diff --git a/dlib/svm/svm_c_linear_trainer.h b/dlib/svm/svm_c_linear_trainer.h
index fb729430f..e98b0082b 100644
--- a/dlib/svm/svm_c_linear_trainer.h
+++ b/dlib/svm/svm_c_linear_trainer.h
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ namespace dlib
                 cout << endl;
             }
 
+            if (current_objective_value == 0)
+                return true;
+
             if (current_error_gap/current_objective_value < eps)
                 return true;