If you look at my photos and videos, you’ll notice I don’t wear a uniform when training dogs.
I used to. I used to have shirts and other items with my logo on it. But not anymore.
Here’s why.
Dogs notice all the small details about us during every interaction. Including our clothing. Yes, they see how you do your hair, perfume, type of purse, that jacket, that bucket, that harness, the smell of that food on your fingertips, the position of your fingers, your eyebrows, that leash, the car you are driving, how you walk, how you breathe, your tone of voice… anything that might predict what might be happening next.
For example, dogs notice if you have a treat pouch on you today. That signals to them that treats are coming, and you’ll get a more motivated dog at that time. Then when you don’t have a treat pouch on you, you can get the opposite, a dog that won’t listen to you.
You get a similar effect if you always train a dog in a particular location. The location starts to signal to the dog and create an expectation of reward. That’s why competitive sports, for the bigger events, prohibit competitors from training on those grounds prior to the competition day. To do so would give them an advantage. Did you know that top competitors wear the same clothes in training that they will use in competition? They also typically have a routine they use prior to going onto the competition field to signal to the dog, to prime the dog about what is about to happen.
So, if a dog notices me wearing a uniform on every lesson, then that will be no different than me wearing a treat pouch. Since I train dogs to do real world obedience, they need to see my students and myself as they would in any random real-world situation.
So, if it looks “unprofessional”, then you are missing the point. The professional prepares the dog for real work, not a fake demonstration. I attend to a lot of small details and try to anticipate, as best as a human can, how a dog might view that situation. I want to be unpredictable on many small details rather than use predictable things that won’t exist once the lessons are over. The real world is unpredictable.
The rare time I do wear a uniform, it is for some business purpose. In those cases, it isn’t for the sake of the dog, it is a tool to create an expectation in the people I am going to meet. We do the same thing with each other.
Plan accordingly.