Many dog owners do not realise that there is a difference between a dog trainer and a dog behaviourist.

Dog Trainer

Obviously a person that specialises in teaching a dog commands, such as in obedience training. Obedience training doesn't focus on dog behaviour problems. Correct obedience training is very important in helping to develop and maintain a good owner and dog relationship. It helps us teach a dog commands to understand, so as to give us better control when needed.

Dog Behaviourist

Is one that specialises in dog behaviour, and the human and dog relationship. In most cases, obedience alone will not help us understand why a certain behaviour has developed and/or why it continues. In many cases obedience training will not help solve most behavioural problems we find in our dogs. Some dog trainers will try to use obedience training methodology to correct a dogs behaviour.This however in my opinion in many cases is only trying to correct the surface issues and not the underlying cause for the behaviour. By basing our behaviour modification on only correcting a behavioural problem does in many instances confuse a dog even more. As we are not understanding or dealing with the underlying or root cause of the problem.

As an example - I was contacted by a dog owner that had a dog with aggression issues towards visitors. She had told me she had another company out to try and fix the problem. They informed her to correct the dog each time it showed aggression by throwing a chain next to it and give a harsh tone. End result was a dog that became highly stressed and hid every time a visitor came. This procedure was in my opinion only dealing with the surface issue, and not the underlying cause of the problem. Hence a very confused and overly stressed dog.

My approach with this dog was to understand what was triggering the aggressive response and why. For this I focused on the relationship between the owner and dog. Not the visitor and dog. As the aggressive behaviour towards visitors was more a reactive response due to its relationship with the owners. This dog had a job to do..a job it wasn't genetically strong enough to handle. That job was, pack leader!

By throwing a chain near this dog and using harsh tones created more stress in the dog than it was already under. This dog was trying to maintain control of a pack, and visitors it considered a threat to its pack and/or position. This dog wasn't genetically capable of handling such responsibility. Not only this, but the dog was confused as to where its position was with the family, and what its job actually was. This confusion was due to the inconsistency of the dogs owners. Hence they had an anxious little dog in the home, that couldn't settle, and always on a mission.

Now not only did I have to deal with a very insecure little pack leader, but also a dog that had become even more highly stressed and had gone into total avoidance (shut down psychologically) whenever visitors came over, because of the advice already given.

I spent a few visits with this owner helping to develop the correct relationship that the dog could understand, and therefore building its confidence. Once we had the correct relationship between the owner and dog established, everything else including the avoidance behaviour and the aggression, disappeared.

The methods used by this other company to correct the behaviour of the dog, was only focusing on the aggression issue, and not understanding the root cause of the problem. This company even though advertise them selves as behaviour specialists, were actually in my opinion only very basic dog obedience trainers, that had no idea about dog behaviour and the dog and human relationship. The trainer was unable to read a dogs body language to understand that this dog was already highly stressed, and that stressing the dog even more by throwing a chain was the worst corrective training they could have used in this situation.

There is good money to be made for in-home dog behaviour problem solving, and this attracts many 'dog trainers with little experience' in to the behaviour modification area. However due to their lack of knowledge and experience, are using corrective training methods in many instances, when these methods should not have been used at all.

Me!

Now many will ask, but Mark are you not a dog trainer? Yes most definitely I am. I started my career as a dog trainer over 30 years ago. Since then I have been working full time in this profession. It is only in the last 10 years or so that I have called myself a behaviour specialist. I have spent all these years studying first hand the relationships between owners and their dogs, and now consider myself an expert in this area. Its not something I jumped into quickly with little knowledge or experience. I would say it took me at least 10+ years to really start to understand the human and dog relationship correctly. To be able to read subtle dog body language, and how this body language has a direct relationship with the dogs state of mind. How triggers are created, and why. That dogs are very sensitive to the energies projected by their owners, and how these energies affect the relationship with their dogs. How dogs view their relationship with us, and how it is so easy to confuse our dogs. Each day I am still learning, and will continue to do so.

All this can't be learned in a few months, let alone weeks. It takes years of learning and study, and willing to move outside the little box of obedience training. I will be the first to admit..many years ago, I too thought that obedience training our dogs and correcting unwanted behaviour is all that was required to have a well behaved dog.. Yet I was wrong, and over the years realised these methods were not in any way (in many cases) helping to establish a well balanced dog, and dog and human relationship.

My main focus now is helping dog owners understand their dogs better, and thereby helping their dog have a more consistent and well balanced relationship with their owners. Not just with obedience training, but more importantly how to understand their dog correctly, and how to live with and communicate in a way their dog understands. A totally holistic approach and understanding.