How to screen a potential dog trainer’s website
Ran here! As many current followers know, I am a multi-certified dog trainer with a Master’s degree in behavior analysis. I started informally training dogs in the '90s, began working with dogs professionally in 2001, and have been formally training dogs since 2009. I have worked with hundreds of dogs on a whole variety of things, whether addressing challenging behaviors, teaching tricks or other new skills, integrating dogs and cats into the home, or helping family dogs prepare for the arrival of a new baby. On top of that, I’m also an experienced educator. I love working with people and their dogs.
However, I can’t work with everyone, and there are lots of people in my life who come to me looking for a dog trainer. As a behavior analyst, I have an ethics code I follow, which involves not having a “dual relationship” with my clients. That is, my clients cannot also be my family members or friends. Sometimes I become friends with my clients after I finish working with them, and I love when this happens! However, this means that when family and friends need help, I need to refer them to other trainers who can really step into that supportive role of trainer for them.
(And on top of just adhering to the ethics code, I also want to say that it’s nice to get to just be friends with my friends instead of having a professional hat on! This also means that I can just enjoy their dog without anyone feeling like we “should” be doing something a certain way.)
Sometimes friends will send me a website of a trainer or daycare they are considering, and I go through the website to see what I can find. In most cases, I don't actually know the trainer they’re considering. That said, I can usually get a lot of information from their website.
Dog training is an unregulated field. This means that there is no oversight and no requirements for what someone who is calling themselves a trainer can or should do with and for you and your dog. Can a self-proclaimed trainer give your dog treats? Sure. Can they strap a device to your dog and shock him? Yup. Can they hit your dog? Well, I have seen some things by supposed “professional trainers” that suggest that yes, this seems to be an acceptable thing in the industry (not by us at DBI! We don’t accept that! But people are still paying “trainers” money to roll up a towel and hit their dog with it.).
I cannot go through every website for every person, but what I can do is share a bit about what I look for, and that’s what I’d like to do here. At the end of this post, you’ll find a checklist that you can use to go through a dog trainer’s website and see how many green, yellow, and red flags you can find. This will not, in itself, tell you whether you should hire that trainer. There are lots of things to consider - where they are located, the way they deliver services (in person vs. virtually), whether they’re a good fit for you, whether the pricing aligns with your budget, and more! But my hope is that this checklist is a helpful place to start.
I also want to take some time to tell you why I categorized each of these items as I did. So with that, let’s jump in!
If you’d like, you can jump straight down to the Green, Yellow, and Red Flags, references, or handout, by clicking these links:
Green Flags
Lists "ethical" training or an "ethical" approach. Generally, the people who care about being ethical will mention it - and the people who are unethical won’t generally claim it.
"About us" lists specific people with and their qualifications. You should be able to see who you’ll be working with and exactly what their qualifications are.
Trainers are certified. Most certifications require a certain level of education and experience, and many require ongoing education. If a trainer is certified, this suggests that they have invested in being a dog trainer, both in terms of time and money. Many trainers will also list the conferences or other educational experiences they have pursued. I want to see that a trainer is qualified to do what they offer to do. However, this green flag can tip into being a yellow flag. Credentialing is not the be-all and end-all! Lots of credentialed folks aren’t necessarily training dogs well, and there are folks who are excellent dog trainers who may not be credentialed. Additionally, it’s also important to note that certifications and credentialing programs are imperfect and often inaccessible. There are barriers to access for many people, including cost, schedule, and simply the format in which information is delivered. Many organizations continue to be silent about important issues that impact their certificants and constituents, including but not limited to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some organizations that provide credentials do not follow up with their certificants to ensure that their ethics are followed, or do not in fact have any requirements around ethical training. So please take this one with a grain of salt. In many cases, it’s a green flag - but perhaps one with a bit of a yellow hue.
The trainer's education and experience are listed (& are more than just "grew up with dogs"). Here’s where some of those qualifications come in! Whether or not the trainer is certified, they may have other education and experience that can stand in for some of the training. Since dog training is not regulated, there’s not one “right way” to become a dog trainer. What I’m looking for is for people to be transparent about what qualifies them. Having grown up with dogs does not necessarily qualify someone to take your money to train your dog. I have been driving cars for years, but no one should be paying me to teach them to drive.
