dog trainer

hi, just wondering if anyone knows how to become a dog trainer? i mean do you have to go train for it somewhere? is there a course i could do? or do i just go straight into it seeing as i know quite alot about it already.

Reply 1

Evenstar

try your local agricultural/land-based studies college. i know there's a college near me where you can do courses in dog training, so i'm sure there will be some near you. good luck!

Reply 2

Cherry Kisses

thanks, i'll look up places on the web

thankys :smile:

Reply 3

kimberley1987

Get a dog-training starter kit. It's my own invention. Consists of...

1. A dog
2. An assortment of bones
3. A basket

Reply 4

Helen_w

What about training police dogs? The police give you all your training.

Reply 5

cloudofcalm

There's a guy at my school who finished with me - he's doing animal behavioural psychology, with a mind to going on to train dogs. Try ringing up the major training schools in London (there's a fair few) and asking if you can speak to the owners, and possibly getting work exp there, or an internship. Look at local classes, speak to those people who do it there - look it up on the web, look at UCAS for animal psych, and go to the institution pages in order to see what their degree entails.

Reply 6

brak3n

Practical experience is obviously very important, so try helping or just watching at puppy socialisation classes, adult-dog classes etc. Get experience in the different dog training circles, you'll find different techniques are used depending on whether the training is for competitive obedience, gun dog work, general pet training, agility and so on. A step up from helping at training classes would be to shadow a behaviourist who does home-visits. Helping at a rescue centre would probably be a good idea too, to see the common problems rescue dogs have.

Course-wise there are degrees in animal behaviour (Sheffield, Bristol to name two unis) and there are smaller courses too such as those offered by the Animal Care College: http://www.corsini.co.uk/animalcare/courses.htm
There are a lot of home courses out there (check the back pages of dog magazines) but not all of them are very credible.

One last tip, whatever you do, don't just work with Border Collies!