a sign you are on to someone good.

• Education and qualifications. Now, this is a tricky one. It’s difficult to trust education or any kind of qualification in the dog training world as there are really no official standards.

Any kind of official education (like a school or even a college degree in etiology or even cynology) might have a nice ring to it. But the reality is, with dog training evolving rapidly in the last 30 years, it will probably be hopelessly outdated and mostly obsolete for modern-day dog training. 

Dog trainers nowadays have to educate themselves through seminars, webinars, ebooks, or video courses from other top-notch dog trainers. But even this isn’t as straightforward as it might seem.

You could have a trainer attending a new seminar every month who is unable to pull valuable information for himself and his clients from it. And you could have one who has been to a few key seminars and is staying on top of things by actively working their dogs and competing for example. 

So what’s my advice here? Don’t really look for certifications, how many seminars the trainer has attended, or what kind of education he has. Those are fine, but the most important thing is this: your trainer should be the kind of guy who is actively interested in educating himself. 

I always say that if a trainer does things exactly the same way he did three years ago, he’s a bad trainer. Three years is a long time in dog training, and methods are constantly evolving. If you do decide to contact him, try asking a few questions about his qualifications and how he educates himself. And try to get a feel for what his attitude is towards self-education. That’s the most reliable and telling sign.

There you have it – a few points to help you weed out unqualified trainers in the early stages of your research. If a trainer passes these initial tests (or at least doesn’t totally fail), it’s time to contact them. 

We will cover your initial questions and talking points in the next article. Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall into the hands of an incompetent trainer. Just help me out a bit by being mindful, even when you’re just browsing trainer websites online.