If you’ve thought about becoming a dog trainer, but aren’t quite sure you have what is takes to become a great dog trainer, you’re not alone.
In fact, there are tons of dog-lovers around the world who dream of living a life where they get up every morning and actually get paid to work with their favorite animals in the world–dogs!
The thing that stops them: They don’t believe that they are capable of following such a career path. They wonder things like…
“I own a dog, but do I really know enough about dogs to train professionally?”
“Am I too old to learn how to train dogs?”
Or even, “Will people respect me and believe that I could successfully train their dog?”
Sound familiar? If so, here’s the truth that I want you to know…
Many dog lovers are capable of becoming a dog trainer. Maybe even YOU.
As with any passion or career there are a few core skills and traits that will set you up for dog training success. To discover what those skills are and to see what it takes to become a great dog trainer, keep reading…
Great Dog Trainer Skillset #1– Communication Skills
Often people jump into dog training programs with the idea that they will only be responsible for interacting with the animals they are training.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most dog behavioral issues are caused by the owners doing something that causes the problem! (Sometimes there’s actually nothing wrong with the dog at all!)
So, dog training is really primarily about knowledge transfer, or as I like to call it, dog owner education. For this reason, every consult you are a part of will involve working with the owners of the dog you are training. And your role is to get them to change how they interact with their dog!
Great Dog Trainer Skillset #2– Organization Skills
Becoming a dog trainer often means starting up your own business. And doing this requires a certain about of organizational skills.
From start to finish, there’s a lot of moving pieces involved in establishing a business. You’ve got to be able to keep track of all your legal documents, build a website or manage someone that can do that for you, market yourself, and manage your client list–and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
It may sound a little overwhelming at first. But, as long as you have good organizational skills and keep track of everything happening around you, you have no reason to worry.
Great Dog Trainer Skillset #3– People Skills
As a dog trainer, you are going to spend a lot of hours spent each week interacting with people from all different walks of life.
And if you don’t enjoy being around people or are triggered negatively by many different personalities and behaviors, becoming a dog behaviorist while using the approach that I use may not be the ideal career for you.
The better I’ve become with people, the better I’ve been able to educate and share knowledge that has helped shape the behaviors of my clients’ dogs.
When this is done successfully, the results of your training methods will last much longer, making your consults an enjoyable and rewarding experience for you, your client and the dog that’s involved.
It’s fair to say that not only do I get great results working with dogs and their owners, but we also have a great time.
And now for some important traits…
Great Dog Trainer Trait #4– Having a Love for Helping People
A big part of being a dog training specialist is having the desire to help empower the owners, as well as help their dogs become happier and more relaxed.
I can’t stress how important this is.
If you don’t truly care about the dogs and their owners, you’ll find yourself just rambling through consults wanting them to end, and they will ultimately end in failure. This will make future consults difficult. It will also destroy your reputation as a credible dog trainer.
Not to mention, people aren’t stupid. They will be able to pick up on if you’re doing a consult just for the paycheck.
Not good.
It’s also fair to say that the dog you’re working with will know you’re in a rush and that never helps…calm is king!
Sometimes when you are working with a dog you simply need to go overboard, you need to go above and beyond to help people out. If you really care and want to help them and save their dogs then this part happens naturally.
You won’t find success as a dog behavior training specialist until you truly care about the emotions and feelings of both the dogs and owners you work with.
This is when you get to make a difference in the lives of people.
When you care, you form stronger bonds with clients. And, eventually, word that you truly care gets around and people appreciate it.
This is what drives a successful dog training career.
Great Dog Trainer Trait #5– Having A Passion and Love For Dogs
I know, you’d think “loving dogs” is a common-sense trait when it comes to pursuing a job as a dog trainer. But it’s an important trait I feel people need to reflect on before making the decision to train dogs.
Anybody can “like” dogs or tolerate them. But, not everyone is truly passionate about them.
As a dog trainer, you may end up working all day long with dogs so it’s important in this line of work.
If you enjoy a half hour of playtime with your family pet, but get bored after that playtime is up, you’re probably not super passionate about dogs.
On the other hand, if you can’t get enough of hanging out with your dog, learning about what makes him tick, going on walks, cuddling on the couch and playing in the backyard–well, that’s a good sign that you truly have a passion for working with dogs.