Mentions that training is "reinforcement-based.” Reinforcement means that we’re doing things that make behavior happen more often. If you want some behaviors - walking beside you while wearing a leash, keeping four feet on the floor when visitors arrive, and more! - to happen more often, you need reinforcement. There are, of course, behaviors that we want to happen less. For these, a trainer should help you consider what you want your dog to do instead. Is this something reasonable that your dog knows how to do? What skills do you and your dog need to learn in order to create a different “picture” than what is happening now? If we use reinforcement to teach these skills, we tend to see engaged, comfortable dogs who are doing the behaviors we want, with people who are happy (and able!) to notice their dog’s successes - and who are also aware of their dog’s limitations and how to safely manage them.
Mentions "evidence-based" approach. You’ll see below that “science-based” can be a yellow flag. Behavior is lawful and orderly - and even punishment is technically science-based. But the research that has been done on training methods shows over and over that reinforcement-based training methods are the way to go, both in terms of welfare and outcomes (Herron et al, 2009; Vieira de Castro et al, 2020; . In other words, a reinforcement-based approach is evidence-based.
Mentions choice & control. There’s evidence that incorporating choice and control can improve outcomes for our learners (Alligood & Friedman, 2022; Tiger, Hanley, & Hernandez, 2006). This doesn’t mean that they can do anything they want - none of us can. If you live with other people in your home, you know that there is compromise involved (my wife and I are constantly trying to figure out where to put the in-progress jigsaw puzzles so that we can still use our table!). Similarly, you and your dog may need to compromise about things - but there are still many ways for you to both make decisions about your own bodies and comfort within your life together.
Promotes using food and toys for training. When we’re talking about reinforcement, we are generally talking about delivering something that the dog wants or likes after they engage in a specific behavior. Food and toys are things they like (Feuerbacher, 2024)! Dogs also might engage in a behavior to avoid something they don’t like, such as pain or discomfort. We got dogs so that we could have a relationship with them, love them, and be loved by them - not so that we could hurt them. So let’s lean into the food and toys. It makes all of us happier.
Says "help your dog feel better" or “prioritizes how your dog feels.” In many cases, dogs are engaging in challenging behaviors because they are trying to escape or avoid a situation or environment that is aversive to them. It might be scary or physically uncomfortable. A good trainer will both help adjust the environment and help the dog learn skills to cope with different environments - as well as help you understand what your dog is communicating. I often remind clients that it’s unlikely that your dog is giving you a hard time; it’s more likely that they are having a hard time. If we can help your dog feel better, we tend to see a decrease in the challenging behavior. On top of this, there’s quite a bit of evidence that underlying pain contributes to challenging behaviors (Mills et al, 2020). Being able to recognize this and collaborate with a veterinarian to improve it can literally help your dog physically feel better - and this, too, can help with any problem behaviors you might be seeing.
Dogs pictured on the website appear to be having a good time with people who are enjoying them. I suspect you got a dog because you want to enjoy your dog. I want to see trainers embrace that! I want to see pictures of people smiling, dogs being goofy, and people and dogs having a good time together. What do you want your life with your dog to look like on the other side of training? Do you see that picture on the website?
Mentions improving the bond or relationship with your dog. Again, you got a dog to have a relationship with him! In many cases, challenging behaviors can make people feel like this relationship is on the rocks, and a good trainer wants to help you enjoy your dog again.
Yellow Flags
Mentions a "science-based", "LIMA-based", or "Least Intrustive, Minimally Aversive" approach. This can be a good sign - but it can also be a flag. It used to be that a “LIMA-based” trainer was someone who committed to starting with the least intrusive intervention, which is health and wellness; then they would work up to environmental changes, and then behavior changes. Eventually, one could go all the way up the ladder to punishment. However, these days, many people who call themselves “LIMA-based” will be quick to implement punishment without spending time on the preceding steps. In terms of the “science” label, this is referenced in the “Green Flags” section. All of the principles of behavior - reinforcement, punishment, and extinction - are science-based. That doesn’t mean they’re all ethical or appropriate to use.
Mentions having better boundaries or developing boundaries. Boundaries can be great! But this framework is often associated with teaching our dogs what not to do - and we know that we want to teach our dogs what to do instead. We could say “we’ll teach boundaries around the dinner table” or we could offer that we will “help our dogs know what to do while we’re eating dinner.” One of those has a lot less conflict in it (it’s the second one).
