The Difference Between A Dog Trainer And A Behaviour Expert

Many dog-related careers are often not understood by the general public. A common example is what the actual difference between an animal behaviorist and a dog trainer is?

People who work with dogs have a variety of titles, some are trainers, some are there to deal with there behavior, mainly because the two go together. You must take into consideration that not all trainers are equipped enough to deal with behavior issues.

There are currently no laws in place to differentiate the two, but as a consumer, you will quickly be able to see the differences between the two. Do your research before hiring someone to help you with your dog’s behavioral issues.

What Do Dog Trainers Do?

Dog trainers generally earn their money showing the dog owners what to and how to teach their pets. A dog trainer can provide the owner with basic obedience training, or give lessons on certain specialized activities like protection, rescue, and law enforcement.

Individual training is usually only given to dogs that suffer from serious aggression, insecurity, separation anxiety, and similar issues.

There are a number of methods that work for dogs with these types of issues, like clicker training, the Koehler method, and relationship-based training, among others. To ensure success, the trainer needs to understand the dog in question to be able to train them in the correct manner. Breed and age do play a part.

What is A Dog Behaviour Expert?

As stated before, anyone can claim to be a behaviorist, however, these people are actually known as Applied Animal Behaviorists and they get this title from being formally educated in their field, getting wither a Ph.D, MS, or MA. Some take it further and go for their ACAAB or CAAB. You can kind of think of them as animal psychologists in a way.

A dog behaviour expert is there to shape the behavior of a pet and can usually be found helping those animals who are showing signs of abnormal behavior. They are there to show you how you can work with your dog to achieve success. A really good expert in the field of dog behavior expert will not only be able to help your pet, but they will also be able to help you to understand your pet better. They will often spend a lot of time giving humans counseling on top of the work that they do with your beloved pooch.