So I think I want to be a dog trainer

[Lunabear1988]

Am I crazy? I’m thinking of making a change in my life and I’m pretty passionate about training dogs. But I know it’s not the easiest career… Does anybody know any friends or family that are dog trainers?

The reasons I’m thinking about this is:
I am passionate about training animals. I’ve always been really involved in my horse’s training and have also raised a few puppies. I understand that doesn’t make me an expert and of course I would continue learning which I am already doing currently.

I have been told by multiple dog trainers (4 or 5) that I have great timing and understanding with the dogs. One of the trainers that told me this is a pretty big name locally and cost of pretty penny $250 an hour. He basically told me that I didn’t really need him and to just email him if I ever have any questions. This is about similar to a lot of the other trainers. They will give small pointers here and there but always tell me I’ve got the right idea and I’m on the right track.

I am good with people. I won’t say I’m a people person as an I choose animals over people but I have a great ability of talking to people and understanding. In packaging things up in a way that will be received well.

I’m good at teaching people as well. I have some experience teaching people in other areas so if my job entailed teaching people one-on-one or even in a group type setting I believe I could do that well.

I am aware that it’s not easy career and not really a good money-making path. Honestly right now I mostly just work part-time and am fortunate that my husband covers 98% of our bills. My income is basically horse money / entertainment money for our family.

What do you guys think? Am delusional?

[Altag]

Ideally, first get a few AKC Obedience titles on your own dogs, at least through the CDX (Open) level to start. Yes, you can show mixed breeds in obedience competition. Also spend time training full time (apprentice) for a good trainer. MOST (not all, but the vast majority) ^certification^ courses are not worth it and certifications for dog trainers mean little (if not side-eyed).

When you’ve trained enough dogs (~500 through basic level obedience, working with all kinds of temperaments, including aggressive dogs) and taught enough lessons to owners to have a solid background, you could start on the business end of setting up a training business. Definitely set up with a business license and insurance, a webpage, and keep things professional (don’t try to use a personal FB page also as your business page, for instance).

If you’re looking for a way to earn money involving dogs, you might also want to consider grooming. Easier to get into and start up a grooming business. It’s also not easy work, but you can get paid well for it, if you handle the business side of it properly. Also, with grooming, you can work for someone else’s business or go out on your own and decide how much time you want to devote to it (part time or full time).

[Where_sMyWhite]

@Altag

Ideally, first get a few AKC Obedience titles on your own dogs, at least through the CDX (Open) level to start. Yes, you can show mixed breeds in obedience competition.

This is not necessarily a true statement.

OP, what do you want to train to do? Be good house companions? Agility? The scentwork sports?

Putting an AKC obedience title on a dog does not mean you are a ‘good’ trainer.

I currently train with someone who AFAIK had not put an obedience title on any of her Flatties. She does agility (don’t know what titles she has) but her current primary focus is teaching (and judging now as well) scent work. She had high level titles on her current Flattie. She competes AKC and NACSW. She also does a few other dog health activities.

There are many roads to Rome for sure. Where are your interests in working with dogs? Get involved with the formal competition side of that if possible. Hook your star to a good trainer you respect. Most people will want a trainer that has shown they can train their own dog as well as others

Grooming… that’s not easy. Lot’s of time on your feet, often bending over dogs.

Will you get rich dog training, probably not. If you figure out where your training passion is and work towards that, can it be rewarding and fulfilling? Yup!

[S1969]

@Altag

Ideally, first get a few AKC Obedience titles on your own dogs, at least through the CDX (Open) level to start.

Well, it’s not necessary to put titles on your own dogs before you consider becoming a pro trainer, but just like anything else - you have to demonstrate that you actually know how to do it before anyone is going to want to pay you.

I agree with WheresMyWhite - what kind of training are you going to provide? You may not need upper level obedience titles if you are going to run a puppy class, but you will need to think about how to market that you are good at it.

