On Friday I chatted to you about a gentleman who received a nasty dog bite. I talked about why it is so important to be able to decipher dog’s body language. That way we can try and stop accidents happening by taking action.
My second warning point about this story involves the ‘dog expert’. With dogs like anything you get those people that want to give you advise, they want to tell you their stories and what worked for them and how it can work for you too.
NOPE!!!
Every dog is different, just like every child. Just because one person beat their dog when they finally came back to them after chasing sheep and it’s never done it again does not mean it will work for your dog. In fact, it’s likely to make it worse!
Due to this mans uneducated views a dog and owner experienced a very scary accident which left the man with a nasty injury and both the man and dog mentally scared.
Dog experts like myself have spent years and thousands of pounds to learn what we do. We are constantly going on courses to make sure our knowledge is up to date and that isn’t cheap!
If water was pouring through your ceiling would you let your mate who has no plumbing experience have a go to see if he could fix it….Nope! You are going to be on the phone to a qualified plumber!
You should treat dog training exactly the same. Dog training is an unregulated industry. Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer and take your hard earn cash, often not helping or making things worse! Check out a dog trainer credentials. Do they have a degree? Are the accredited by anyone?
Ask to see their testimonials. What do their clients have to say about them? The reviews should be dated, don’t accept anything that is from years ago.
I myself have a BSc in Animal Behaviour and am accredited by the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers. This meant I had to do a two-day assessment showing my dog training skills and knowledge. Not all accreditations are the same. Some associations will simply let people pay a fee and they can then say they are accredited by that association, having no idea how they train dogs or if they are any good!
Do not be fooled!! Do some digging. At the end of the day if something doesn’t feel right or someone is telling you to do something that you aren’t comfortable with don’t do it!!
Also, remember you get what you pay for!!!
