Careers with Dogs. Kim Campbell Thornton
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related to applications for service dogs is another facet of the job.
There are a limited number of openings for service-dog trainers at organizations. Some trainers volunteer with a service-dog organization before being accepted into the training program.
Whether they have high-school diplomas or college degrees, dog trainers can achieve certification through organizations such as the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. Accreditation isn’t necessary, but it adds an element of credibility.
College
As a child, Kim Toepfer was attracted to animals of all kinds and read everything she could find about dogs and training. She developed “intelligence tests” for her pet dogs and participated in 4-H programs. When she began thinking about a career, she assumed she would become a veterinarian. In college, however, Toepfer discovered an interest in psychology and behavior that altered her career path.
“While there is no degree requirement for becoming a dog trainer, I think a good, solid education in science—biology and genetics—and psychology—abnormal behavior and ethology—is extremely valuable,” she says.
Longtime dog trainer Susan Bulanda, who started learning about dogs and their training as soon as she could read and had an established clientele in her town by the time she entered high school, also found a psychology degree to be helpful in her career development. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with courses in education, followed by a master’s degree in education, with courses in behavioral science.
“When I started in the dog-training business, there were no schools, no Internet, and few opportunities to learn,” she says. “By the time I graduated high school, I came to the conclusion that force was not the way to teach a dog, that education and psychology were the answer.”
You won’t find any degrees offered in dog training per se, but many colleges offer degrees in animal behavior. At Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, Bulanda has developed two popular and successful programs for people who want to enter dog-related fields, including training. Level I of Canine Training and Management is for students who want to become dog trainers. In addition to covering training methods and services, the program includes business-management practices and communication skills.
Training Herding Dogs
Susan Rhoades bought a 70-acre farm and stocked it with sheep to keep her dogs occupied, but the property and livestock ended up becoming her livelihood. She teaches herding-dog training and holds herding trials on the land, as well as judging American Kennel Club and American Herding Breed Association herding trials. She got her start after training with renowned trainer Wink Mason, who himself has a farm used for training stock dogs and raising sheep.
“I asked him to help me make a living at this and he taught me to train all breeds of dogs and understand how dogs think,” Rhoades says. “I started giving lessons a few years after that, part-time, and it grew into a full-time business. It is really fun to see the reaction of the owner when the dog turns on to stock and does what he has been bred to do for ages. Sometimes the owners have tears in their eyes from seeing their dogs working.”
“If you do not know how to manage a business, you could be the best trainer in the world and you would fail,” Bulanda says. “And at some point, dog trainers must be able to promote themselves through written material such as brochures, pamphlets, and articles; they must give talks to interested groups; perhaps make a video; and most important of all, they must be able to teach and counsel their clients.”
The Level II program focuses on research and behavior problems and is designed for people who want to become certified animal behavior consultants. Among other things, students learn about how to interview clients and gather facts about a behavior problem, the causes and treatments of behavior problems, and the way dogs learn. They also get a course in the behavior of cats and parrots so they can deal with interspecies issues.
Dog-Training School
Attending a dog-training school is an option for aspiring trainers. Such schools vary widely in the length of their programs and the training methods they teach. Some have actual campuses, while others have distance-learning programs.
Look for a thorough program that includes courses on the history of dog training, including a comparison of dog training with other animal-training methods; how animals learn; dog behavior, body language, and development; how to design classes and advise owners; and the basics of business management, such as marketing, accounting, customer relations, insurance requirements, and legal issues faced by small businesses.
Schools should offer programs that address shaping, targeting, clicker training, and other techniques; the science of learning; the use, advantages, and disadvantages of various types of equipment; and how to develop your classroom procedures. In addition to learning how to interpret dog behavior, students should also become adept at reading human body language and tailoring basic behaviors for the specific needs of each dog and owner.
At the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers, a full-time six-week course in science-based, positive-reinforcement methods results in a certificate in training and counseling. Students attend lectures, workshops, and seminars that cover animal-learning theory, dog behavior and development, obedience and clicker training, teaching classes, treating common behavior problems, critical thinking, and one-on-one counseling skills.
An online option is offered by the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior. The six-month program combines distance learning with four two-day hands-on workshops. Between workshop sessions, students can get help by phone or e-mail from the workshop instructor or academy staff. While it’s recommended that a student who aspires to enroll in this challenging program already have experience as a trainer, veterinary technician, or shelter employee, it’s not required. The curriculum ranges from such topics as behavior chains and cuing to preparing business plans.
“A school or course should supply you with abundant knowledge in many different areas of becoming a trainer as well as behavior,” says Pamela Dennison, a trainer in New Jersey. “There’s a lot involved in being a good or great dog trainer, and the first thing to understand is that dog training is not really about dogs. It’s about teaching people to communicate with dogs. Look for a school run by professionals who teach, compete with dogs, and write about and speak on dog training rather than one where all they do is charge a huge amount for a reading list.”
In addition to lectures and reading assignments, a school should offer hands-on practice. Correspondence or video courses may teach you some of the basics, but there’s nothing like real-life experience. The ideal school is one that provides a wide curriculum and plenty of opportunities to work with a number of dogs. Such an opportunity might be spending time at a local animal shelter or rescue group, working with dogs who need house-training and manners to help them become more adoptable.
Ian Dunbar: Patron Saint of Positive Training
Having founded the Association of Pet Dog Trainers in 1993, Ian Dunbar today is revered as the patron saint of positive training. As a dynamic lecturer and an innovative teacher, he has made a huge impact on the behavior and training community. In 1981 he developed the revolutionary Sirius Puppy Training technique, which advocated positive training methods to pet-dog owners. Dunbar focused his methods on training pet dogs and emphasized the use of food treats in training as well as the importance of puppy socialization. Dunbar received his veterinary degrees from the Royal Veterinary College in London and his doctorate in animal behavior from the University of California in Berkeley. He hosted a popular television series in the United Kingdom called Dogs with Dunbar. Dunbar has written numerous books, including his How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks and The Good Little Dog Book, as well as appeared on about a dozen Sirius Puppy Training videos. No other behaviorist-trainer