Another sub-trait of a dog lover is the ability to love all types of dogs.
If you only love certain breeds or want to work with certain breeds, you’re going to struggle to connect with a lot of clients fur babies.
Just a quick piece of advice: You don’t need to have had a lot of experience with dogs before you start training. What’s important is that you love dogs and are open to working with different breeds.
And in case you are wondering, yes, dogs are incredibly smart. If you don’t really love a dog, they will know it–you just can’t fool them!
This will have a negative impact on your consult. (Something I’ll help you with in the course!)
So, before you sign yourself up for working with dogs all day long, make sure you’re truly passionate about them.
Great Dog Trainer Trait #6– Having The Ability to Stay Focused, a Determination to Overcome and a Positive Attitude
Whatever you want to achieve in life, you must have the right mindset.
The more focused, determined and positive you are, the higher chance you have for succeeding as a dog behavior specialist.
Having these traits really becomes important when you find yourself in the middle of a tricky consult.
I know from personal experience that you’re going to be thrown all sorts of curve balls–from clients that want to pull you off track to dogs that are more difficult to connect with.
The good news…
The more you can stay focused, determined and positive, the greater the chances are that you find success.
When you own a dog training business, things are bound to get rocky from time to time.
When you hit a downward, turn you have to be able to focus and stay with it.
Are you able to raise the bar when it’s time to take your business to the next level?
Can you change and adapt depending on the different situations you’re thrown into?
If your answer is YES to these questions, I have no doubt you’ll be able to succeed as a dog trainer.
If you have these skillsets and traits, then I have no doubt that you’d make a great dog trainer and I’d love to share more with you about my Dog Trainer Academy program.
Find Out More About Becoming A Dog Trainer.
And, of course, if you're interested in becoming a dog trainer, it's important to have a solid training foundation under your belt. If you're not sure what the best dog training practices are, I advise you to take a look at my program called The Dog Calming Code.
This program will help put you on the path to kindly training pups with any type of behavioral issue!
Cheers,
~Doggy Dan
6 Responses
I have had many dogs & been in classes with each one. I have learned more from Doggie Dan e-mail messages than most trainers. I bought received his book as a Christmas present & I love it. Having a well behaved dog is important to me & after all these years 66 of them & many dogs, this is the best thing I have tried. Thank you Diggie Dan
Wow, thanks for your feedback Margie! We love hearing from dog owners who have been using the process with their dogs. Having a happy and well behaved dog isn’t complicated but you do need the correct information to start off with! All the best….Doggy Dan
Hi Doggy Dan
I Have gone through all the six traits, your interaction is wonderful. It has boost me to follow your course to become a dog. Your doing a marvelous work to save from harsh training
God bless you.
Thanks for your kind feedback! All the best…Doggy Dan
Hello Dan, We’re singing from the same song-sheet. Any dog, any breed, any age can be trained to become a happy, sociable, obedient, even robotic (if that floats your boat) dog – if only the owner can be brought to heel! Yep, there’s the necessity of understanding dog-psychology and transferring the alpha characteristics to the dog owner. I always want to learn more about dogs and horses but I don’t know if you can take me to the next level. I’ve probably 40+ technophobic years more experience than you with ponies, horses and dogs, so I’m suspicious of the blogosphere selling methods. Your lengthy, repetitive blogs are almost convincing me but I’ve grown up only trusting quadrupeds and, sometimes, humans. I want to learn more but I wonder if we’d end up teaching each other the same stuff!
Roger.
[I’m stylised by my marketing as ‘Leader of the Pack’ here in London, England. roger@rogerharding.com]
Hi Roger, you certainly sound like an animal lover. I understand where you are coming from, my wife has spent as much time over the last 40 years with 4 legged dogs and horses as any other animal and still has no desire for business cards, or a web site and yet she has a thriving business! So yep…I get where you are coming from. Its hard to share what you know and what I know on a post! I know that of all the people who joined the course nearly all of them have stayed on and are loving it, so that is the real measure of success for me. Love your approach to life, maybe watch the free video course and then let me know your thoughts and questions at the end. I’d love to have you join us…Best regards Dan