Notice: Fee Changes Jan. 2025
PSA!!!!! Fur all the dog people
So many dog trainers, how do I choose? There has been an influx of dog trainers into the valley. How do you know which one is right for you? One major problem with the dog training industry is it is an unregulated field. This means if you decide to become a dog trainer, you can. With no education, regardless if you have ever even touched a dog. There is nothing stopping you from simply watching a YouTube video and thus claiming you’re a pro. So how do you find a dog trainer that is actually educated in canine behavior, learning theory, canine psychology and ethology? Ask questions and do some research. Do you see any certifications, professional memberships, continued education and client testimonies? If you start working with them, is what they are telling you making sense? Are they using their brain or just pain, intimidation and force? Are they training your dog or making your dog? Is the relationship built on mutual trust or one-sided road? These are great questions to ask yourself.
The things you and your dog are learning from a professional should make sense and if it doesn’t, they should happily explain or break down the process for you. When a professional trainer works with your dog it should also include working with you. Generalizing behaviors doesn’t come easy and you will also need to know how to address anything that comes up when the trainer is not present. Dogs are man’s best friends; we love them for who they are. Training should not include completely shutting down all of your dogs’ natural behaviors and individual personality but rather fine-tuning a few things for a more compatible human-canine bond built on mutual trust and understanding. “As a dog trainer my job is to teach the dog and human how and what to do to reach their behavior goals. I want to teach the dog what to do with their brain, making the neuron pathways strong for the behavior I am teaching. I’m a dog trainer not a dog forcer. I don’t make the dog, I train the dog. With force I couldn’t get reliable behaviors due to the fact the dog hasn’t actually learned the new behavior but instead has just been made to do it. What will happen when the owner isn’t present, and the dog must decide what to do on its own? The dog isn’t likely to make a decision based off force because the force isn’t present. If they haven’t been taught what to do, they can’t make a decision based off learning either, so their decision will likely be made off of impulses.” Says Tiffany Mason, owner and master certified trainer at Terric Canines Dog Training.
“What about all those treats?” “Aren’t you just bribing the dog?” Common things positive dog trainers hear. While teaching we are building a bond and building confidence in the dog. When using force or fear methods we do not create a stable learning environment. Unstable, aggressive, forceful leaders cause distress and the root to most behavior problems dog owners have, are caused by fear, stress and anxiety in the dog. We can train large predators without the use of pain and force, why should we have to resort to these methods on our best friends? Force free training isn’t bribing your dog with treats, it’s teaching your dog what to do without using force or inflicting pain. When training a dog, we are teaching them behaviors using a systematic process. Here at Terric Canines, we use force free and pain free training by first showing the dog how to do the behavior by getting them to target something like a treat or other reward, this is called luring. Once that behavior is reliable, we have them do it without showing them the reward (often a treat), this is called fading the lure. The dog will still get the reward at completion of behavior they will just not be shown the reward in order to get the behavior (hence not bribing). While fading the reward we also create a hand signal then condition the word or cues to the behavior we are creating. Once the behavior is consistent using that technique, we can add in life rewards (things other than food rewards) and occasional food reinforcement. Keeping the reward varied and on a random reinforcement schedule keeps things exciting. Operant conditioning shows that behaviors are strengthened when rewarded. If you take out all rewards in training eventually the performance will diminish. “Well, I want my dog to do what I say because I’m the boss.” Would you keep going to work if they quit paying you? We want the training to be enjoyable and effective for both the human and the dog. Using treats helps the dog learn faster but we don’t show the treat to them to get the behavior once its known, this would be bribing (see this treat, now do the behavior for it). In the case of sitting for example, if the dog is sitting with a treat, it’s easier to fade the treat out than to fade the force of pushing their butt to the ground with your hand. Hence, force free methods are more reliable.
Humane treatment of animals while training is crucial. We don’t need to use unnecessary discomfort or evoke distress because of old school thinking. In the example of prong collars and choke chains (also known as aversive collars) the dog can still effectively pull and get to whatever it is their pulling towards. Keeping the function of pulling (getting closer) still effective. These collars don’t stop the dog from pulling and they add pain and discomfort. Depending on the distraction they are pulling to, the reward of getting there might be worth the temporary pain. Another common problem seen with these methods of training is the negative association the dog can get from whatever they were focused on when they received the pain. If pulling towards another dog while on an aversive collar, the dog may associate the pain with the other dog and not with pulling and in turn create leash aggression towards other dogs in the future. There is also the problem of shutting the dog down, it may seem effective at first, but the stress and anxiety are still present the dog just learns not to react momentarily. Once those bottled-up feelings reach the top, they come out even worse than the original intensity and even without warning signals (since warning behaviors like growling have also been punished and turned off).
Dogs end up at the shelter for behavioral problems all the time. Many could have been completely avoided provided proper training with a force-free trainer instead of a non-professional using outdated training methods from the dark age. Terric Canines has a program called ‘Ditch the Prong and Carry On.’ This program offers an account credit for giving them your aversive collar (choke chain/prong collar). This credit can be used for any product or service! People don’t know what they don’t know, and dogs just do what works for them. With education and proper instruction, we can create a canine-human bond built on trust and compatibility and keep our dogs out of the shelters and in their fur-ever homes.
The influx of trainers in the valley is also a great thing. There are enough dogs for everyone and in fact there are TOO MANY for all of us to save and help. While some dog ‘professionals’ can do more harm than good in the case of your dog, education is key to making the right decision for what is in you and your pets best interest. The more dog trainers with continued and current education the better for the dog world and industry. If we get the entire K9 community together, we will make a bigger difference than one person can do on their own. Let’s connect with one another to help build the world up, not down. Flathead K9 Klub is looking to do just that. Consider joining a community that has the same passion as you. Really there is no competition in the dog world since there are too many dogs, we simply cannot save them all. But that won’t stop us from trying, one paw at a time.