Also $250/hour is not a reasonable price for dog training…not anywhere near me, anyway. Unless you had some absolutely out of control beast that needed something special…for some reason. I would expect $30-$50/hour for a 30-60 minute class depending on level of training and whether private/group. People willing to pay more are going to expect you to have put titles on your own dogs.

I personally don’t think grooming is a better money maker, unless you’re very skilled already. A good show groomer can make some big bucks, but a regular groomer doesn’t, and still needs a facility to work from.

[Where_sMyWhite]

@S1969

Well, it’s not necessary to put titles on your own dogs before you consider becoming a pro trainer, but just like anything else - you have to demonstrate that you actually know how to do it before anyone is going to want to pay you.

I was trying to say that putting an obedience title isn’t mandatory depending on what discipline(s) you want to train. Yes, I totally agree if you want to train any type of competition, whether it be conformation or some performance-related sport, having a title or titles is a huge benefit.

I know when I look at a trainer, results are important; ie, do they know how to compete in a specific sport?

But, I also look at the trainer’s training methods and philosophy. There are many different ways to train and I know I have my personal opinion on what I think works and that I am comfortable with so finding a trainer that is compatible with my personal methodology is also important.

[Scribbler]

Was the trainer who quoted $250 talking about private lessons or running a class? Maybe if you put 10 people in a puppy class that works out to $250 if they each pay $25. But that’s a once a week thing.

As far as being a talented owner with the right reactions, as with horses or any endeavour there is a huge learning curve between good ammie and pro.

When you train your own animals you train your own pet that you personally chose and live with. When you train other people’s animals you get called in to deal with owners who have bad instincts, spoil their animals, don’t follow your advice, and have created a big mess. You get one hour a week to fix this, maybe. Much of your job is training idiot owners.

This is true in horses. I’ve also watched the Dog Whisperer type shows and watched my friends with dogs, and many people actively undermine their animals training.

As a dog trainer you are going to need to deal with dogs that bite, that rip up the house, that are unsocialized and rip off after other dogs, etc. And the owners that created these dogs. Just like in horses you get the buck, bolt, kick, rear, problems and the unbroke colts. Unless you have a proven record at getting folks ribbons in a discipline.

It’s not going to be like doing agility with your own well socialized pet.

Do you want to work with problem dogs? Do you want to train problem owners? Do you have the skill set for both of these?

[Lunabear1988]

I’ll reply more later but wanted to clarify, I think that price was outrageous. But they guy is very booked out. I only did one session as he straight up told me, his services weren’t needed. But my puppy was a reactive type and I wanted to make sure I was on the right track with him, that type was new to me.

I’m in no way expecting that kind of pay. I only mentioned that to say that his comments on my timing and technique meant a lot to me.

[Bicoastal]

You want to hang your own shingle as a trainer? If other trainers applaud your skills, the easiest entry is to apprentice. Have you asked about that? Right now, all of the trainers and behaviorists I know are flooded with waaaay more requests than they can handle with all of the pandemic puppies (incl. adults) but none are simple training clients. Every single one is turning out to be a b.mod mess.

Insurance, facilities, and marketing are expensive. The burnout rate is high. No-shows are high, especially during coveted weekend hours: everybody wants to book the weekend but the dog lesson is the first commitment to be cancelled for something more fun, especially when the weather is nice.

There is low owner compliance, physical risk/wear and tear is high, competition is high, prices are low, lots of wasted time driving and mileage added to the car.

You can demand the highest hourly rates by visiting people’s homes, but then there are the risks of entering a stranger’s home (for instance, being a young person alone in a stranger’s house or a dog with an undisclosed or under-reported bite history) and the disruptions of working around a family’s life (other pets, kids in and out, neighbors asking questions about their own dogs).

If you have good people management and multi-tasking skills, it can be more financially efficient and less taxing to teach group classes and share some overheard with facility management, but then you are paying rent or sharing profits and often do not control the client list or schedule.

