28/09/2026
The problem with these pop-up social media dog trainers…
This is something that really gets under my skin.
Social media has made it incredibly easy for someone to suddenly decide they’re a dog trainer.
They’ve owned a dog.
They’ve watched a load of videos.
They’ve read a few books.
They’ve had a bit of success with their own dog.
And suddenly they’re advertising themselves as an experienced trainer, sometimes even claiming extensive experience with behaviour modification.
But there is a massive difference between having an interest in dogs and actually having years of hands-on experience working with other people’s dogs.
And nowhere is that difference more important than behaviour work.
A nervous dog isn't just a dog that needs a few obedience exercises.
A reactive dog isn't just a dog that needs to be “corrected”.
A dog with anxiety, fear, aggression or serious behavioural problems needs someone who actually understands what they're looking at.
You need to be able to read the dog in front of you. You need to understand why the behaviour is happening, what is maintaining it, what the owner is doing, what the environment is doing, and how to change things without making the problem worse.
And that comes from experience.
Real experience.
Watching somebody else do it on YouTube isn't experience.
Having one dog yourself isn't experience.
Helping a couple of friends isn't experience.
And being very good at marketing yourself definitely isn't experience.
I've been doing this for a long time, and I'm still learning. Every dog teaches you something. Every case is different. And there are cases where the responsible thing to do is say, “This isn't something I'm the right person to deal with.”
That isn't weakness. That's knowing your limitations.
What concerns me is when people who don't have that experience start taking on complicated behaviour cases because they genuinely don't understand how much they don't know.
And the owner has no idea.
They just see a confident person on Instagram telling them they've got years of experience.
So please, before you hand your dog over to someone because their social media looks impressive, look past the social media.
Ask them about their actual experience.
What sort of dogs have they worked with?
What sort of behavioural problems have they dealt with?
How long have they genuinely been doing it?
What happens when a case doesn't go to plan?
And, perhaps most importantly, do they have the experience to know when they're out of their depth?
Because your dog isn't a social media experiment.
And behaviour modification isn't something you should learn at the expense of somebody else's dog.
There are some realy good real world trainers out there who have put years into learning their craft.
Find one of those.
Don't confuse confidence online with competence in the real world.
