Over the past few years, more people than ever have adopted dogs. In fact, it’s such a phenomenon that “pandemic puppies” are a well-known concept to a lot of groomers and dog trainers not just here in the United States, but across the world. Typically, they’re pups that have separation anxiety because they grew up with their owners being home pretty much all the time (thanks, quarantine).
Of course, this is largely beside our point here today. We’re here to discuss dog training, and some of the ways that we can successfully search “the best dog training near me” and come up with results that aren’t purely advertisements or something along those lines. Chances are, you’re someone who would like effective and safe training for your pup, right?
How can we achieve this, though? Well, we have some tips and tricks for you to utilize along the way through the process. So, be sure to stay tuned for that (and for more cute puppy pictures)!
Table of Contents
Understand What Your Dog Needs
Now, this first point may seem a bit strange for us to bring up, seeing as many would consider it rather obvious. We can certainly see why one may think that way but allow us a moment to explain what we mean. When we decide to put our dog through a training program, whether that’s a school or simply working on an individual basis with a trainer, it can be quite stressful for them.
Therefore, knowing the triggers that our dog may have for aggression or fear can be quite helpful. You could even try to figure out if your pet responds better to praise, affection, or food motivation when it comes to learning new things. Now, don’t worry too much if that’s not possible – certain breeds and some dogs generally require a bit more work, which could be why you’re looking for a trainer in the first place!
Think about the Type of Training You Think Suits Your Pet
The next thing that you’ll want to consider is what environment that you think your pet would thrive in. Check out sources like this:https://journals.healio.com/doi/abs/10.3928/00485713-20130605-11, to get an idea of what we mean by that. There are all sorts of places where trainers can work with our pets, after all.
One example of that is the aforementioned trainers’ school, which often will have a lot of animals being trained at once. If that sounds too rowdy or chaotic and you think your dog would be overwhelmed, or if they’re not very sociable, you will probably want to find another option.
There are some trainers who will come to your home directly, if that sounds appealing. Some of them can also take your pet to a park or somewhere similar to train them, depending on their schedule and how it lines up with yours – or their policy in general.
Is Dog Training Even Worth it?
Something that comes up a lot in these discussions is whether or not it’s even worth our time and money to have our pet trained by someone else. Research like this can demonstrate that the answer is yes, but often, that’s not necessarily the type of “evidence” that we’re looking for. We’ll explain a bit further.
In order to keep everyone safe, that being ourselves, our visitors, and of course our beloved companions, it’s best to have them properly trained. Dogs that jump on people or have unchecked aggression can pose a bit of danger, especially if they aren’t kept on a leash at all times. So, in that sense, it’s certainly worth having them trained.
Unfortunately, we don’t all have the time to dedicate to something like that. Hence the value of hiring a dog trainer to help us with that instead. It saves us time and trouble, not to mention we’ll be able to spend our hours at home doting on our pup rather than having to go through long and rigorous training sessions.
Additionally, if you’re a first-time dog owner, it might be useful as you get used to the change. They’re called man’s best friend for a reason, but that doesn’t mean that it will always be smooth sailing.