Clients expect to see results quickly but it’s the rare one that does the homework. Everyone wants the magic wand and crystal ball. Hey, I do too! Often that magic wand takes the shape of a remote, which can be really discouraging if you attempted to help the client with a different method and they go another way.

Everything listed above comes from a real-life story from private in-home lessons and group classes. Oh, and this is written by someone with a wall full of ribbons . I would give the same advice given in the horse section: get an education to secure a career that pays for your passion, then enjoy that passion as a hobby.

The trainers I know really making it financially achieve that security through a related but separate business, mostly boarding. They train on the side because they like the challenge and want to help the community they live in.

[Scribbler]

@Bicoastal

Ah, as I thought. Exactly like horses. Actually more like if you had an entire clientele of folks with bottle raised orphan mini horses that they kept on the patio.

We’ve all come across the batshit mini lady who can’t safely walk her two foot tall. dwarf down the barn aisle and thinks he’s too cute to discipline.

I have met or observed dog owners that secretly like to own semi feral animals that can’t go out in public. Or who keep their dogs reactive and wound up by constantly interrupting them. Or who actually seem to need tremendous workarounds to deal with a troubled dog. Or use “I can’t leave the dogs” to cover all kinds of anxieties and agoraphobia. Etc.

People do this with full scale horses to some extent as well, too. But dogs are much more intimate.

[Horsegirl_s_Mom]

Talk with some dog trainers and understand their business plan.

I would think liability insurance is very high.

Our dog trainer has branched out and offers puppy classes, adolescent classes, Nose Work, Beginner Agility etc. By offering a variety of activities, she manages to keep clients beyond the “new puppy” stage. Otherwise you are constantly churning through folks who do the 6-week puppy class and then vanish–it’s challenging to continually find so many new clients.

I’m also wondering about your skills/experience dealing with problem dogs. Past the puppy stage, people generally seek out training when the dog has become a problem: It nips. It’s dog aggressive. It chases cars. It pees in the house. Etc. etc. Do you have the skills to deal with these issues in a responsible and effective way?

[Lunabear1988]

Thank you guys lots of great info here! I’ll try reply to most points but I’m currently holding a sedated horse (so I have down time until the juice where’s off )

I was thinking that my biggest area of potential success would be geared more towards group classes but not sure if that’s feasible. I know it seems like there is not an abundance of group stuff near me but lots of come to your home types.

I currently have one reactive dog. He was not easy and we aren’t 100% there but through good training he’s turning into a great dog and reactivity is getting managed really well. It’s new territory for me compared to my previous dog. But I’m finding it very rewarding. We also have another puppy that is similar (but much less extreme) in temperament. It’s going really well with her too.

I’m getting ready to start agility and then later nose work so will explore those too. Right now, I’m just enjoying seeing how far I go with my own dogs. I’m truly fascinated by the process regardless. I have heard being an apprentice is the best way to go. I figure worst case scenario is I learn more for my own dogs and if it could turn into something more, great!

One thing I’m pondering is I’ve virtually only had very intelligent dogs. Herding types mostly but also have a terrier now. So not easy dogs many means as far as management but they are easy to train in my opinion. Lol So maybe my skills would not go far from faced with a bulldog or something? Not sure that would be something I would have to learn by working with other types.

I’m not going to lie, in life in general I feel like I’m pretty untalented and not suited for much. I’m a hard worker and dedicated but it’s always hard to find my area. My family is always really pushing me to do something I enjoy which is of course always tempting. Especially because I hate where I am now

I never think it’s a bad idea to explore new things though as long as you don’t get your heart set too hard on things. But I’m continuing my own education and training regardless of the career possiblity or not.

[Scribbler]

@Lunabear1988

I think it’s really sad for someone to feel untalented in everything.

