DIY vs Professional Dog Training
Many folks start out training their dog with a DIY mindset. They watch videos and seek out crowdsourced advice. Oftentimes this works for a while, until it doesn't. Annoying barking, nipping, and jumping for attention creeps in and overwhelms everyone.
DIY dog training may have given you a good foundation. You've taught your dog to sit, shake, lay down, and stay. But what do you do at the end of the day when your dog won't stop misbehaving or has aggression, reactive, or separation anxiety behavior challenges?
You type in even more keywords into a search engine. Hopefully, you’re searching for a professional dog trainer. I’m here to give your search some context and describe what a professional dog trainer brings to your session. That’s why I’m re-sharing a blog post I wrote when Behavior United, LLC was first launched in 2018.
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 session? What's behind the price of one session?
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 read numerous books, travel to seminars and conferences with internationally recognized scientists and trainers, and devote ourselves 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. And, 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 companion are in good hands.
Being in good hands is only a click away! To meet the demands of so many new dog owners, many trainers, including Behavior United, LLC, are increasing online teletraining availability. Live online teletraining sessions are just as effective, fun, and oftentimes more affordable. Now is the time to try it, and we’re here to help you meet the moment. This doesn’t mean that we won’t come to your home - we’ll do that too. Beginning with teletraining helps trainers meet the demands by helping everyone in a timely manner, before we meet you in-person.