Veterinary behaviourist (DACVB or equivalent)
$300+ per consultation, often more for the firstDiagnosis, medical rule-out, prescribing, and a treatment plan from someone who has seen your dog. The only tier that can tell you whether pain, thyroid disease or a urinary problem is driving this.
Right choice whenBite history. Sudden onset in an adult dog. Self-injury. Anything where a medical cause is plausible. This is not the expensive version of a trainer — it is a different profession.
Certified separation-anxiety trainer
$515–750 for a four-week packageDaily or near-daily live coaching through real absences, usually over video, from someone who works on this one problem.
Right choice whenSevere separation anxiety, and you want a human watching the absences with you. This is the gold standard for the problem and it is the reason a hundred-dollar written plan can look cheap.
Local behaviour consultant, in person
$100–300 per sessionEyes on your actual dog in your actual home or street, and hands-on help with mechanics.
Right choice whenAnything you cannot describe well in writing, and any case where you want somebody accountable in the room.
Live-video training subscription
around $30 per week, ongoingA real trainer over video on a weekly cadence.
Right choice whenYou want accountability more than you want a document. Watch the total: a year of this is more than any one-off on this page.
A written plan built for your dog
$99, or $149 with a revision roundA week-by-week programme assembled from a sourced protocol library for your dog, your street and your schedule, read and corrected by a person before it reaches you.
Right choice whenYou have consumed the free material and what you are missing is decisions rather than information. No live coaching, and we refuse the cases that need it.
Online course
$49–99 one-timeStructured instruction in a named method.
Right choice whenYou have not yet learned the method and you are comfortable applying it to your own dog yourself.
Free protocols, wikis and video
$0Genuinely good material, in many mutually contradictory versions.
Right choice whenAlways start here. If you can choose between the contradictions and stay consistent for eight weeks, you do not need to spend anything.