Site has pictures of children hugging dogs. Most of us who love dogs remember loving dogs as kids; those relationships are incredibly important to us and we cherish memories of childhood dogs. This can make these pictures seem incredibly appealing: I, too, want a dog who loves kids! Unfortunately, there are a number of issues here. First, most dogs do not like to be hugged, and it is very rare that I see pictures of dogs being hugged where the dog looks happy and relaxed. In most cases, I’m seeing quite a few stress signals. These are easy for an untrained eye to miss - a little bit of side eye, a tongue flick, tension above the eyes or around the mouth. These can be subtle but once you know what to look for, they are glaringly obvious - and any dog trainer worth their salt should be so intimately familiar with these signals that they wouldn’t dare put a dog in that situation or put a picture of that situation on their website. (You can learn more about dogs and kids here.)
The primary certifications are AKC Evaluator certifications. Technically, these certifications do make someone “certified.” However, the process of acquiring and maintaining these certifications is minimal, usually involving a fee and a brief multiple choice quiz. This does not make anyone especially qualified to do more than assess dogs for the specific tests through the AKC. Lots of trainers with other qualifications also have CGC “certifications,” and that’s great! But if someone’s only certifications are AKC certifications, that’s a significant concern.
Says “relationship centered.” This is a tricky one because it sounds great! As mentioned, we all want good relationships with our dog. However, this one is often a euphemism for “we won’t use treats,” and many people who claim to use “relationship centered” training also claim that your dog should do things because he respects you. Look, I have a lot of respect for many of the important people in my life - but we have a relationship because we both provide good things to each other, not just demands and expectations that those demands are followed. That said, “relationship centered” is a yellow flag because there might be great trainers who truly are trying to center and strengthen your relationship with your dog - but there are many others who are using this as a euphemism for poor, outdated training techniques.
Red Flags
They use a "balanced" approach. This is another euphemism for using punishment. We actually have an entire course about punishment, and you can read about some of the side effects here. There is ample evidence that punishment, which by definition does work to suppress behavior, is detrimental. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has a statement about using punishment in dog training, which you can read here.
They say "We guarantee results". Dogs are living creatures, not machines. Just like children (and adults!), they can be taught - but none of us have behavior that is guaranteed. A good trainer will help you understand what your dog may and may not be capable of, how to assess the risk of various situations, and will help you make choices that are appropriate for your dog and your life.
Dogs pictured on the website are emitting stress signals. I talked about this a bit in the “Yellow flags” section with children and dogs, so this will sound a bit repetitive. A good dog trainer should be working to help your dog learn the skills to navigate their world while minimizing stress. There are, of course, times that we see dogs emitting (or showing) stress signals - but these are not the images we want to represent where we’re going! Of course, it may be hard for a new dog guardian to recognize stress signals, so give yourself a break on this one (and also feel free to check out our free 15-minute webinar on dog body language by clicking here!).
Dogs pictured on the website are wearing prong collars, electric collars ("e-collars"), or slip leads. These are all tools that are designed to reduce challenging behaviors. Again, they might effectively do this - but with many side effects. Additionally, the reason that these products “work” is that they apply discomfort or pain contingent on problem behaviors. They do not teach the dog what to do instead. Someone using these tools is comfortable using discomfort to tell your dog what not to do - and who likely does not have an understanding of the side effects and fallout of using these tools. (A note: there are some GPS or activity tracking devices that can look a lot like an e-collar - so as with everything else, look at the whole picture!)
Mentions "dominance," “alpha,” or being the "leader of your pack". There’s a lot to be said about this one, but we’re trying to keep this list as short as we can. Essentially, the research that spurred the idea of dominance in dogs was conducted on captive wolves in the mid-1900s, and has been entirely disproved. You can read more about this in The Whole Dog Journal here or a shorter, beautifully digestible piece on Positively.com here. In short, dominance has no place in dog training, and anyone who says it does is not up to date on what the current science tells us about dog behavior.
Promotes using our "approval" or "only praise" for training. Many dogs love attention, and there are certainly some dogs for whom attention will actually change their behavior long-term. However, for many other dogs, attention isn’t enough, especially when we’re looking at trying to change challenging behaviors, and behaviors that have emerged as a result of fear. A good trainer will be open to using a variety of reinforcers. In many cases, food is a fast and effective way to get started. Someone who is refusing to use food does not understand the scientific principles of behavior.
Promotes Cesar Milan ("Cesar's Way" or anything similar). This has been written about extensively in other articles, and Annie Grossman’s book How to Train Your Dog with Love and Science has some truly wonderful, easy to read sections about the problems with Cesar Milan. In short, nothing he does is evidence-based or aligns with ethical practices. Anyone who is claiming to train similarly to him is unlikely to be up to date on what dog training should be, both in terms of evidence and ethics.
