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Hiring a dog trainer for your pet goes beyond teaching them to do tricks. Maybe your dog is incredibly loud, excited, and restless, or perhaps he has other behavioral concerns like aggression, chasing down people, getting scared easily, or urinating in inappropriate places.
In such cases, working with a professional dog trainer can help establish trust, create safety for your dog and the others in your home, and, most importantly, build skills and awareness in your pup!
In this article, we’ve put together a list of all the benefits of training your dog and what exactly a dog trainer does.
What Does a Dog Trainer Do?
Dog trainers are certified professionals who have experience working with dogs, understand dog behavior and psychology, and know what developmental milestones dogs must achieve at every age.
Their expertise enables them to handle all sorts of issues with your dog’s behavior, along with building self-confidence and skills. Their responsibilities generally tend to include training dogs to understand gestures and voice commands, learning how operant conditioning works, and ensuring your dog is socialized and learns to be obedient.
So, what do dog trainers do? Here are some examples of tasks that a professional dog trainer handles:
- They diagnose and resolve specific dog behavioral issues.
- They can teach owners efficient training techniques they can implement with their dogs.
- They understand how to reinforce positive dog behavior while training.
- Dog trainers for competitive events also teach dogs how to complete agility courses.
- In the health community, dog trainers can instruct dogs in certified assistant practices.
Why Is Dog Training Important?
The consequences of not training a dog can range from frustration and annoyance for the dogs’ humans to serious and preventable problems for the dogs themselves that require behavior modification to resolve.
When you train your dog professionally, it gives them the tools to modify and control inappropriate or aggressive behavior. Professional training can also help them form stronger bonds with their humans and improve their self-confidence, which leads to healthy socializing with other dogs, too.
Through operant conditioning, certain actions and behaviors that are desirable, such as obeying commands and displaying calmness, get stronger and stronger through reinforcement.
This can only happen with consistent training, whether at home or in training classes.
Benefits of Dog Training
Research shows that hiring a dog trainer or having your pet participate in adult or puppy training classes improves obedience, regardless of your dog’s age. Here are some of the biggest dog training benefits.
Designing a dog training program requires careful planning and consideration of your dog’s individual needs, abilities, and behavior.
Boosts Their Social Skills
A dog training professional will teach your dog which behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable. This will help your dog respect boundaries more and respond appropriately in social situations. For example, your pup will understand that excessive barking around others won’t be tolerated.
Enhances Their Confidence
Training your dog with operant conditioning, which involves letting them receive treats or positive reinforcements for their good behavior, makes them want to repeat those behaviors. They realize that certain behaviors get them praise and treats, thus creating positive experiences for them.
This pushes them to keep going, and a happy dog is a confident dog, ready for new adventures and exploration. They can feel like trying new things, like going to a new park or eating vegetables like cabbages. But can dogs eat cabbage? Yes, if cooked properly, they can be very tasty and healthy.
Creates General Safety
Safety is fundamental when it comes to your dog obeying commands. Since we are the primary caregivers for our dogs, we need them to understand that we know what is best for their safety.
Following voice or gesture commands will prevent your dogs from erratic and dangerous behavior like running out into the street, biting another human or dog, getting lost, etc. It can also save them from experiencing serious conflict or getting severely injured, all of which can be expensive for you.
Avoids Unfortunate or Expensive Situations
Speaking of expenses, did you know that hiring a dog trainer can save you thousands of dollars? Sometimes, misbehavior or aggression can lead to unexpected trips to the ER (for you, your family member, or your dog). Sometimes, it can mean they’ve broken or damaged property, and you have to pay the expenses.
If your dog keeps eating inedible or potentially harmful foods, a professional dog trainer can also train your pup to avoid them and not risk poisoning.
When dogs know that destruction will not get them rewards, they are more likely to present appropriate behaviors that are encouraged.
Makes Going Out in Public Easier
A trained dog tends to have much more enjoyable experiences being outside and interacting with others. This is because they know what is acceptable when greeting other dogs or going out on walks.
Even with vet visits, a well-trained dog will be easier to handle and care for and hence get treated way quicker than a difficult or aggressive dog and he can suggest Natural probiotics for dogs. Training your dog to accept physical contact from others in a safe way is incredibly helpful.
Gives Dogs a Sense of Purpose
Reinforcing good behavior in dogs makes them feel happier and loved and builds confidence. When dogs receive praise and get affection, their socio-emotional needs are being met, which can make them feel accomplished.
When they are trained to help humans during rescue missions or even as service dogs, it makes them feel secure because they know that they are needed.
Conclusion
So, are dog trainers worth it? We hope this article speaks for itself! Training your dog will make them feel secure, help with behavioral concerns, and overall enrich their lives. It can do wonders for ensuring your home, your loved ones, and your dog are all safe.
Plus, if your dog has aggression or is prone to react destructively, you can hire a dog trainer to help mitigate such problems. Working with a professional dog trainer can thus improve your dog’s quality of life while also helping create a strong bond between you and your pup!