Dog training is an un-regulated profession - anyone can call themselves a dog trainer and there are a lot of people calling themselves trainers and behaviourists who are, let's say, "less than effective". Some of the names they trade under sound professional and may even be familiar to you. Some of these people can sound highly convincing as they sit sipping coffee in your front room but that doesn't make them an experienced practitioner.

Every week, we go out to cases where the client has already had a house visit by a so-called "trainer" or "behaviourist" who has, frankly, achieved little or nothing other than to part the client from the fee.

There are lots of reasons why a dog might not respond to a particular program of training - sometimes the dog may have underlying medical problems or you, the client, haven't done what the trainer told you to properly for whatever reason etc.

The commonest reason for failure though is that the person who came out to you simply did not know how to fix the problem. Sometimes, the less scrupulous ones will cover their backs by telling you the problem is insoluble and not to bother going to anyone else (in case you then discover that they are wrong and sue them for your money back).

There certainly are effectively insoluble problems in dog behaviour but experience shows that they are a minority of cases. It is rather more likely that you have been conned and sold an excuse-line.

Is there any way of telling the good ones from the less good ones ?

At the local level, no. At national level, look in the dog magazines and see who the leading effective trainers are - the ones that get results, not the ones that seem to like just talking about it.

Is anyone doing anything about this situation ?

Yes. The Cambridge Institute of Dog Behaviour and Training is the first and only organisation in Britain offering a university degree course in dog behaviour and training. The course has been written by leading experienced, practical dog trainers and approved by Middlesex University. The eventual aim is to get the government to legislate to compel dog trainers to be properly qualified.

Hopefully, snake-oil, Stetsons and the merry jingling of silver spurs will soon be a thing of the past in the dog-training world.