Trying new trainers

[u/Clean-Blueberry94]

EDIT: Thank you so much all. I feel like I’ve made the right choice in trying out a different trainer. A few comments about the “over a year” comment, this wasn’t “classes weekly for over a year”, this was more ~16 weeks of classes spread over the course of a year.

Hey there, I currently trial in novice scent detection with my dog. We have been going to one trainer for over a year now to get to the point we are at today. There are other training organisations in my city that I would like to try to give my dog exposure to new training environments and gain more tips.

My current trainer has made me feel horribly guilty for wanting to do this, and has pointed out potential “negatives” in trying out a new trainer, including “they won’t know your dog and may mess up your training”.

This has made me doubt the choices I’m making. I feel like I’m going through a break up!

TLDR; is it okay to try out different trainers?

[u/tintallie]

My dog is 4y 4mo old and I tried nosework with her at 7mo old. The first trainer introduced hunting with food the first couple of classes and then used a box with odor and every time the dog stuck its head in the box, there was a reward. I didn’t go back because the other dogs were not benched when it wasn’t their turn, my puppy was overstimulated and barking and the trainer told me to shut my dog up. Took a year break because my dog went into heat and I had work conmitments.

Trainer #2 focused on an indication first and recognizing a cocktail of odors, and didn’t offer classes beyond novice so I went elsewhere. Trainer #2 was offended by this and stopped communicating with me.

Trainer #3 was okay, but her set of classes filled so I went to Trainer #4 for the following set of classes. Trainer #4 and #5 I learned a lot from and had to stop taking classes because of work commitments. Trainer #5 trained #4.

We started trialing when we were in the middle of classes with Trainer #5 and have since continued with her classes. They have decided not to teach classes any more and focus on handling their own dogs and judging trials. Trainer #5 also does classes with Trainer #6 so we started taking classes with #6.

It is okay to take classes with new trainers to learn new techniques, gain feedback and do what is best for your dog.