As a pet owner, it’s not always easy to know if and when it would be the right time to hire a professional dog trainer for your pup.
Dog training plays an important part in being a responsible pet owner and strengthening the bond between you and your pooch. However, sometimes it’s best to bring in the skills and knowledge of a professional.
In fact, most dogs and their owners would benefit from professional training, even if their behavior is generally good. Here are 9 reasons why.
1. Basic Obedience
First of all, we all want our dogs to learn basic obedience skills and even some tricks. A well-trained dog is better behaved in social situations and copes better with being left alone and placed in unfamiliar environments, too.
Dogs that are properly trained from a young age are also more capable of learning new skills and puppy tricks later on in life!
Working with a professional trainer takes some of the pressure off you as an owner to spend hours you don’t have on training your puppy. With a trainer, you can test your dog’s intelligence, and your dog will learn basic skills and practice socializing, which will keep them and you safe.
2. Get Help with Specific Issues
A common reason many pet owners seek help from a professional trainer is because of specific behavioral issues they’re experiencing with their dogs. This could be excessive barking, chewing or other destructive behavior, aggression, or even struggles with crate training.
Trainers will teach your pup how to cope as well as give you insight into how to handle the situation in a positive way to help both of you progress.
Trainers can identify the root cause of certain behaviors, which might include separation anxiety or boredom, and offer you tactics to negate and manage these feelings in your dog, while also teaching the pooch better ways of responding to their feelings.
3. Physical Activity and Mental Stimulation
Spending time each week with a puppy trainer can be beneficial for your dog in more direct ways too. It’s a scheduled time when they’re guaranteed to be up and moving, as well as getting some much-needed mental stimulation for pups.
Routine exercise, play, and learning will all contribute to an overall healthier, happier pooch. Training sessions are especially important in this regard for pet owners who work long hours and might not have the time or energy to commit to daily sessions with their dogs.
A training session, whether held at home or with a professional, will always leave your dog well-stimulated and tuckered out!
4. Improve Your Relationship
In addition to learning good behavior, a good dog trainer will also help you create a stronger bond between you and your pup.
A trainer will teach you how to use positive reinforcement when training at home, and you’ll learn the value of scheduled, routine training time with your dog and how it can benefit your relationship.
Not only will they learn to obey and respect you, but training can build a dog’s confidence, trust and affection, too! Professional training can help bridge communication gaps between pups and their owners and result in an overall stronger and closer relationship.
5. Better Communication
In order for your relationship with your dog to flourish, you need to be able to understand one another, at least to some degree – a professional trainer can help you achieve this.
A great dog trainer is adept at understanding a dog’s body language and will be able to help you make those same connections between their behavior and what the dog is saying.
Most of the time, our dogs want to make us happy, but they don’t always know how to express themselves. Professional training can help make your two worlds collide so you have a better understanding of what your dog needs, which in turn will encourage positive behavior.
6. Prevent Bad Habits
We all know that prevention is better than cure. This is especially true when it comes to developing bad habits!
Working with a trainer from an early age will help you and your pup avoid the development of poor habits like chewing, digging, excessive barking, and aggression. Trainers will use positive reinforcement to encourage positive behavior and automatically discourage naughtiness!
7. Socialization
We all know the importance of socializing your puppy from a young age. It helps them play nicely with others, learn how to behave in company, and treat those around them with gentleness. Early socialization is also important for your pup’s own anxiety, getting them used to being around unfamiliar people, animals, and places without getting overwhelmed.
Sending your dog off to a trainer (especially at a puppy school or training center) can be great for their socialization skills. They’ll be exposed to other animals on a regular basis and learn important behavioral skills.
8. Problem-Solving Skills
This is a skill for the owners, not the dogs. That’s right; puppy training can teach you as an owner great critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will help you be a better pet parent.
With the help of a professional, you’ll learn more about what your dog needs, what their behavior means, and how they express themselves.
You’ll also learn how to use this knowledge to help them and, in doing so, help yourself in the long run.
9. Professional Skills and Experience
Of course, with the internet at our disposal, it’s easy to think that anyone could train their dog quite easily without any professional intervention.
However, this is unfortunately how many misbehaved dogs are raised, creating frustration and resentment in a household that can cause great anxiety in all parties.
Puppy owners, especially when it’s their first time raising a pet, could always benefit from the knowledge, specialized skills, and training tools of a professional. While online resources can be helpful, there’s no replacing the years of experience a dog trainer will be able to use to help you and your dog thrive.
