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How Do You Become a Dog Trainer?

Question by Mary: How Do You Become A Dog Trainer?
I want to become a dog trainer like Victoria Stilwell. Can any dog trainers give me some advice? Are there any online dog training school I can enroll into? All answers are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Best answer:

Answer by edvan
at first you have to go to school to learn th dogs language

Answer by laughing
How to be a dog trainer on TV? Be the most craziest person ever with extreme training techniques in one way or another and just act completely erratic.

To be a REAL trainer, it’s simply about experience. That’s it. I’m still a teenager technically, and I’m one of the best trainers in my area. (Which really, isn’t hard to do at all.) Simply work with as many breeds and personalities as possible and see what works best in the *best* way, which often isn’t the *easiest*.

Personally, I started off reading all kinds of techniques. I filled my head with JUNK. But it sure did help me understand things that didn’t work, and helped me find things that did. Because it almost every training method there’s a little something that makes your methods easier and more effecient. Then, I started training real life dogs, and trained ALL kinds. Finally, after training my last dog (my Great Dane) I realized treats were NOT the way to go. (At least not 100% of the time.) Now I’m currently training my guy’s Miniature Schnauzer and haven’t used one treat but he’s come a LONG way with behavioral problems.

It’s all trial-and-error to develop a real, accurate method. Then it’s up to you to get out there! Start local, build up later. You don’t need to go to school for this. A mentor is simple enough. (I’ve had some amazing mentors, and some mentors I will never use their methods again.) Train local dogs, then ask them to refer you, build dogs out of your city, then go bigger. Video tape yourself and put it online, get people to be your references, and pray for the best.

I will tell you though, being a big trainer is hard. My training method will never be bought by everyone in the world. Why? Because I believe fixing problems are easy, but often they take time, consistency, and life-time training. I don’t believe you can teach a dog “come” and then never ever reinforce it ever again or use it consistently and then 5 years later your dog is playing with a group of dogs and you say “come” and they run right to your side. A relationship needs to be built and nurtured with your dog, just like all training should be.

So don’t expect too much. Don’t even expect to make a living off of it. If you do, you’ll be crushed. But have FAITH in yourself, and believe in the best, and things will come out good.

(I, personally, cannot stand the behavior of dogs and offer all my services up for free, because I cannot stand how my friend’s dogs behave.)

Good luck!