Because what we see as talent is very much the product of early exposure, early training, and a lot of dedicated practice and instruction over the years. Innate ability matters of course but most of it is acquired. Most talented people prefer to bask in the idea that they are special, not that they are super hardworking. And developing a talent is different from doing slog hard work. Sometimes it requires doing things that take you out of the obvious path of advancement for a while.

I had a couple of areas of talent as a kid and eventually made one of them my well paid career. It has complete changed my relationship to that activity and while I like my job, I no longer do it for fun.

I never wanted to professionalize in horses, I always wanted that to be outside of the money relationship.

I will say this about professionalizing a talent or hobby.

It takes much longer than you think. You need to become objective about yourself, to take minute criticism, and to manage the people in your new world. It’s one thing being praised as amateur with good instincts. Its another thing having your sessions recorded with minute feedback on your body language, for instance, or studying theoretical behavior science. It’s also guaranteed that many of your clients will not be smart terriers, but rather pitbulls, rottweilers, and neurotic chihuahuas.

I bet the puppy class versus I home trainer is very location dependent.

In the city and suburbs where everyone lives in condos and wants to go to the off leash dog park, early socialization is important and no one has space at home to train, so trainers need to rent a facility to hold classes.

In a place with acreage and a long drive to any community facility, I expect folks don’t care about dog park manners but may care about aggressive behavior, etc.

When I lived in the American mid South, I knew colleagues who lived in a modest white suburb. What I called a chain link fence neighborhood. Smaller older well kept houses, fairly generous lots and chain link fences.

My friends had some kind of nice pet terrier type. But they said they were the only people who took their dog for actual walks and got the side eye for that.

Everyone else had gorgeous big dogs of breeds new to me, red tick hounds and mountain hounds and coon dogs. Really nice looking functional dogs. They lived in the large yard during the week and went hunting on weekends. They were never walked down the road on a leash. It seemed to work for them. I expect they were guard dogs as well.

[mjwright]

I’m a professional dog trainer. Although a niche market with a niche group of clientele and long term dogs. Not pet dogs.

I will say this. Dog are mostly great. But they all come with people.

That will be your biggest challenge and you need to decide if the crazies are going to not upset your equilibrium.

[Lunabear1988]

So I see this a lot from a lot people. Specifically COTH. Don’t pursue your passion. I can very much see it regarding horses specifically. Just today the horse vet randomly (I was not talking about a career change or anything like that just talking about horses) asked me if I had ever considered a career as an equine vet. That’s not the first time I’ve had a vet ask me if I’d consider that but I know that almost every one of them doesn’t ride. Some maybe have lost the passion but others just don’t really have the time and energy to do it much.

I’ve also been approached to be a horse trainer/instructor. I’ve taught up down lessons before way back when and I probably could do that just fine. But I’m not sure if I want to deal with the barn dynamics honestly. And I would definitely not ever pursue being a horse trainer because I know the kind of horses you got and how hard it is.

But as good as all this advice is I do have to wonder what careers does COTH think is worth pursuing? What would you have rather done instead of what you do now?

I really do enjoy teaching people and animals. But I truly don’t have much more than that. I used to enjoy writing but I liked writing poems. Definitely not going to make that into a career!

I tend to really study stuff that I’m passionate about. I don’t think I naturally have talent but I do agree that sometimes you work hard enough and it almost becomes that way! I just enjoy working hard to be the best I can be and to learn as much as I can learn. I do that with the horses and pursue as much as I can for education and development of my riding and horsemanship. I don’t want to be a trainer. But it doesn’t stop me from trying hard.

So I figure I’ll pursue continuing to learn about his to train my dogs best! And if an opportunity comes up then I might as well take it and see what happens.

[Lunabear1988]

Maybe one of my adversions to not get into stuck into don’t do what you enjoy (which I think is more along the lines of just going with your eyes open and don’t expect a fairy tale) It’s because my father followed his passion and 30-something years later he’s still happy as can be and very into it. He’s into race cars. Comes home from a weekend at the track and will watch different types of racing on TV lol. I asked him once if he ever got sick of it since he has done that since he could work. Nope. It’s a stressful job and hard work. His body is actually starting to fail him and he’s going to have to do something else. He’s heartbroken about it and trying anyway that he can stay into it.

