How can i become a dog trainer?
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1992Nikolas
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:23 am
How can i become a dog trainer?
Hi everyone...I want to know how i can become a dog trainer...I really adore Victoria and her way for dog trainning and i would like to become someone like her...Plz let me know if anyone can help me...
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Zeldacorgi
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 10:28 am
- Location: Bozeman, MT
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
You should check out the info in the Dog Training tab under Positively.com's main page. Victoria talks a lot of the Animal Behavioral College (ABC) as a wonderful training school. I figure it you want to be a trainer like her, that's a good place to start. And if your career really takes off, maybe you could become a Positively trainer!
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1992Nikolas
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:23 am
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
thank you vey very much...i realy appreciate it...thank you...i would like to become a pisitively trainer one day...
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
Take every opportunity to watch dogs - watch TV programmes about dogs - read about dogs - watch people training dogs - watch dogs some more. Watch working dogs work, watch puppies, watch dogs interacting with people and other animals.
Believe nothing. Question everything. No trainer, no scientist, no course, is right all the time, ideas and philosophies change and evolve all the time. The best judgement is yours. Stay with us and read our threads and you'll learn a lot too.
None of us ever stops learning.
Believe nothing. Question everything. No trainer, no scientist, no course, is right all the time, ideas and philosophies change and evolve all the time. The best judgement is yours. Stay with us and read our threads and you'll learn a lot too.
None of us ever stops learning.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
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Zeldacorgi
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 10:28 am
- Location: Bozeman, MT
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
Another thing I would suggest doing is look into the much less glamorous areas of dog training to see how passionate about the profession you really are (that really goes for any career you might think of). Editing on IMOTD definitely makes the training process look much more magical than it really is.
*Call a bunch of trainers in your area and see if you can pick their brains about their experiences (and as Nettle says, "Believe nothing. Question everything."). What's their least favorite thing about training dogs and owners?
*Offer to walk people's dogs.
*Volunteer at shelters (if you're not already). Attend awareness events.
*See if you can get a job helping taking care of animals at a local vet office or get a job at a reputable kennel. If you want to work in the dog training profession, you need to start working in the field ASAP.
*Read, read, read! Anything and everything you can get your hands on. (If reading is fun and glamorous for you, kudos! It is not for me.
)
*Call a bunch of trainers in your area and see if you can pick their brains about their experiences (and as Nettle says, "Believe nothing. Question everything."). What's their least favorite thing about training dogs and owners?
*Offer to walk people's dogs.
*Volunteer at shelters (if you're not already). Attend awareness events.
*See if you can get a job helping taking care of animals at a local vet office or get a job at a reputable kennel. If you want to work in the dog training profession, you need to start working in the field ASAP.
*Read, read, read! Anything and everything you can get your hands on. (If reading is fun and glamorous for you, kudos! It is not for me.
)Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
I suspect dog training is one of those things that while important, reading and formal training is only going to get you so far. real world time working with and as Nettle says observing dogs is possibly far more important.
working with a shelter or rescue or even if possible being a foster home for dogs needing a home will probably be of high value in gaining experience.
working with a shelter or rescue or even if possible being a foster home for dogs needing a home will probably be of high value in gaining experience.
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1992Nikolas
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:23 am
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
thank you everyone...Your information is really helpfull...thank you...I'll try to become a very good dog trainer..I have resendly bought Victoria's books...
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
I've seen some trainers listed as animal behaviorists too. What's the difference between a dog trainer and a behaviorist?
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
A trainer gets them to do it - a behaviourist knows why they will or won't do it 
Seriously - they do overlap, because the best trainers ask "why" the dog is doing or not doing what is wanted. Behaviourists study not just behaviour but how the mind works, genetics, and how internal and external matters affect the wat a dog acts.
Most behaviourists start out as trainers, but get to a point where they no longer want to do the kindergarten stuff and instead move on to more challenging matters. Like a highly qualified vet might not want to spend his/her time clipping nails and emptying anal glands.
However - a lot of people set up as trainers and/or behaviourists who haven't done much in the way of study, so always go and see how people work before committing to a course of their training or behaviour work.
