Training your dog is your responsibility.

Would you go to a dance class, be taught the moves, not practice anything, and then expect at your next class that you would be amazing? you wouldn't be, so would you say the coach was rubbish? would you go to a golf lesson and be shown how to hit a golf ball, during the week you don't practice but expect your swing to be perfect the next time you played.

More and more people have expectations that are not realistic for our dog, or the trainers, they want a perfect dog without doing the work, I get regularly asked do I need to be there. Well.....no I can train your dog for you without you being there, but what happens when they get home, you don't know any cues for the dog, and the dog can be triggered to do exactly what they were doing before.

Trainers are teaching you things relevant to your needs from a toolbox, they show you how to use the tools and then you go away and practice them, and the following week they can be built on, training is approximately five-minute sessions, can you afford NOT to do it?

When you get your puppy at 8 weeks, they are taken away from their mum and siblings, and then expected not to cry or pee everywhere, they are expected to speak your language and in some cases scolded when doing things they have never been taught not to do.

Is it the owner's fault though, there is so much information on websites and even on Tv, which makes the expectations on the dog and owner nearly impossible, I was watching a dog trainer on television the other day, and in the thirty-minute slot, he appeared to get this crazy boxer under control and walking nicely on the lead, so the owner watches that and says "yep, I can do that" and then they fail, but they did it exactly as the man did on the tv, what you didn't see was the lead and harness was changed, the dog had been taught to focus and sit, maybe a bit of impulse training was added in, and "voila" a dog that suddenly can do what was being asked of it.

The worst I see is "trainers" putting up on YouTube, for example, a dog that was pulling all over the place, they take over and suddenly the dog is walking lovely, but again what you are not seeing is they are using aversive methods, such as choke chains, prong collars, lead snaps, etc., does it work? yes, it does. but look at the difference in the dog's face, just watch the way the dog is walking, its whole demeanor has changed, I just ethically or morally couldn't train my dog like that, I love my dog, and I will get my dog trained in a fun, happy ethical way, so my dog's personality doesn't change, I don't want a robot, I just want my dog to be able to walk down the street without me getting frozen shoulder.

So if you have got your dog, invest time in them, spend time with them, enrich their lives and you will get a dog that loves and adores you, and responds to you every time you talk, or give it cue's to do something, ask for recommendations, ask if they are force-free or a balanced trainer.

The more you put into your dog the more you get from them, and you already get unconditional love.