The trainer's primary qualification listed is many years as a dog owner. Many people who have dogs have had dogs “for their whole life.” I have been driving a car for over 20 years and, trust me, you don’t want me to try to diagnose or fix what is wrong with your car. I’m even an experienced bicyclist and I can basically only fix a dropped chain and change a tire - and I’ve had bicycles for my entire conscious life. Having a dog does not make someone qualified to train your dog.
Uses pseudoscience terms like "canine psychology". Canine psychology sounds good - and that’s why people use it. But this is not actually a field. Whatever term people are using, it might be worth a quick Google search to see if there is actually an educational program for whatever the trainer claims to be educated in.
Says “different dogs require different methods” or "train the dog in front of you". This is another sneaky one, because it sounds great! We do want to have individualized plans for our learners, both dog and human. It’s important to be able to adjust and adapt to meet everyone’s needs, and not every dog who is, say, barking, will need the same training plan. However, the principles of behavior are the same for everyone (which is why it’s a science!), and the potential side effects of punishment exist across the board (Ziv, 2017). “Different methods” in this case is often talking about punishment versus reinforcement, and statements such as these suggest that the trainer is, again, comfortable using discomfort or pain to change behavior.
This is a lot of information! If you are familiar with dog body language (and if you’re not, you can watch our free webinar here), you know that we cannot get a full picture from just one thing - a wagging tail alone does not always indicate a happy dog. Similarly, when looking for a dog trainer, you want to look at a number of things. One yellow flag may or may not be a dealbreaker for you. For me, any of the red flags means I’m running, but depending on the context, you might want to ask more questions.
Once you find someone who seems like they might be a good fit, reach out! Most trainers will have a free “discovery call” or a “meet and greet” before getting started. This is a chance to see if they have experience with the behaviors you’re looking for help with, as well as to ask more questions about anything you saw on their website. We love this article(What You Should Ask a Dog Trainer (and What Their Answers Should Be), which can help you prepare for these conversations.
We wish you all the best in your dog training journey!
The Handout / Checklist
DBI Guide to Screening Dog Trainer WebsitesDownload
References
Alligood, Christina & Friedman, Susan. (2022). Modern Animal Care: A Skinnerian Perspective on Choice and Control.
American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. (2007). AVSAB Position Statement: The Use of Punishment for Behavior Modification in Animals. https://hsmo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/AVSAB-The-Problems-Using-Punishment.pdf
Englund MD, Cronin KA. (2023). Choice, control, and animal welfare: definitions and essential inquiries to advance animal welfare science. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 10:1250251. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1250251.
Feuerbacher, E. (2024, May 18). What do dogs want? Investigating preference, reinforcers, & their relationship - and what that means for your training. Canine Science Symposium 2024 Conference, United States.
Herron, M. E., Shofer, F. S., & Reisner, I. R. (2009). Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 117, 1–2. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2008.12.011.
Madson, C. (2024, July 5). What You Should Ask a Dog Trainer (and What Their Answers Should Be). https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/what-you-should-ask-a-dog-trainer
Miller, Pat. (2024, November 21). Debunking the “Alpha dog” theory. Whole Dog Journal. https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/debunking-the-alpha-dog-theory/
Mills DS, Demontigny-Bédard I, Gruen M, Klinck MP, McPeake KJ, Barcelos AM, Hewison L, Van Haevermaet H, Denenberg S, Hauser H, Koch C, Ballantyne K, Wilson C, Mathkari CV, Pounder J, Garcia E, Darder P, Fatjó J, Levine E. (2020). Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs. Animals (Basel). 10(2):318. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020318.
Positively - Victoria Stilwell. The Truth About Dominance. https://positively.com/dog-training/article/ethology-the-truth-about-dominance
Stop the 77. (n.d.). https://www.thefamilydog.com/stop-the-77/
Tiger, J.H., Hanley, G.P., & Hernandez, E. (2006). An evaluation of the value of choice with preschool children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39, 1-16. doi:10.1901/jaba.2006.158-04
Vieira de Castro, A.C., Fuchs, D., Morello, G. M., Pastur, S., de Sousa, L., & Olsson, I. A. S. (2020). Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare. PLoS ONE 15(12). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225023
Ziv, G. (2017). The effects of using aversive training methods in dogs: A review. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 19, 50-60. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2017.02.004