Seriously - they do overlap, because the best trainers ask "why" the dog is doing or not doing what is wanted. Behaviourists study not just behaviour but how the mind works, genetics, and how internal and external matters affect the wat a dog acts.
Most behaviourists start out as trainers, but get to a point where they no longer want to do the kindergarten stuff and instead move on to more challenging matters. Like a highly qualified vet might not want to spend his/her time clipping nails and emptying anal glands.
However - a lot of people set up as trainers and/or behaviourists who haven't done much in the way of study, so always go and see how people work before committing to a course of their training or behaviour work.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
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1992Nikolas
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:23 am
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
wow...ihad the same question too...
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
Nettle, did you go to a training school? How did you become a dog trainer?
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
I didn't go to training school right away. I had a bit of an advantage in that my mother trained dogs (before I was born) for military use, and so we had the best-trained mongrels as pets afterwards however she used a lot of punishment, on us too, because that was the way it was then.
Although I couldn't have my own dogs for quite some time after I left home, I did a lot with other people's, and did a lot of thinking around behaviour problems, a lot of reading (most of which was rubbish) and fell in with working dog people, again who trained using aversives, but you can learn as much from something done wrong as something done right. I was also heavily into horses, had my own, worked with other people's in dealing and racing yards and generally developed the cunning necessary to get something large and obdurate to do what I wanted ( and then there were the horses, lol)
After getting my own dogs and learning a lot more, and the world changing around me with better training methods, and me somehow doing quite a bit of dog training, I decided a formal qualification would be a good idea, my what a choice
I did a lot of courses, went to a lot of seminars, listened to a lot of nonsense but some good stuff too.
The dogs are the real teachers, but I do recommend to anyone wanting to become a trainer or behaviourist that they go to as many lectures, seminars, courses as they can, do lots of reading, watch dogs and people everywhere, home and abroad, but always with an enquiring mind - never accept, never believe anything until you have run it through your personal nonsense-filter. And always be prepared to change your mind.
however she used a lot of punishment, on us too, because that was the way it was then.Although I couldn't have my own dogs for quite some time after I left home, I did a lot with other people's, and did a lot of thinking around behaviour problems, a lot of reading (most of which was rubbish) and fell in with working dog people, again who trained using aversives, but you can learn as much from something done wrong as something done right. I was also heavily into horses, had my own, worked with other people's in dealing and racing yards and generally developed the cunning necessary to get something large and obdurate to do what I wanted ( and then there were the horses, lol)
After getting my own dogs and learning a lot more, and the world changing around me with better training methods, and me somehow doing quite a bit of dog training, I decided a formal qualification would be a good idea, my what a choice
I did a lot of courses, went to a lot of seminars, listened to a lot of nonsense but some good stuff too.The dogs are the real teachers, but I do recommend to anyone wanting to become a trainer or behaviourist that they go to as many lectures, seminars, courses as they can, do lots of reading, watch dogs and people everywhere, home and abroad, but always with an enquiring mind - never accept, never believe anything until you have run it through your personal nonsense-filter. And always be prepared to change your mind.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
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thepennywhistle
- Posts: 669
- Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:20 pm
Re: How can i become a dog trainer?
I'm no professional dog trainer, but I did try to learn all I could about training.
Watching other trainers train was a source of education/information as well.
I learned, or had understanding improved, by just watching a lot of different
trainers in action working with classes. Seeing theory in action and the
different ways it can be interpreted was helpful to me. Some things I witnessed
are seared into my memory and were very influential in defining my direction
and what I would or would not do, or what was effective with types of dogs I
had not worked with before. Also was good for picking up tips on handling
owners: argumentative ones, doting owners, those that had trouble picking
up concepts or timing.
Just a thought
Watching other trainers train was a source of education/information as well.
I learned, or had understanding improved, by just watching a lot of different
trainers in action working with classes. Seeing theory in action and the
different ways it can be interpreted was helpful to me. Some things I witnessed
are seared into my memory and were very influential in defining my direction
and what I would or would not do, or what was effective with types of dogs I
had not worked with before. Also was good for picking up tips on handling
owners: argumentative ones, doting owners, those that had trouble picking
up concepts or timing.
Just a thought
