Do I Need A Dog Trainer?

Did you know dog trainers refer to a particular time of the year as "dog training season?"

Dog training season, or "puppy season," as it is sometimes called, occurs in the Spring, about two to four months after Christmas. It coincides with all the Christmas-gifted puppies coming to the age where they long for stimulation and engagement. Potty training becomes important as those little bladders start getting bigger. Chewing, nipping, and barking are becoming annoyances for their humans.

It is all hands on deck for your local dog trainers during this time of year. Hopefully, the sweet person who gifted the puppy also gave a gift card for some one-on-one classes with a positive reinforcement trainer. If they did, that is how you know someone really loves you!

Training classes typically stay booked heavily throughout the Summer months, but by Fall, training often competes with other life routines such as the start of school, football season, and Christmas shopping. A lack of time and the rising cost of living cause dog owners to seriously consider whether they should invest in training their furry companions.

Owners of new puppies and newly adopted dogs often ask, "Do I really need a trainer?"

As a trainer, I can say without a doubt that anyone who brings a new dog into their lives would benefit from training classes that include the dog, the trainer, the dog's owner, and some human and canine classmates.

Training has the obvious benefit of teaching the dog obedience skills, but there are hidden benefits, too. Training causes the owner and the dog to get to know each other, bond, and learn to observe and communicate. Any skillful trainer will tell you that training is as much for the human as it is for their dog.

Even if a person has had dogs before and knows how training a dog works, there are a few things they cannot get at home without taking some group classes. Most importantly (not really), they would miss out on their trainer's witty, thought-provoking anecdotes. Even if your trainer is not funny or at least entertaining, you will get the eye of a knowledgeable guide to explain the details and nuances of communicating with your pet. Often, the differences in success and difficulties have to do with the little things a trainer can point out. Also, socialization in a new environment with strangers and other dogs can be a rewarding and enriching experience for a new dog, particularly a young puppy or an adopted shelter dog. As the dog gets used to being rewarded with treats and attention when strangers and other dogs are nearby, they become less anxious and usually come to enjoy an environment that otherwise may be stressful.

Recently, I was reading the posts on a popular online discussion board where the question, "Do I need a dog trainer?" was asked. Reading the comments from one dog owner to another was enlightening. Here are a few.

Wevegotogo: "I think training is 100% worth it. I paid (three times more than Awesome Dog Academy charges) for six sessions with a positive reinforcement trainer. It's really helped her reactivity, a lot of what we go over is available online, but having someone coach us and give real-time feedback is really valuable. My trainer also has a dog my reactive dog has been able to meet and walk with, which is great. I think a few sessions would be super valuable for you."

Retrovert18: "I've been training and competing with my dogs for over 2 decades and I still go to classes. Having an educated second set of eyes is priceless in dog training. Find a good school in your area, with good reviews and not a chain like Petco or petsmart. Good luck!"

Anonymous: "German/Dutch Shepherds are serious dogs: with proper training they are awesome, with bad training they are terrible and/or dangerous. You see a ton of 6-9 month old GSDs in shelters because that's when they start to exhibit problematic behavior and get to be too much to handle. … If you use a good force-free trainer, the worst thing that happens is you spend a bit of money. If you screw up training in this formative period (lots of people do, I probably would) you could end up with a reactive 75 lb dog."

I could not have made these comments any more accurate than if I had made them up myself (which I did not).

Thornreserve: "I would recommend group classes for every puppy. You would be surprised how much obedience training they forget in a distracting environment with other dogs, so it's great for really reinforcing your training. Also it's good for dogs to hang out with other dogs where they're not always interacting and playing. It helps them ignore other dogs better when they need to. Plus, a good trainer will point out things you're missing and teach you about your specific dog's body language in a way that videos and books can't."

While these posters sound just like my students, you can (and you should) visit Awesome Dog Academy's Facebook and Google Reviews pages to see reviews and comments about our training courses and trainers.

Imagine for a minute the difficulties involved in having someone come to live with you from another part of the world. They do not speak your language, and you do not speak theirs.

Let's also say that there is a giant cultural difference, too, like they came from a primitive tribe in the Amazon. They are going to live with you for the next 10-12 years. While living in your air-conditioned home with electricity and a refrigerator would seem to have worthwhile advantages for your house guest, not knowing how to do anything would be stressful for them and for you. Your neighbors might take notice, as well, if your house guest climbs the fence to bathe in their swimming pool. You can yell at this person all you want and tell them things like "no" or "bad," but they do not understand since they do not speak your language. They are not a bad person. They just don't understand. What you need to enrich both your lives is a way to communicate. In your world, far removed from the only world they have known, they need a friend to help them. Otherwise, they will go for the next decade doing what they do, making the best out of what they understand, entertaining themselves the ways they know how, and frustrating you to no end. You'll probably want to get rid of them, and they may seek to run away from your constant yelling and anger, too.

Of course, when you bring a new dog into your home, you have something similar, and a dog trainer can help you communicate proper behavior for your new house guest and make it rewarding for them, too.