Resources & Trainers

Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists can provide effective, scientific, state of the art help to understand, prevent, and manage your pet’s behavior.

Veterinarians & behaviorists can also provide you with support.

Trainers

It is important to find trainers that understand how to work with fearful dogs. Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer, but it doesn’t mean that they have studied the current literature on dog behavior. A bad trainer can make matters worse for you and your dog.

Beware the use of ‘dominance‘ to explain a dog’s inappropriate behavior. Dogs are social creatures who use cooperation far more often than competition or conflict to solve problems with people or other dogs.

I am not personally familiar with the trainers on this list. I ask that anyone who would like to be listed is skilled in using force/coercion-free training techniques with dogs and has experience with the protocols used to address fear based behaviors in dogs. I welcome feedback on any trainer on this list. If you are a trainer and would like to be included on this list, or know a trainer who should be, please contact me.

Questions to ask a trainer

How would you describe the type of training methods you teach?

You want to hear ‘positive reinforcement’, ‘relationship based’, ‘reward based’ or ‘clicker training’ somewhere in their answer. These are not the only ways to help scared dogs but are less likely to cause your dog’s behavior to become worse, as can happen if dogs are punished for their behavior.

What was the last training book you read? What did you think of it?

Do an online search and see who wrote the book and when it was written. Read it yourself.

Who is your favorite trainer? Which trainers have you learned the most from?

Names of well-known positive reinforcement trainers include; Patricia McConnell, Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar, Pat Miller, Karen Pryor, Suzanne Clothier, Ken Ramirez, Nicole Wilde, Ali Brown.

Avoid Cesar Millan enthusiasts (most professional trainers do not believe he’s as wonderful as TV audiences do). ‘Balanced’ training usually means that the trainer uses a combination of both positive reinforcement and punishment during training. This can be confusing for many dogs and punishment (as most people know it) should be avoided when training fearful dogs.

How long have you been training dogs?

Do you have experience working with fearful dogs? Have you been successful helping these dogs?

Is there someone I can contact as a reference?

The Certification Council For Professional Dog Trainers also lets you search for trainers in your area.

California

Amy Cook-Oakland

Go Fetch Dog Training- San Francisco

Pawsitive Tails-San Francisco

Braveheart Dog Training-San Leandro

R+ Dog Training-Davis

BADDogsInc Family Dog Training & Behavior- Riverside County• Inland Valley • San Bernardino County • Eastern Orange County

Paws and Praise Dog Training- East Bay, Oakland, Alameda, Walnut Creek, Berkeley