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What to expect when you hire a trainer to come to your home

In most cases when you hire a dog trainer you are hiring a Teacher and a Coach.

Unless otherwise specified in your contract or your class syllabus, your are paying for a professional dog trainer to teach you not your dog.

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What to expect when you hire a trainer to come to your home

Most people will say, “OK” without really understanding what that entails.

“If you want the results you seek you have to perform all of the homework you are given”

Imagine singing up for a private in home course in interior design to redecorate your own home. You have chosen to pay extra to have a professional interior design instructor/teacher bring the course to you instead of you going to the classroom. This way you can receive the benefits of 'Private Classes'.

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The most obvious benefits include the convenience of not having to travel to and from the classroom, being able to arrange a time more suitable to your daily schedule, and receiving personal hands on instruction. You might come up with a few other reasons, but for the most part I have found in my experience that these 3 are the most common for hiring a professional teacher/trainer/instructor.

In my opinion, the confusion comes in when the students/clients misunderstand the definition of 'Personal Hands on Instruction'.

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Many people are under the impression that 'Hands On' means the Instructor or Teacher is going to put together

the design layout for them from beginning to end.

Explaining the steps to be taken while you watch, then telling you what they would like to see you do by the time they come back at your next private session.

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Please let me help clarify, in my personal opinion, what you should expect when you hire a professional dog trainer for private classes. (Or group classes for that matter)

Your professional dog trainer should without a doubt perform the lesson from start to finish while explaining the hows and whys of the exercise being done.

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The major difference is going to be what follows. From that point your teacher/trainer should be having all family members, if at all possible, practice performing the exercises the same way you were shown the first time 'hands on' instruction was given.

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It is absolutely imperative that consistency is followed by everyone for you and your family to receive the results you want. Once you have performed the exercises in the same manner as your instructor with positive results, you should be given your homework.

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Homework can entail more than performing training exercises throughout the day and night. It can include:

Setting up your home in a different way to give your dog boundaries.

Learning to use training aids like a kennel or head halter.

Setting aside time to exercise your dog by having scheduled walks and playtime

Reading a specific book or pieces of literature to help you understand your breed of dog better or why dogs think the way they do at certain times.

Going on field trips to learn social skills and teaching desensitization exercises.

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At the end of your course there should be a test given that you are required to pass to graduate. At Canine Nanny 911 you are given a Rally Obedience test. Also called Rally-O. Rally-O is a course set up with stations.

Each station has a sign with simple instructions on what task to perform and where to go next. As with any graded course or class you would take in a school, you must pass a final exam to graduate with a diploma and proceed with advanced education.

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Too many times we have all heard the words, “It didn't work” or “I did exactly what he told me to do and my dog won't do it.”

If the dog trainer was able to get the desired result when demonstrating the exercise in front of the owner during the first session, “It” isn't the dog that isn't doing its homework and getting a bad grade. Its the owner. If you want all of the results you seek, you have to perform all of the homework you are given. Not your dog, but you with your dog.

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Many people who are doing what the dog trainer showed them to do are also continuing to do what the dog trainer instructed them not to do.

Whether “It” works or not is 100% up to you. You can choose to learn by implementing the techniques they have given you and making a commitment to yourself and your dog to follow through with the homework in its entirety, or you can choose to never know if your professional dog trainers style of teaching and methods will work for you or not.

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Whom ever you choose to hire, make the choice ahead of time to give it your all. You owe it to your dog to be the pet parent you can be with the right guidance and effort.

*The opinion in this article is not meant to imply that all “Professional Dog Trainers” are good at teaching human students, or that they use the same style or methods of teaching. That is for another article.

Written by Mickey Saathoff, Nov. 2009