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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1444451" data-attributes="member: 177">Spoke with my fiancee about trainers and such...Unfortunately, as a professional she can't go about reccommending trainers.  There's to large a liability issue associated with it.  Plus, there are enough of them around that keeping track of them would take too much time from actually helping sick animals.  She has heard some good things about classes available at our local Petsmart and Petco stores, but cannot vouch for them.  But you might include your local stores in your search.She definitely thinks that a trainer is called for before you go to a behavioral specialist.  Which is good, because the trainer would be cheaper and more fun, as well.A few tips:Avoid trainers that use pinch collars or other pain stimulus as a training tool(you've already decided against that, so no new there).Avoid trainers who take your dog for a month, and give it back to you trained.  Sure, they train the dog, but only to obey them.   And they don't teach you.  And a large part of training a dog is training the owner to maintain the discipline.Avoid trainers that only come to your home.  They can teach you and train your dog, but your dog needs to learn to deal with social situations and other dogs outside your home.Any trainer worth the effort will allow you to sit in on a session (without your dog) to watch, see the dogs they help train, and talk with the other owners.  If the trainer acts in a harsh manner, find someone else.In general, shop around.  Don't jump at the first decent seeming trainer you come across.Try not to delay.  Monty's training probably should have started when he was about 4 months old.  The longeryou wait, the more his bad habits will get ingrained, and the harder he will be to change.Stick to the discipline.  A good trainer will probably give you many instructions about how to behave, and how not to behave around your dog.  Listen to them.  Every time you slack off on the discipline at home, away from the trainer, you weaken what's already been done.  Having a trained dog is not a "I went to the school, and now it's done" thing.  It's a commitment for the lifetime of the dog.And, perhaps most importantly, be patient.  Perhaps Monty is as smart as a whip, and will change completely overnight with a good trainer, but don't bet on it.  Expect only slow change over time.</blockquote>

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