Why dog training fails, part II, crooked trainers

Back in May I did a blog on why dog training fails. I tried to explain why training fails sometimes to help you when selecting a trainer. I deliberately made “You aren’t comfortable with the dog trainer” the last section.

I struggled with the writing of that section. Most of the struggle was because a lot of dog trainers aren’t bad people, they just can’t train your dog. They are incompetent not crooked.

But I pulled the punches on that too, because I was aware of one trainer who runs a scam. Your dog is always the one with a severe problem. He can fix it but you need to come back for more training. The problem is I have never seen, nor have I ever met anyone who has ever seen a dog he finished.

I have seen dogs that the owners have decided to come to me to fix. And each one of those dogs has been conditioned to aggressive. And since the dog is still aggressive, he told them they needed to have more training. The goal seems to be to keep you coming back and spending more money until you finally give up on the dog.

I decided to stay away from that in the blog as I thought this trainer was so far out of the norm as to be one of those rare situations that are so likely never to happen anywhere else that there was no point in warning about it.

I was wrong.

Last week KKTV here in Colorado Springs posted a news story on a dog trainer here in Colorado Springs. A family had contracted the trainer about training three dogs. They signed a contract and dropped off the dogs. When they came back three days later, one of the dogs was missing. They located the dog near a busy highway. The retrieved the other two dogs and asked for refund. The trainer refused. They contacted the TV station.

If you want to learn more Google “kktv dog training”.

The trainer has been accused of being an ex con who learned dog training in prison. He has never answered the question directly. I don’t know if he is or not. But his evasive answers sure resemble those of experienced liars.

A lot of prisons have dog training programs. And they do some impressive work with dogs. Dogs that might otherwise be put down become great pets. And people in prison can learn a skill that might keep them out of trouble once they get out.

If you have read my blogs before, or read my profile, you know I am a retired Deputy Sheriff here in El Paso County Colorado.

I know a lot of ex cons. And some of them are people who my investigations put in prison. Some of them did their time, learned their lesson, and have come back determined to never repeat the behavior that got them in trouble.

But not all of them chose to change. Some of them think they have found ways not to get caught the next time. It never works, but they keep hoping rather than changing.

This would not be the first time someone got out of prison with a skill that they used to run a scam rather than a legitimate business

I have come to the sad conclusion that this is not an isolated case.

Two years ago I picked up a business magazine with an article of the pet industry. It put the total industry, not just training but all pet related businesses, as a 7 billion dollar a year industry.

If there is money to be made somewhere, you can bet the crooks are going to show up.

So how do you protect yourself? First and foremost, do your research.

Start with the internet. Any search engine will take you to a list of trainers.

But use more than one search engine. If you find me on Yahoo I have only one review, on Google I have 14. On Dex I have seven. Same business, but obviously most of my customers use Google.

Be suspicious of anyone who has a lot of reviews on a less used site. Think about it. Why would you have a lot of reviews on a site where none of the other trainers have any?

Be very suspicious of testimonials on the trainer’s website. Come on, I did my website. I can put down anything I want and you have no way of knowing whether it was edited by me, written by my best friend, or just made up. If the website says the business has only been open less than a year, and the testimonial page thanks the trainer for years of work, you should be suspicious.

Be wary of people who want you to leave the dog to be trained. There are people who do that kind of training and you are going to get a trained dog. They are great people. But if the trainer is not going to work the dog, or do things that mean you have to spend more money, are they going to want you to see the training?

Don’t count on them being in business a long time as a guarantee of success. Bernie Madoff ran a con for years. And I bet he had a great website.

Watch them train. If they have group then go to their group session. If everything is privates then get a couple of times to go in and do not let them know when you are showing up. What you see is probably going to be what you get, if you control when you see it.

Don’t be rushed into signing with the trainer. If I am good at what I do, then I don’t have to sign up everyone I talk to. If I am not, then I only get one shot at separating you from your money and I can’t afford to let anyone get away.

When I trained cops I used to teach them that:

If it walks like a duck

And it talks like a duck

It is probably going to be a duck.

It is better for your dog if you walk away from a good trainer than to sign up with a bad or crooked one.

Doug