What do you look for in a dog trainer??

George is fear aggressive & although he knows his basic commands they all go out of the window if there are any distractions. He nearly got into serious trouble today with a Rotty but luckily there was a gate between them
As he is my first dog I have never had to look for a trainer & here in Turkey there is not a lot of choice & those that there are all claim to be fantastic but what should I be looking for to make sure they know what they are doing ???

I would try to ensure that you find a predominantly positive trainer. No rattle cans, no disks or chains to throw down, no alpha rolling, yelling or leash pops. If any of them use Behaviour Adjustment Therapy (BAT) or "Look at That" (LAT) so much the better. The last thing you want with a fear aggressive dog is to scare it more. Some of the old-fashioned "show them who's boss" techniques seem to work in the short term, but just lead to tougher problems in the future.

Hello Joe if you were in the UK I would be saying go for a member of the APDT who have a code of ethics and use only positive training methods .

As you are in Turkey I don't know other than to say I agree with Mala's post above. I would find a trainer and attend a training session without your dog and before signing up so you can asses them .

Other than that I think maybe buy some good books.
I would start with Jean Donaldson's 'The Culture Clash' which has an element of understanding dog behaviour and training.

Thanks for the replies & advice it's so difficult here as everyone claims to be an expert when infact they have no qualifications at all & even getting books delivered is a problem
I think the main thing for me will be to see if George seems comfortable with him & watch him do some training first. The BAT &LAT advice I will look up on the net
Thanks again!!

Just a quick update, the trainer wanted to take George away for a month to correct his behaviour but I was not prepared to let that happen. I had no idea how he would be working with George & how he would be looked after so I guess it's down to me to do the best I can.
Thanks for the help guys

Glad you didnt let him do that!!!!!!

I'm fairly new to dog ownership but was lucky enough to stumble on Sue Ailsby's Training Levels fairly early on. She makes a whole training plan available online. It's not specifically for dealing with dog aggression, but it gives a step-by-step guide to clicker training dogs from the very beginning. If you also join the Yahoo support group you will be guided to video links showing you how to get started and can ask the others members for help.

For dog aggression your best bet is classical conditioning - exposing your dog to his trigger (another dog), working out how far away you have to be for your dog not to react and then associating the experience with something your dog loves - food or play. It's very slow, but the process of training your dog and working with him helps build trust in your relationship.

My dog has started going nuts when she sees a German Shepherd Dog. If I see one in the park I move away and say "look at that" in a soft but excited voice. Then I click my clicker and give her a treat. At first she was way too hyper to take a treat, so I moved further away and then held the treat to her muzzle until she took it, even if she dropped it straight away.

After a while (weeks) she will now turn to me when I say "look at that" instead of staring fixedly at the dog, straining at the leash and barking, because she knows she'll get a treat. At some point I'll see if we can move closer and still keep her focus. It's a technique from Leslie McDevitt's book "Control Unleashed".

There's quite a lot you can do to change your dog's behaviour and even if it takes ages to see progress, the process of working with your dog and seeing him learn is very rewarding.

Have fun!

Thanks, I'll have a look at those sites It all seems a bit daunting at the moment but every now & then you see an improvement & it's all worth while. I guess the trick is not losing hope & keep plugging away

You can be your own good trainer. there is so much information around to help, you just need to recognise the not so good.

Very glad you didn't let your dog go with them. They should be training you with your dog and, as you quite rightly said, you would have no idea what methods they were using if you were there.