How to become a dog trainer

[Jax]

ps there are no puppies in the class (my English Shepherd is the youngest – and the most obedient – at 7 months) – just lots of fluffy little white things that are mummys babies and I’m trying my best to educate them to dog psychology (and fighting a losing battle with some  ???) and helping them to have well mannered dogs. Jax

[kizkiznobite]

mmm well – teaching dog psychology without knowing the basics is bound to be hard so if you want to start at the beginning pm me requesting stuff and i will send you classical and operant basics

[Jax]

Just teaching them that dogs are not children and should not be treated as so is difficult enough when most people in the class are wealthy bored housewives!  😉 I’d be grateful for any info!  ;D Jax

[kizkiznobite]

info sent  🙂

[justpetdogs]

[quote author=kizkiznobite link=topic=965.msg110020#msg110020 date=1168360955]
and… i am mentoring both gracie and donna….interesting the different questions and the different ‘i am stuck’ points  ;D quite fascinating really  🙂

it’s ok marion – guiding not telling  🙂
[/quote]

No problem, Kiz…we encourage our students to widen their learning base by talking to, watching and working with other trainers…there’s always something new to learn  ;D and a different perspective can suddenly turn the lightbulb on!

[denisemcleod]

Well firstly I’d recommend a sanity test!  😉

OBSERVATION, OBSERVATION, OBSERVATION!!!!!!

Watch every dog and situation you can. Go watch a sheep dog demonstration, agility, obedience and working trials. Watch other animals too. Study a flock of sheep, herd of cows or a bunch of birds and you will learn masses about animal behaviour in general. 

Train your own dog to do as many things as possible…..

Then Id recommend you find a great club, train there and then if you like the instruction and it works, ask if you can help out.

I have a full time dog training business and all of my current (8) instructors are ex customers who where good at training, have shown aptitude toward training people (becasue usually that is what it is all about) and have had the ‘balls’ to ask if they can help out. ‘Balls’ is important if you are to deal with loads of people. The personality is absolutly vital. 

As a result I have a fantastic team. We keep up to date on developing training techniques, we recommend books to one another and we recommend and attend other peoples courses.

No matter how much you ever know, there is someone who will know more. Seek them out and watch them, train with them, attend their courses, read their books or watch their videos.

I have taken learning from and can recommend the following, Mary Ray, Karen Pryor, John Rogerson, Peter Neville, Ian Dunbar, Thomas Longton, Barbara Sykes, Neil Short and others.

If you liove near Nottingham get in touch, you are welcome at our sessions. http://www.cadelac.co.uk

Good Luck,

Denise

 

[kizkiznobite]

hi and welcome  🙂

[denisemcleod]

Hi, THanks for the welcome. Looks a very interesting and informative site. Im not too good as using it though! How come everyone has fancy pics and I dont. And how come I suddenly can’t spel!  🙂
Thanks again for the welcome

[denisemcleod]

Ok. I’ve read a few more of the replies and this is for the attention of Kiz, can I call you kiz?

I totally agree with you on the subject of canine behaviour and psychology courses. I am currently operating in an area where a number of people have been on them. They are now working as bewhaviourists in this area and I too spend time picking up their pieces.

I have recently heard of A dog/owner agression case where the ‘qualified’ behaviourist had ‘resolved’ the problem over the phone in 10 minutes without meeting either dog or owner. The owner has since been bitten several times, and the dog has now been destroyed.

Anyone interested in dog training please hear these comments. You can only learn how to train a dog by being taught, by a dog! Dogs are always the best teachers. And the more dog teachers you have the better a trainer you will be. Animals have a language of their oiwn. If you listen and watch carfeully you can pick it up. Some people do so intuitively, but others can be taught. 

Courses can provide a lot of techinical jargon to use and also a lot of really useful information and case studies. But you have to get in there with the dogs to really find out where it’s all at.

Watch dogs, walk dogs, train dogs, watch other people train their dogs, watch the good and the bad and spot the difference.

OBSERVATION! OBSERVATION! OBSERVATION!

[kizkiznobite]

;D yes you can call me kiz

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome enjoyed reading your post ;D I often sit and watch my dogs interacting and writing snippets down, teaches you loads thats why I think you need to have the hands on experience when trying to become a trainer or behaviourist rather than just a course with words and books ;D

ps agree with the personalitly bit and having balls too I need to grow some if I ever want to do anything about become a trainer 😀

[denisemcleod]

:)Balls.

Well Im managing without. Good job too, becasue my youngest dog keeps running off with mine and she left it in a muddy ditch – utterly inaccesible today. She was tired of chasing ball it seems.

