22/10/2026
Well said.
You'll often hear someone say, "I've been working with dogs for 20 years," as though that alone should be sufficient evidence of their expertise.
Experience is valuable. Working with dogs, observing and recognising body language and developing skills are essential to becoming a trainer. But experience and education are not mutually exclusive. You can, and arguably should, have both.
If somebody has spent 20 years using the same methods without questioning them, exploring new research or understanding behaviour, what have those 20 years actually taught them? There's a difference between having 20 years of experience and repeating one year of experience 20 times.
Without an understanding of learning theory, behavioural science, stress physiology and animal welfare, we risk confusing the suppression of behaviour with genuine behavioural improvement.
Dogs are another species, with their own evolutionary history, sensory experiences, communication systems and biological needs. If we're making a living influencing their behaviour, particularly when they cannot verbally explain what they're experiencing, shouldn't we want to understand them?
Imagine consulting a psychologist whose only qualification was having worked with people for a long time. We'd have questions.
Yet in dog training, individuals can advertise themselves as experts in aggression and other complex behaviours without having any recognised formal education in animal behaviour.
I'm not suggesting every trainer needs a degree, or that academic qualifications automatically make someone competent. But anyone offering professional advice on animal behaviour should be able to demonstrate an investment in understanding the science.
It's not simply the qualification. It's what pursuing it says about someone's approach to their profession. Studying requires time, money, effort and, perhaps most importantly, a willingness to have your beliefs challenged. The more you learn, the more you realise how much you don't know.
Experience matters. But experience should never become an excuse to stop learning.
