The Dog Training Field and Choosing a Dog Trainer
It may surprise people to find out the current dog training industry has no regulation or requirements to work professionally in the field. This means anyone regardless of proper knowledge or skills can still market and work as a “professional” - even if individuals are not qualified and provide advice that does harm to dogs. This is insane in a world where people value their dogs as part of their families. We all want the best treatment for our dogs, whether that is for training, grooming, or veterinary care.
The current system unfortunately leaves opportunities for people to use harmful dog training methods based on scaring and hurting dogs to modify their behavior. We know from the field’s cumulative experience and science that not only are aversive/force-methods (such as remote shock collars, choke chains, prong collars, hitting and kicking, etc.) not needed to train dogs, but that they are blatantly harmful to them. These techniques would be considered animal cruelty in any other context, but for some unknown reason people accept them as a normal part of training. But this is rightfully changing.
The good news is there are now reputable organizations that provide education and certification for qualified dog trainers. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) has a position statement on humane dog training and who they recommend working with for training and behavior modification:
https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AVSAB-Humane-Dog-Training-Position-Statement-2021.pdf
From their statement:
“Based on current scientific evidence, AVSAB recommends that only reward based training methods are used for all dog training, including the treatment of behavior problems.”
They also recommend trainers from backgrounds such as The Academy for Dog Trainers (CTC - Certificate in Training and Counseling) and Fear Free Certification.
At Dog Training + we have these certifications and follow these humane dog training methods in all interactions with dogs; and our online dog training classes and consultations can help people throughout the country.
If you have any questions about this, let us know by using our contact page above.