Hey everybody Merry Wam here america's canine educator hope everyone's doing well out there just wanted to say thank you guys so much for watching anything that i do especially here on articel we we are growing so so nicely and reaching so many people and I appreciate that because it makes it makes me get out of bed faster and it helps me help other dogs and that's my ultimate goal is to help as many dogs as possible so thank you guys so much first and foremost and then today we're gonna talk a little bit about I put a little survey out there what you guys want to hear and I got some great topics and the first one I'm gonna talk about in this articel is somebody said hey why don't you just go over you know what kind of how to pick a good dog trainer for me and my dog wherever you may live and I thought that that was a really cool thing because first of all I am a dog owner first and then I'm a professional second so I always keep the dogs in the back of my mind what I would I want this with my dog would I not want this with my dog etc and I think about that all the time in my daycare and the training that I do and I always put that in the perspective because I think it's important that.
Dog Obedience Training
The owner of the dog is more comfortable than anything the dogs are always going to tell you if they like it or they don't but the owners sometimes don't grasp what you're doing and you got to make sure that everybody's comfortable so that's the first thing I want to point out is this is not a biased opinion on what I think you should or shouldn't do this is just my genuine opinion about how I would pick a dog trainer and so the first thing is is know your dog it doesn't matter if you just adopted a dog it doesn't matter if you got a puppy if you've paid $10,000 for the dog whatever it may be just know what you have it's much like anything in life you're not gonna go to a Ford dealership if you have a Subaru right so knowing the dog that you have is important when you're picking the dog trainer and so that's the first thing is just kind of understanding okay I have this where should I start should we be looking at agility training do we have behavior issues is my dog just not good on a leash do I need basics so these are some things that you want to keep in mind and you know I we sign up so many dogs per year thankfully thank you and we work with so many dogs which helps us become better at what we do because each day we're developing our craft and you know so anyway so I've heard a lot of different stories at different trainers doing different things and you know I don't I don't put my two cents in on anything I just you know it is what it is and I want to start off by saying that there's you know there's no job too small for for people in the industry that have been in there for a very long time however.
I also believe that people need to stay in their Lane and do the things that they're good at especially when it comes to dogs so like myself you know I been working with dogs professionally for a good amount of time and I but I stay in my lane so I don't go out there and say hey I want to work with all the puppies or I don't you know take in all the puppies we have two different trainers in my and my company that do that for me or do that for us and so making sure that when you're picking a dog trainer or a dog training company that they have different people within the Association that or a company that can handle and/or deliver the the best quality training that you want meaning if I didn't have another puppy trainer I would say I can't work with you and your puppy because I'm just my head's too cluttered with all the behavior modification and aggression and advanced obedience that that I do so making sure that the the company is versatile and they can help you with with everything that you need that way you don't have to say okay well you know you do obedience but you don't do agility or you don't do I want to do personal protection or something then you're gonna have to move companies so that's one thing to keep in the consideration that making sure you're picking a versatile dog training company or a dog trainer but again if you're looking for basic obedience anybody out there that says that they're a dog trainer should definitely be able to help you with that.
The second thing is you know a lot of people give discredit and and things like that to you know bigger corporations like Pet Smart or some of the other bigger chains and of course you know to their defense you know some of them are okay and they teach you the foundations of development with a puppy but they're you know there are certain limitations that they have so a lot of people come in say oh I've done the Pet Smart thing it's a start it's better than nothing and a lot of people ask me what do you think about this and what do you think about that I said if you're going out there doing something with your dog and you're comfortable and you're getting results then that's all that matters it doesn't really matter how much you pay but sometimes you do have to go outside of the the chain if you will corporation because there's only so much they can do so going to a pet smart trainer is not necessarily a terrible thing I don't want anybody to think that it is because some of them are you know pretty good actually with basic stuff and developing food drives and things like that so those are okay and then I think the biggest thing that I would say with with this topic is website they I think personally for me I think every dog or every business should have some sort of platform I know a lot of great trainers who don't have social media and they're really good and so don't don't say oh they don't have a Facebook but you know if they don't have anything.
