pay attention, you will be able to understand a lot. First of all, pay attention to whether the dogs are being trained too intensively or, on the contrary, the technique used suffers from a lack of control.

security training
If you see a trainer working with a group of more than three dogs, your dog does not belong here.

An older dog is best trained alone. A young dog can sometimes learn from an older dog by watching and imitating her actions. But when inexperienced owners gather groups of six dogs or more to train their pets, the animals involuntarily become excited, infecting each other with it. This practice is not only useless, but also dangerous.

What is the reason for this practice? The answer is simple: money. It is much more profitable for a trainer to work not with one dog, receiving $ 10 per hour, but with a group, receiving from 60 to 200 dollars for the same hour for work that consists in bringing already excited animals to complete insanity. Why do dog owners agree to this? Alas, some of them take dubious pleasure in watching their pets become aggressive. Therefore, they return to the same trainer again and again.

What can be taught to dogs in this way? Before madness, any technique is powerless, and in such groups only the viciousness and habits of a desperate bully are brought up in dogs of service breeds. But these are animals that should be able to “turn on” and “turn off” on command! Such a dog should be aggressive only on command, and do this even if the command is given in an affectionate voice. The guard dog must be trained to calm down, or at least restrain aggression, even when the situation that provokes his aggressiveness persists. Such a dog can sometimes become aroused when trained at home, where he is under control, but not in a group of his own kind on the training ground and for a fee of 10 dollars per hour.

You should definitely ensure that your dog goes through a special training course during the first two years of life. This period can be reduced to eighteen months if you are only going to go through a general training course with her. The trainer should only work with your dog, either at your home or by combining home lessons with training at the training ground.

The following questionnaire will help you identify a professional trainer:

- How long have you been doing this?

How did you become a trainer?

Where did you receive basic training in your current profession?

- Do you have a license?

— Can I attend your classes and ask a few questions?

Do you work with all breeds?

Do you specialize in any particular breeds?

— Do you continue to learn from your colleagues (attend seminars, participate in international exchanges, etc.)?

Are there any reviews of your work that I could look at?

- Do you have a video where I could see a dog that has completed a full course of training with you (if you cannot see such dogs on the site)?

If the trainer has been doing his job for a long enough time, it will give you at least some confidence that he will not give up before he finishes training your dog. Plus, you'll at least know that your dog won't play the role of that first pancake that usually comes out lumpy.

additional verification
It will be interesting and useful for you to know why this person became a professional trainer, and what influenced him choice.

Maybe he grew up in a family that loved dogs?

Or participated in competitions and tests of dogs and made it his profession?

Or read some book and decided to become a trainer?

Finally, the most important thing: why does he do his job - because of the dogs or because of the money?

It is unlikely that you will get an unambiguous answer to the last question, but the nuances can say a lot.

There are many paths that lead to the profession of a trainer. Here are the most common ones:

- was a student of a professional trainer;

— worked for hire in a nursery and gained experience there;

- learned how to handle dogs while serving in the army;

- was a member of the service dog breeding club;

- served in the police and worked with K-9;

- I learned everything by myself, by reading books, watching videos, etc. (the most undesirable option!).

Each path has its advantages and disadvantages, and none can be considered the best. On each of them, the trainer acquires his own view of things and his own, if you like, philosophy, which, however, must be flexible and not turn into a dead scheme. For example, there are big differences in the training of dogs for military or police service and for the protection of the home and family. Yes, the techniques are similar, but a domestic dog must be trained to communicate with an incomparably larger number of people than a military or police dog. To live in a family, you need to teach her not to spoil indoor plants and not to gnaw on shoes. In the army and the police, such problems do not arise. It is better to train a domestic dog at home - at her, so to speak, "workplace". In addition, her owner must also undergo training with her.

It is necessary to ensure that the person training your dog prepares it for real situations that may arise in life, and not with sports competitions. Although some types of competitions involve the same training techniques as in training dogs for personal protection, they are applied in different ways. It is unlikely that you want to spend money on making your dog shine only on the sports field. Yes, the dog will be trained, but in a very specific way: he will react more to the equipment and competition equipment, and not to the person. For a good guard dog, this is unacceptable.

The trainer must show you his license. If, regarding this document, you If you have any doubts, check with the relevant authorities. But if the trainer refuses your desire to be present on the training ground, this is not a professional. Openness is an indispensable quality of a real trainer.

Relationships with different breeds
Of course, it is very important to ask the trainer if he specializes in any particular breeds. Let's say if you have a Rottweiler, and for some reason the trainer has an antipathy for Rottweilers, he is not suitable for you. Look for a trainer who is willing to take on your dog and has experience with the breed.

Dog training methods are constantly changing. No one can say about himself that now, at last, he has developed a final view of training and knows everything about it. The best specialists learn from other professional dog breeders, veterinarians, employees of dog equipment companies, as well as from their colleagues, including from abroad. The Europeans have accumulated vast experience in this area, but, unfortunately, in recent years even the most advanced American trainers have borrowed insultingly little from them.

Some Tips
Ask how those who have already dealt with him speak about the trainer. True, be critical of such reviews. We had to meet with trainers who had no idea about the people whose testimonials we referred to. Do not expect that the reviews will be only positive. This is not at all necessary. Not everyone sings praise even to excellent trainers.

When the issue of training is resolved, the following precautions will be useful:

1. Read each clause of the contract carefully and keep a copy just in case.

2. Don't agree to pay up front for a year or two.

3. Make sure your dog is trained and kept in good conditions. With a domestic guard dog, you need to deal with it constantly.

In the end, you will have the opportunity to see your dog in the process of training and compare it with those whose training has already been completed. If you are not satisfied with one or the other, you can try your luck elsewhere.

Training systems
There are actually three different training systems. But oddly enough, the trainers themselves are by no means always able to clearly explain what kind of system they are. adhere. If you use the descriptions of all three systems given below, you will be able to understand for yourself which of them a particular trainer prefers. To do this, two basic questions need to be asked:

- What methods of correction are used?

— What are the forms of encouragement and motivation?

Here are the three systems.

1. Training without a training collar (choke collar)[3]
The essence of the method is that the wrong behavior of the dog is ignored, and the correct one is reinforced with a treat. Trainers using this system believe that the use of a choke collar is cruelty. This can be compared to raising a child according to the well-known method of Dr. Spock. If the dog does what is required of it, it is rewarded with a treat. If she does not behave as she should, she is distracted and also encouraged. It is not difficult to imagine what problems arise in this case. No punishment is applied, and although this is the most desirable system for training puppies (6 to 18 weeks of age), an aggressive or stubborn dog will soon get tired of this game. There are times when the dog is not hungry or is busy with something more interesting, and the reward of a treat does not work on him.

It happens that after such training, dogs with a strong character become aggressive only because they are too