What You Need to Do to Become a Dog Trainer

A dog trainer is someone who teaches a dog to be more obedient, whether it be training them to obey commands or to decrease their aggression or other inappropriate behaviours.

They often work every day with the same dog, their training methods often consisting of working with them in small time increments for maximum results. A professional trainer will often specialise in a particular area, like animal behaviour modification or obedience.

Dog trainers can work in various areas, such as:

It depends on which area you decide to work in. If you’re working for the police force, then yes, it is mandatory to get certification to be part of the canine handler team.

However, other than that, certification is optional, though taking the time to get it would certainly be appreciated by potential employers and clients as it will show your commitment to ethical conduct and dog training as a whole.

While you don’t need a degree to become a dog trainer, you will need to at least complete high school and have experience working with dogs.

If you don’t want to be an employee for someone, you can always start your own business. In fact, most dog trainers are self-employed, often holding group or private lessons at boarding facilities or at their client’s house.

You will need to know how to market your business through social media, know the ins and outs of website design, accounting, bookkeeping, and how to price your services competitively.

You will also have to check with your local government to understand the exact process needed to register your business. The good thing about dog training businesses, in general, is that the cost of running it is low compared to others since most of the training will happen in your client’s home or a boarding kennel.

Boarding kennels, in particular, are very useful to work at, since you can negotiate a contract with them for regular training programs, which can cut your travel costs substantially.

You can become a dog trainer through experience and doing a course A course can teach you about the various techniques used in training classes and animal care in general. If you’re after some online dog training courses, then you can find some here.

Since you’ll be working with animals, you are more likely to be injured than say, if you worked at an office job.

However, the more experience you have and the better your understanding when it comes to reducing aggression in dogs, the less of a chance you and the dog you’re training will get injured.

Also, keep in mind that you’re going to get dirty at your workplace, obviously because you’re going to be working with dogs.

If you like to keep clean, then this is probably not the job for you. However, if you’re passionate about taking care of dogs and just enjoy being around them, then this could be the right job for you.