I Want to be a Dog Trainer, But How?

[GSDOWNER]

It's the dog lover's dream, to pay the bills and have a job you truly love, that you are thrilled to get up and perform each day, helping other dog owners and learning more and more each day. That job, that dream, is the life lived by most professional dog trainers. If you've ever had [...]I Want to be a Dog Trainer, But How? is a post from: My Dog Magazine






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That would be one of the most rewarding jobs ever! Reading the article there is a lot of hard work involved but the rewards of working with animals would be so worth it! I think it takes a special person to do this job well!

Catriona xx

[Kaylie]

I think this is something i would like to do later on in life would be such an amazing job!

[Stuart]

I am sure it would be a nice job,.. but not every dog owner would manage, its not just a case of loving dogs and taking the training,... I think one of the most important qualifications is to have a `feel` for the job,..every dog is different and every dog may need different approaches, dispite what training may or may not say about a certain situation,..... but it must be great for those who manage it

[Kaylie]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I am sure it would be a nice job,.. but not every dog owner would manage, its not just a case of loving dogs and taking the training,... I think one of the most important qualifications is to have a `feel` for the job,..every dog is different and every dog may need different approaches, dispite what training may or may not say about a certain situation,..... but it must be great for those who manage it

I agree there must be a 'feel' for it. I think the most difficult bit would be not getting at all emotionally attached or being able to be affectionate to the dogs!

[kita]

You have to really understand people as well and know how best to communicate with the owners.

It is no use just understanding the behaviour of dogs!

Sue

[Vislor]

Originally Posted by kita

You have to really understand people as well and know how best to communicate with the owners.

It is no use just understanding the behaviour of dogs!

Sue

I was training to be a secondary school music teacher before I joined the family business at our Dog Training Centre. One thing I learned from teacher training is it doesn't matter how good you are at your subject, teaching it is a totally different skill set.

I met brilliant musicians who were hopeless at teaching and hopeless musicians who were brilliant at teaching.

I've also met many dog trainers who have read more books about dog training, animal behaviourism or learning theory than I've had hot dinners and can't even get their dog to sit.

My dad has severe dyslexia and has only ever read one book all the way through in his life (Give Your Dog a Bone: The Practical Commonsense Way to Feed Dogs For a Long Healthy Life), he doesn't have the most extensive vocabulary and he's possibly the worst business man in the world but he's one of the best dog trainers I've ever seen (biased I know) and I've been all over the continent meeting hundreds of them since I was born.

I think the key skills you need to have to be a good dog trainer are:
1. Willingness to learn/Open mind, dads tried and tested almost every method and attended almost every dog training seminar, picking up what works and discarding what doesn't until he's compiled his own method and filled his 'magic box of tricks' as he calls it.
2. Good Problem Solving Skills, not two dogs/problems/solutions are the same
3. Tenacity/Consistency
4. Emotional Detachment, not in a nasty way but to be able to train with a clear head without frustration or too much excitement
5. Experience, about 25 years should do it
6. Timing/Coordination
7. 'Feel', something you have to be born with I think.

There are many many dog trainers out there and I've recently discovered after looking into it myself that anyone can call themselves an 'animal behaviourist' as there is no standardised qualification for it. If you really want to know if they are good or not its a good start if they've consistently proved it in some form of recognisable dog sport/trial/qualification at a reasonable level. We know lots of extremely successful 'Dog Trainers' who are good friends of ours that will happily admit in private that they haven't got a clue but have the people skills to build a business out of it regardless of their ability or lack of it.

People can claim many things in this business. 'I'm considered one of the best animal behaviourists in the country' or 'I've got many years experience' or 'I've got a special gift for training animals' but I could just as easily claim that I own the moon or that I'm Angelina Jolie's boyfriend...

[Jude]

I agree with the above post. When I first started training dogs back in the late 70s there were no "official " qualifications and I attended just about every seminar going - usually run by obedience competition people and well known trainers of obedience dogs. As far as I can remember the professional dog training exams started in the early 80s and I was not impressed by those that I came across who had passed these as although many of them knew the theory they could not put it into practice and certainly could not teach others. In my opinion there is nothing to beat experience and an open mind as well as having some knowledge of dog behaviour. I used to train at several clubs/training groups and also took private referrals from the vets, including a few celebs. Training the dogs is the easy part - the problems come when trying to train the owners!! I have now pretty much retired as a "trainer" but still occasionally help people out when asked and work with my own dog - sadly on her own at the moment but I am working on this...!