So I’m sure that’s where my silly ideas come from He’s very much a you only live once type person. But it has served him well. He’s been very successful in his career and is known for being passionate hard-working and one of the best in the business. I have no interest in anything car wise but I do admire him.

[Mango20]

If you’re only working part-time now, it seems like you could try out dog training without giving up that job, and see where it takes you, especially if your current job is during “normal” working hours and your dog classes would be evenings and weekends. My dog trainer has another job, I think. Her classes are on Saturdays and on weeknights, which of course is when the most clients can do it as well.

Someone mentioned branching out to keep the puppy owners engaged past the puppy classes. That’s exactly why I’m still taking my 15 month old to class. Last summer, hers was the only group puppy class I could find that was being held in person (in an indoor (horse) arena with the doors open). I went because I ended up with a very shy puppy and wanted to get her out there seeing different things. I never did a puppy class with my previous dogs, but for this one my main goal was socialization. Even in the puppy class, we did things that you could tell were building blocks towards agility, like learning to place paws on objects, etc. So, I did the first puppy series, then puppy part two. Then, the next class she graduated into was “Performance puppy/young dog”. I did this class last fall, took about 3 months off, then took it again this Feb-April. Then we moved on to “baby novice agility”. I go back and forth on stopping the classes, because I don’t really think I’m planning on competing, but it’s been a great confidence booster for my dog, and she really seems to enjoy it and is pretty good at it when I can keep her attention.

I can buy class credits in groups of 4 or 6. Each session is 6 classes long, but there is no penalty for missing a class if you give 24 hours notice, so you just hang on to your credits until you use them. Each credit works out to about $34.

[Lunabear1988]

I think it’s pretty fun. That’s why we did the puppy class with our new puppy. Not so much that we needed help or anything but it’s just such great socialization!! We plan on doing agility with both dogs but only one dog is old enough right now. But we will do some more prep classes for the puppy as well. Both are smart and wicked fast so they should do well. I think my border collie crossed my actually enjoy nose work as well.

[GoodTimes]

There’s a facility near my old house that I loved.
They have a building the size of a large indoor, they’ve separated it into three rings, as well as a couple outdoor rings. They mostly do group classes and have at least five different trainers. This way they can run multiple classes at a time, multiple disciplines, and can offer day evening and weekend classes.
They typically run each class as a six week session. Puppy classes are usually eight weeks. They even have puppy socialization time slots that are supervised by a trainer so people can have a safe place for their puppy to play 1-2x/wk with other vaccinated pups their own age. They also do some privates for reactive/behaviour and advanced training.
Through the summer they host a lot of CKC (Canadian kennel club) competitions, the rest of the year they do a lot of one and two day clinics.

I always thought it was a good gig for those trainers. They don’t have to deal with any admin or overhead, they just work on contract. Great facility with high level equipment.

[Lunabear1988]

There is actually a newly relocated faculty like that near my house! I haven’t checked it out but am very planning on doing the beginner agility with my border collie cross. That appears to be how it works, they offer lots of different things from different trainers. Although very sports geared. Very excited to check it out.

There is another place with a pool and dock for the docks. And lure chasing. That one is pretty far but I want to go at least once. Sounds like my BC mix’s dream.
.

[Bicoastal]

I am absolutely saying pursue your passion and do what you enjoy! You don’t have to turn that into a career, do you?

I also have to gently say that it sounds like you are just starting your dog training journey. I would not pay for professional training from someone whose experience is with two personal dogs at home. We all start somewhere! Start agility or rally with your adult, start sports foundations with your puppy, and see where that takes you. Enjoy the hobby.

Do you have to turn your hobby into your paycheck?