While Jackie Moyano has been training for nine years, Behavior United, LLC has just turned four years old this week! In honor of our fourth anniversary, we’re re-releasing one of our very first blog posts.

Thank you for your continued support! Check out our trivia quizzes about Jackie and her animals on social media this week, @behaviorunited.

Congratulations on bringing a new dog home! Now what? Now you take your questions online and in line. You ask the internet, your grocer, letter carrier, neighbors, the person standing behind you at the pharmacy, dog walkers, and friends of friends at dinner parties.

You finally settle on hiring a professional dog trainer. What does the trainer bring to your hour-long session? What's behind the price of one hour?

For starters, professional trainers spend both time and money investing in best practice education. We begin our education foundation by studying animal behavior science. We also buy numerous books, travel to seminars and conferences with internationally recognized scientists and trainers, and  are devoted to continuing education in general to stay current.

Next, we often start our careers by apprenticing unpaid with senior trainers to observe dog body language and the mechanics of training. We volunteer our time anywhere we can to work on handling skills. We practice our training skills on multiple species — including dogs. Behavior United’s Jackie Moyano has even honed her training skills on Leghorn chickens!

We prepare for certifications requiring hundreds of hours of training people and their dogs before taking a written exam. Force free trainers agree to follow best practices as described by the exam certification board and the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.

Through all this hard work, we become fluent in training mechanics and scientific principles, giving you the biggest bang for your buck. Our knowledge and skills have value. You could read the same books and attend the same workshops, but we presume that you’re currently busy with your own career and life.

We never stop challenging ourselves to be even better trainers. There are thousands of hours of experience behind every lesson, and it doesn’t end when we leave your home. We provide support via email and phone calls. In short, the professional dog trainer puts in the work so you can be confident that you and your faithful companions are in good hands.