Dog Trainer Website
If they don't have Facebook or they don't have a website or they don't have instant have anything how are you going to gauge them and judge them by you know I'm gonna trust especially if you're doing like behavior modification aggression cases board in train I mean don't leave your dog with somebody who doesn't have any credibility and don't leave your dog with somebody who may not know what to do in these situations so I would say if you're dealing with more advanced behavior modification aggression cases neurological issues things like that or just big dogs in general um that are gonna be a handful make sure that you can kind of go back and see if they've done this before because you know I've seen a lot of dogs messed up from people going out of their Lane and oops and then your dog is unfortunately screwed for that here's your money back sorry and you know that's not that's not good so to benefit your dog just make sure you're doing a little bit of research of like hey I have a dog that I want to get trained on the e-collar or off leash or aggression make sure that they've done it make sure that you personally for me again I'm a big video guy I'd like to see if I'm gonna bring my dog to do advanced obedience and I'm gonna pay them a bunch of money I want to see their dogs or I want to see some of the dogs that they've done before or some of their clients dogs testimonials on Facebook and things like that see what other potential or past clients have said about them and how they've helped them and again don't.
Oh they don't have a facebook know go that doesn't mean that or if they don't have a website know go but they have to have something I think that that's just my opinion I I wouldn't work with anybody even my mechanic I wouldn't have to have some sort of oh you've had satisfaction in the past you know you've done this three or four times you know for me I always look for a ton of like good feedback and with any small business or with any business in general you're always going to get negative comments so please sift through them you know there are people out there that just want to give people money to bitch at them unfortunately so I would say just making sure that you're comfortable with them and you've seen some of their previous work I think that that's really really big and then picking a trainer that is in your lane that's that's also my my two cents on that and then I would say lastly never work with anybody that makes you uncomfortable and I mean that by don't work with somebody who you're you're you're uncomfortable with some of the things that they're doing with your dog and I've had people come in that trust me beyond belief and they've seen me a hundred times and they know who I am and they just trust me hands down but there's also people who don't know me at all and and I I treat every single client the same when they come into the door.
Freelance Dog Trainer
I'm like hey my name is Ken what do you got going on and I work with them accordingly so but I always tell people I will never put you into a situation where you're unsure of what we're doing I'll never put you in a situation where you're uncomfortable with what I'm doing with your dog so those are some things like if you're cringing during your session or you're becoming nervous or you're just seeing not good results and and you don't trust the process the process should always be you know done prior meaning I'll explain that a minute but just making sure that you trust the process you trust the person and that goes back to my the thing I was gonna say before this is consulting with your dog training company consulting with your dog trainer before they work with your dog because again like I said before you could really have somebody mess up your dog for a long time or if if not forever if they don't know what they're doing during that time so excuse me make sure that you're consulting with your dog training company you're getting feedback from other people etc and then if you sit down and have a good conversation and a game plan like I always give people a game plan this is this is what I think is going to happen and this is where they this is my game plan and they're comfortable with it usually and we kind of go from there so making sure that you consult with them first I would say anybody who's doing a board and training program with any trainer that you consult with them.
First you see their facility you see who they are you see their insurance cameras security systems fire alarms all these things before picking your dog trainer but I wouldn't say you have to go one way or the other as far as type of training mythology but I would definitely say bottom line make sure you're comfortable make sure the dog trainer you're working with is in their Lane and they're not going outside of their Lane and potentially going home let's try this out like a Frankenstein dog I think I can do it but I don't know so making sure you're super comfortable with all of that and I think that you would um you would benefit from from working with somebody who you're really comfortable with regardless I always look for certain certifications and certain Association things like if they're member of the IACP International Association of canine professionals etc etc etc so anyway those are some tips from me about choosing the right dog trainer for you guys to go out and pick your dog trainer for what you guys want to do and I hope it helps if it does please like this share it with anybody else and a comment below if you guys want to know anything else.