Thanks for your comments

[Anonymous]

Looking for some advice: I run a pet-care business and am thinking of branching out into doing training classes, as there are none around here and would love to be able to train dogs (people!) I am going to go on a course provided by head office (it’s a franchise – they organise the course so I’m not sure which one it’s going to be) but the thing I’m a little worried about… ME. I’m too quiet! I’ll happily run around a field with a pack of dogs being silly and generally making a fool of myself, but when it comes to talking to people I’m very shy, and all the trainers I’ve met in the past are generally confident, outgoing people. I understand that it’s probably something that comes with experience of knowing what you’re talking about, but I was wondering if anyone had any confidence tips?

[kizkiznobite]

what does the course involve – how long for etc and do you take your own dogs

[denisemcleod]

HI, Im Denise and have a dog training business. We are currenly taining approximately 90 dogs per week. This usually rises to around 120 after Crufts. We have 7 instructors, allbut one,  ex-customers. So I hope that I can help you achieve your ambition. 

I find mostly that confidence when teaching, comes from a self belief that the knowledge you have is worthy of the effort it takes, to dispense it.

To train dogs (people) you have to have many people skills. It is the people that you teach primarily. Yes, you have to be able to spot relationship problems between dog and owners and you have to have an understanding of how dogs work and think and learn, but mostly it is about delivering your knowledge in an interesting and hopefully entertaining way, that keeps the attention of your audience. Your human audience.

To train a dog well you have to be able to deliver something knew, in a clear, concise and stimulating way that is understandable for that particular dog. With respect to its prior learning and its ability to learn. One dog may learn one activity easily, while a different dog finds the same task very difficult. 

It is exactly the same process with people. Except that in a class situation, you have to deal with all those learning abilities at once. And deal with the dogs or help the owners deal with the dogs, at the same time. 

Before becomming a dog trainer, I was very fortunate enough to go on the following non dog training courses via my previous proffesion. I find that all of these have helped me to some degree in my current role. Look to see if you can find anything similar, in addition to the course you are due to attend.

The psychology of learning (diffeent people learn in different ways. ie visually, auditorally, imaginatively, via understandable analogy)
Training the trainer (Teaching someone else, to teach someone else).
Meditaiton and self hypnosis techniques. Great for staying calm and knowing that no matter what may happen around you, you are still calm inside.  Easier said than done sometimes 🙂
Presentation skills (Several different courses)
Public speaking
Man Management skills. Motivation, stimulation, and building trust.
Crisis management. Usefull for when the shi* hits the fan  😉
Crisis news media management. Usefull when really massive shi* hits massive fans. 😉
Self confidence and self control.
About twelve different dog taining courses, seminars etc., with various different dog proffesionals.

More than anything thoough,  you have to really believe in yourself and your aquired knowledge, whilst remaining open to aquisition of new skills, learning from others,  new techniques and progressive thinking.

My main advice would be to goto lots of other peoples dog training courses and try to get involved.

Some of my customersevolve into instructors, over a long period of time. First they show particular ability with their own dog, they show commitment to new learning, they show an aptitude for people communication, they show and express an interest in becoming an instructor.

Then they come to all of our classes and start to get involved and bit by bit, they start taking a part of a class thet they are confident with under suervision, then when they feel and I feel they are ready, they take a whole class. Then a whole course. This can take anything from 6 months to 18 months, in my experience.  They are encouraged to take on new learning and to introduce new methods where we are all satisfied that it is good. They also spend time with me and each other watching my and their classes to aquire new techniques and provide critiques to other instructors.

We regularly train, eat and walk our dogs together, so that we can talk about new ideas and air concerns or differing opinions.

In my view if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. You will only be confident in your own ability once you are confident in your own ability if that makes sense. So start with your own dog, then someone elses class, then get involved.

And stay focussed on your intent., yes it is scarey and it is frought with self doubt, but everyone has doubt about their ability to do something, until they have actually done it!

I remember my very first class – I was sick and couldn’t eat for days. Now I cant run a class without eating  ;D

Remember how you felt before you started your own business? Scared right? How do you feel now its up and running ? Less scared right……? Same with dog taining 🙂

Usefull non doggy Books.
Feal the fear and do it anyway, by someone whose name I can not remember. But it is very well read, try the spiritual, psychological or self development department of your bookshop. 
Confidence by Barbara De Angleis.
Any book by Barbara De Angelis.   

There are also a number of books about running dog training classes, mine are all out on loan right now so can’t remeber the authors. 

Hope that helps…..
Good Luck

[Author]

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