General skills such as good communications and social relations are important in a professional career in dog training as most of your time will be spent educating owners how to train their dogs.
To be a successful dog trainer, you must be "competent." If your dog training experience and skills are picked up from books, then you will encounter problems correcting and solving dog behavior problems. Not only will your clients be complaining and unsatisfied with your service, your will find it hard trying to rebuild your reputation within the neighborhood where you base your dog training business.
However, if you are truly passionately and committed to carve out career in dog training, then you will need to become a capable, knowledgeable and proficient dog trainer who understands different canine behavior and how to train to breed with the right techniques.
A career in dog training can begin in two ways:
PROFESSIONAL DOG TRAINING SCHOOLS
Professional dog training schools are a good way to begin as they provide courses necessary to coach the students in the shortest amount of time the skills needed to become a professional dog trainer.
You will need to check with your local pet stores or veterinary hospitals for reference and recommendations.
A credible training course fees can start from $3,000 all the way up to $18,000 for more advanced training programs.
APPRENTICESHIP
However if you have a budget, you can chose to start out as an apprentice by volunteering with the local dog shelters, rescue groups or guide dogs training centers.
Your training experience will be dictated by the center where you volunteered. In some centers, your apprenticeship training will be subjected to the variety of dogs coming in. In others, you might be given a dog to guide and train with till it pass out as a certified guide or service dog.
The only drawback for apprenticeship programs is that you must prepare to labor long hours, performing routine tasks before you will get an opportunity to work with dogs.
Be ready to spend a minimum average of 3 years with the apprenticeship center before you will qualify as a professional dog trainer or instructor.
Word of Advice:
Avoid any mail or internet courses that claim that you can become a skilled dog trainer.
While inexpensive, these correspondence courses at most can only offer you basic information on a career in dog training and elementary levels of dog trainer skills. Just imagine who would be there to supervise or correct you when you make a mistake.
TRAINING PROGRAMS:
There are many dog training programs and the basic subjects cover solving basic dog behavioral problems and obedience training.
Aside from the basics, to become a qualified and professional trainer, you will also need to learn:
- the history and background of every dog breed,
- how to communicate effectively with different breeds,
- how to solve complex behavioral problems such as phobias and aggression,
- basic to advanced dog tricks and commands,
- how to prepare and train dogs for different competitions, as well as,
- proper dog hygiene, nutrition and grooming so that you can counsel and present training advice to your clients to bring up healthy, well groomed and well behaved dogs.
COMPENASTION OF A PROFESSIONAL DOG TRAINER
You can begin your professional career in dog training handling dogs full or part time. An average working week of a dog trainer is about 30 - 35 hours and that can include evenings, weekends and holidays. As a start, you can look forward to earn $50 per lesson and gradually to $200 per session once you become more experienced. Most full time dog trainers can earn between $30,000 to $100,000 annually.
To get ahead financially as a dog trainer, you will have to start establishing a client base who will recommend your service to their friends. Start with your local vets, groomers, pet sitters and pet stores by asking them to refer clients to you. Most of the successful dog trainers build on their business from referrals of satisfied customers.
Therefore, a career in dog training can be the most fun, enriching and satisfying profession if you truly cherish dogs and adore helping folks.
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