Live Your Dream: Become a Professional Dog Trainer

Growing up in the northeast of England, I always dreamt of doing something special with my life.

After all, I went to school with Alan Shearer who went on to be the captain of England’s soccer team. I hoped to do something similar, but alas, it was not to be.

And so, my life began with a lot of hope and excitement, which slowly fizzled out as I realized things weren’t turning out the way I expected.

By the age of 33, my resume looked like one of those ugly plates of food you can sometimes end up with at a smorgasbord.

I’d been a civil engineer, math teacher, done a year in the British police force, sold IT systems, been an account manager, knocked on doors, sold wine/worked for a wine company, been a sales manager and ran a lawn mowing/gardening business.

Yep, that’s a lot of jobs by 33 years of age!

And whilst there were aspects of every job I enjoyed, I still had a dream, and eventually I discovered exactly what that dream was–to become a professional dog trainer.

Looking back now, I realize what kept me from this dream for so long. Perhaps it’s the same thing that’s preventing you from taking the next steps to become a dog trainer, too.

So, here’s what I realized…

1. I was stuck in a rut.

Looking back, I can see now why I bounced from job to job.

The reason in a nutshell is that I was too scared to live my dream. Sound familiar?

Deep in my heart I knew exactly what I wanted–to work with dogs and become a professional dog trainer. But, I didn’t believe it was possible. I didn’t believe all the little things that needed to happen to make that dream a reality could happen.

Most of all, I didn’t believe that I was in charge of my own destiny. I was in a victim mentality.

I played it safe and endured working jobs I hated because I was scared of failure and didn’t have a business model of how to achieve what I wanted to achieve.

But, that all changed when I went to a careers adviser.

2. I got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore!

Finally, one day something cracked. They say you do nothing until the pain gets so great you are forced to do something, and that was so true for me.

I realised I couldn’t take it anymore…I had to make a change. It was either do something new, or I would stay stuck in this never-ending cycle of working jobs I greatly disliked.

To end this cycle, I decided to seek the help of a career counsellor.

I made an appointment and went to the career counsellor with a laundry list of things I knew I wanted my next job to include. In my next career, I wanted to…

• Make a difference in the world.
• Help people.
• Help dogs.
• Work with my hands.
• Work outdoors.
• Self-manage myself.
• Put in place my new ideas.
• Work with animals.
• Do something that I found rewarding and fulfilling.
• Be creative with my business.
• Work in a loving environment with good people.

After chatting with the careers adviser over a number of weeks, it became obvious that being a dog behaviorist ticked all of the boxes I just listed above. And it became clear that somehow I’d ended up in jobs that really didn’t tick my boxes in my past, which was the key reason I was so unhappy.

It suddenly became apparent that I have one life. This was not a dress rehearsal. And I wanted to make this one life that I had count. So, I decided to start from scratch as a dog trainer at age 33.

Shortly after I started this new career path, I realized…

1. When you find your passion, your work becomes easy and you look like a natural!
2. When your work is your passion, you love what you do.
3. When your passion is your work and you’re amazing at it, people will pay you for that service.

3. The amazing journey began: peaks and troughs.

Like any journey, it wasn’t always plain sailing as I started on the path to become a professional dog trainer. In fact, I’d be lying if I said it was always easy.

However, I’ve come to realize that’s it’s actually the challenges of starting my own business and following my dreams that have made me grow in my skill set as a dog trainer and as a human being.

I’ve discovered that it’s the journey that really matters, not the destination. And that in itself is amazing.

Whilst at times, I’ve struggled with dogs, people and the business, looking back, they were just tiny little road bumps.

I’ve grown so much as a person. I can now handle far more stress and pressure, make far bigger decisions, handle far more complicated situations, work with much more difficult dogs and calmly work with more complicated/tricky people…all without being fazed nearly so much.

And if you make the decision to live your dream and start your own dog training business, you’ll grow as a person, too.

I’ve changed as a man, as a dog trainer, as a human. And it’s all worked out for the better.

And believe it or not, I’m still on the journey.

My new mantra is simple–Better people make better dog trainers.

In other words, I’ve come to realise that there’s no faking it with the dogs. They know your intention and your energy, they know who you are…they can feel it in the way you work with them.

So, if you want to become an amazing trainer, you have to become a better human being. And becoming a better human being means becoming more of who you really are, which includes being willing to try new things, make changes and follow your dreams.

4. Success

Once I looked past the fear of failure and let myself finally follow my dream to become a professional dog trainer, I finally found success.

Over the past decade, I’ve been to thousands of homes for private, one-on-one consultations.

I’ve had the opportunity to experience the power of the pack while working with huge packs of dogs. I’ve felt the energy of what it’s like to have 30 large breed dogs all mirror my energy–when I sit down and then lie down calmly and they all do the same around me.

I’ve witnessed the subtle energetic shifts that a dog can experience and be affected by.

And it’s truly amazing.

On a more practical level, I’ve established an online training site www.theonlinedogtrainer.com, which has helped thousands of people train dogs with huge success.

I highly encourage to take a moment (especially if your desire is to become a dog trainer) to check out my most popular program–The Dog Calming Code.

I’ve been a regular on numerous radio and TV shows including a one-off/guest appearance on The Real Housewives of Auckland, appeared in women's weekly magazines and I’ve written a book that’s been published by Random House and transcribed into numerous languages.

And now it's time to help other people follow a similar journey . I want to share everything I know with those who are interested. Yes, that means YOU!

5. Looking back I now realise….

Looking back, I realised there were so many things that I feared that were simply untrue.

• I used to believe…
• I wasn’t good enough.
• Dog training was actually incredibly complicated.
• People expected me to fix their dogs and would expect miracles.
• People were unreasonable.
• It would be impossible to make dog training a full-time career.

Now I realise that what I have achieved is something that many people could achieve, too. Especially now that I’ve put together the Dog Trainer Academy Program, which shows you exactly what I do in a consult.

In this program, I get to show you through consult videos, educational materials and one-on-one interactions that you can do it, too.

You can follow your dreams and become a professional dog trainer.

All you have to do is make the decision to follow your passion to make it become a reality.

If you’re ready to take the next step to following your dreams, I invite you to request more information about my Dog Trainer Academy program!

Get more info on the Dog Trainer Academy program.

Speak soon,

~Doggy Dan 🙂