How to choose a trainer or a class for your adolescent dog, and when you need a veterinarian instead

You have decided you need help, which is a good decision. Then you search, and 20 websites all sound equally confident.

In most places nobody has to hold a qualification to call themselves a dog trainer. The title tells you almost nothing, so judge the method instead.

The one question that sorts most of it

Ask what happens when my dog gets it wrong. A good professional will answer plainly and in detail. Vagueness there is the answer.

Reward-based methods are what is recommended for training and behaviour change, and aversive methods carry welfare and behavioural risk. That is the line we hold, and it is not a stylistic preference.

Green flags

1. 1

   Reward-based, said plainly, and described the same way on the phone as on the website.

2. 2

   Will tell you exactly what happens when your dog gets it wrong.

3. 3

   Lets you observe a class before you bring your dog to one.

4. 4

   Small classes. 6 dogs with 1 instructor is a class, 14 is an audience.

5. 5

   Insured, and able to say so without being asked twice.

6. 6

   Happy to say a case is outside their scope, and willing to refer you on.

7. 7

   Sends you home with something that takes 5 minutes, not 45.

Red flags

1. 1

   A promised or guaranteed result, or a fixed number of sessions to a fixed outcome. Nobody can know that.

2. 2

   Balanced training used as a euphemism for prong or e-collar work.

3. 3

   Dominance, alpha or pack-leader language, or the idea that your adolescent dog is challenging you.

4. 4

   Refusing to say what they do to stop a behaviour, or changing the subject when you ask.

5. 5

   No observation allowed, and no explanation of why not.

A review of aversive training methods found them associated with worse welfare outcomes and with no training advantage over reward-based methods.

Dogs trained with aversive methods have been found to show more stress-related behaviour than dogs trained with rewards.

Punishment-based approaches are also associated with fear, avoidance and defensive aggression. That last one is why this matters more than method preference.

When you need a veterinarian, not a trainer

Some of this is not a training problem. Start with your veterinary practice, and ask for a referral to a veterinary behaviourist.

1. 1

   Aggression toward people or other dogs.

2. 2

   Any bite, however minor it looked.

3. 3

   Severe fear or anxiety, including panic when left alone.

4. 4

   Sudden unexplained behaviour change, because sudden behaviour change warrants a veterinary examination.

5. 5

   Anything that could be pain, because pain frequently presents as a change in behaviour rather than as obvious lameness.

What Halfgrown is, and is not

Halfgrown is written by an experienced dog owner, not by a qualified trainer or a veterinary professional. Everything factual here cites a published source, and you can read the citations.

A good local professional watching your actual dog, in your actual street, can see things we cannot. If you can afford 1 session, spend it on that.

Today's version, in one line: ring 1 trainer and ask what happens when my dog gets it wrong, then judge the answer.