You're looking for a dog trainer. You've Googled, you've scrolled Instagram, you've asked the dog park crew. The names blur together. They all sound qualified. Half of them have shiny before-and-afters and five-star reviews. None of that tells you whether they can actually help your dog.
Here is what does.
1.Watch the trainer's own dog
Or watch a demo dog they've worked with. The trainer's own dog is their portfolio. If their dog is balanced, relaxed, nonchalant about its surroundings, that trainer will teach your dog to be the same. If their dog is hyper-focused on the handler, intense and highly aroused, that dog is waiting for guidance every second and is probably demanding to live with. A settled dog, in tune with its owner, is what good training looks like.
A trainer who can't get their own dog calm in their own home is not the person to call when yours is reactive on a walk.
2.Ask them to read a dog they've never met
Send them a video clip of your dog in a moment you find difficult. Ask: what is my dog telling me here? What's underneath this?
If they jump straight to "we'll desensitise" or "we'll teach an alternate behaviour" without describing what they're seeing, they're starting from a tool, not from your dog. The good ones describe the dog's body first: where the weight is, where the eyes are going, what's tightening. You don't need to understand all of it. You're checking whether they're noticing it.
3.Ask how they would teach you to read your dog
This is the question most trainers won't have a clean answer to. Most teach the dog. Few teach the owner. Yours has to do both, because you are the one with your dog every minute outside the session.
If their plan involves you delivering cues and treats with perfect timing during the worst moments of your week, they have not solved the problem. They have moved it.
4.Ask about a recent client where things didn't go well
A trainer with a track record will have one. Listen for what they say. Did they blame the dog? The owner? Did they describe what they learned from it?
A trainer who has never had a hard case is either new or not telling you the truth. Both are reasons to look elsewhere.
5.Watch out for guarantees and rigid bundles
Behaviour is not a product with a refund policy. Anyone promising a fixed outcome in a fixed number of sessions is making a promise that depends entirely on factors outside their control: your home, your time, your follow-through, your dog's history. Honest pricing covers their time and expertise. It does not promise an outcome.
Long pre-paid bundles before the trainer has met your dog are a separate flag. A first session should be enough for a real trainer to tell you whether they're the right fit. If they are, you can buy more then.
6.Ask about tools, then listen for dogma
The honest answer to "do you use prong collars, e-collars, treats, clickers" is some version of: it depends on the dog. Trainers who would never touch a particular tool under any circumstance, or who use one tool for every dog, are working from belief rather than from the dog in front of them. Beliefs are fine in life. They're a problem in dog training.
7.Trust your dog more than the marketing
After one or two sessions, look at your dog. Not at lessons learned. Not at how confident the trainer sounded. Just look at your dog. Is the dog softer? Is the body looser? Is sleep deeper? Are the small interactions at home easier?
Behaviour change shows up in the body before it shows up anywhere else. If your dog is more stressed two weeks in than they were before, the method is not working, regardless of how many cues they can now do.
That's the short version
Most of what makes a trainer worth your time is in those seven questions. The rest is whether you trust the person.
If you'd like me to take a look at your dog and tell you what I see, that's what I do every week. Even if I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you who in Melbourne might be.
