Tips vs Training

When people hear I'm a dog-trainer I'm often asked for advice. If someone has a pain point with their pooch, it's not long before they ask questions like, "What do I do about my dog jumping up on people/eating my socks/digging up the garden/growling at me/rushing the fence", and so on. There's a myriad of ways in which our canines can challenge our comfort zones so it's not surprising that people will want to find out some quick and preferably easy answers to solve their problems.

The internet is a great place to get quick answers. A search in YouTube will give more instruction than you could could ever hope to reasonably digest and apply. You can curate your selected advice from different trainers, from different training methodologies, and select whatever style or personality most resonates with you.

In fact, why would you even want to go to a real life dog trainer when you can just ask advice or get tips off the internet? Isn't it a lot cheaper and easier to just get some pointers?

Because, training is more than tips and advice. 

When I'm providing dog training I'm working with the owners training their dogs, watching their understanding of what's happening in the moment, helping them with clear communication and helping them to build a relationship with their dog in which the dog understands that they are understood. Progression of training is also dependent upon the aptitude and motivation of the learner (both human and dog) so that's another variable that needs to be observed and adjusted for. Training is not just having the theory of what to do. It's also about how to do it.

So when people ask me for training advice, I'm always happy to give some ideas. But I'm not confident that is what most people need.