You’ve read about the 7 Things I LOVE About Being a certified professional dog trainer.  Now that you’ve had a moment to think about your dream job, let’s take a moment to contemplate the hazards of becoming a certified dog trainer!

1. You can’t help everyone.

Most trainers choose dog training because they want to help dogs and their people.  Unfortunately, you can’t take every client.  Some can’t afford your fees, some have problems that don’t fall within your areas of expertise, and some clients aren’t ready to commit to change.

2. There are no end goal guarantees.

Certified dog trainers are ethically limited in the types of training promises we can make.  While a certified dog trainer can guarantee satisfaction, a certain amount of time spent with the client’s dog, or the use of certain types of methods, ethical trainers won’t guarantee training goal end results.  Clients desperately want to hear a guarantee, and less ethical trainers may offer these guarantees.

3. Days are long – and dog training will be the smallest part of many days. 

Accounting, marketing, cleaning, driving, and administrative duties.  Many dog trainers are small business owners, which means accounting, marketing, and various admin duties consume a large part of the day.  If a love of dogs, helping people, and teaching draws you to dog training – be aware that much of dog training does not involve training dogs.  Working for someone else, dog trainers can expect to do some light cleaning, driving to clients’ houses, and some admin.

4. Disillusionment     

For many professional dog trainers, the root of their professional interest comes from a desire to help people, decrease euthanasia rates, or from a personal experience with a special dog in their past.  Some clients have unrealistic expectations or want results with minimal or no effort on their part.  And dog training results are limited by a number of factors:  time, money, the training issue and end goal, and the owner’s engagement and ability to name a few.  These limitations can be disheartening sometimes.

5. Traffic

Such a simple thing – but a personal least favorite of mine.  Most dog trainers have private clients, provide day training, offer some dog walking (training walks, pet sitting for long-term clients, etc), and/or train group classes at multiple locations.  Expect to spend a good amount of time behind the wheel of your car.  And frequently, your clients are available at times that traffic is peaking.  This all equals 1 dog trainer in stop and go traffic.

6. Cobbler’s Children

If you’ve ever heard the saying the cobbler’s children go without shoes, then you’ll understand how little training a dog trainer’s own dogs may get.  I love to train my own dogs.  Many professional dog trainers love training their own dogs but find the days slipping by with no dedicated personal training time, each day filled to the brim with dog training…someone else’s dogs.

Why be a dog trainer?

Looking at this list, you may ask – why am I a professional dog trainer?  Every job has its downside.  What’s important is being aware of the pros and cons.  Incorporating my love of dogs into every aspect of my life, scheduling flexibility, helping people who want to be helped – these are things that provide me with a great deal of personal satisfaction.  Enough satisfaction that the things I don’t like, even sometimes hate, pale in comparison.  And always keeping the negatives in mind helps me to work toward improving those downsides of the job.  I can limit my traffic time through smart scheduling.  I can train with my own dogs if I simply schedule myself like a client.  Some of the solutions are less simple – but I’m always searching!

Yes, there are downsides. No, becoming a professional dog trainer isn’t for everyone. Create your own LOVE/HATE lists, compare the columns, and follow your head – or just follow your heart. I know that when I read through my list of “loves,” I fall in love with dog training all over again.

1. Dogs.

I love dogs. Training them, hanging out on the sofa with them, watching them work, watching them play. As a professional trainer, I spend every day with dogs! Client dogs, and since I work for myself and have a dog-friendly workplace (of course!), my own dogs.

2. Flexible Schedule.

While it’s true that most professional dog trainers work primarily when regular folks are available, weekends and evenings, there is also the ability to set aside blocks of time when you simply don’t schedule clients. Does this mean you work less? No. But you have great influence over when that work happens, especially the administrative, marketing, and business portion of your work.

3. Picking Your Clients.

Like to teach puppies? Then focus on puppy clients! Love flyball? Teach a flyball class! Prefer hands-on training to teaching clients? Provide day training! Every business needs a certain number of clients to be self-sustaining, but you can direct the focus of your business and the types of clients you are servicing through marketing and product offerings.

4. Helping People.

As a certified professional dog trainer, you will solve people’s problems. That’s a great feeling.  Dogs are a part of your clients’ families, and by helping your clients build a stronger bond with their dogs, you’re making a significant positive impact on their lives.

5. Teaching. 

If you enjoy teaching people, professional dog training is a great profession to join. Dog training clients are a group of people who have reached out to you to solve a specific problem. They not only want to be there, many clients are highly motivated to learn.

6. The Aha Moment.

There is a moment in teaching people and in training dogs, where the light bulb comes on.  That moment when it all comes together is incredibly rewarding to see, especially  when you’ve been an integral piece in the process leading to that moment.

7. Being My Own Boss. More than setting my schedule, picking my client type, and helping people (great as all those are!), the general concept that I am responsible ultimately to myself and my clients is a great feeling. I like being the boss of me!

1. Listen!

As professional dog trainers, we spend years, sometimes decades, acquiring information and experience to better help our clients.  Sometimes we’re so eager to share our information that we don’t stop to listen.  To help our clients, we have to know what their needs are – which requires us to listen!  Check back for our blog on how you can improve your listening skills.

2. Dog training skills work on clients! 

Here are just a few dog training skills that will also help your client interactions:

Providing informative and timely communication.  It’s good customer service when you’re dealing with email and phone communication.  And it’s good teaching when you’re coaching clients.

Rewarding the behaviors you like.  You can do this by simply acknowledging your clients good timing, their correct execution of a mechanical skill, even their good efforts in following instructions.

Setting your clients up for success.  You can do this by giving your clients a training plan, making successive steps attainable, and managing their expectations for progress.

3. Be genuine!

You’ve chosen to become a professional dog trainer for a reason.  If you’re in dog training to help people, don’t forget that.  If you’re in dog training to help dogs, don’t forget that dogs have clients attached to them.  If you truly want to help your clients and their dogs, it shows.

4. Be an expert!

As much experience as you may or may not have, there is always more to learn.  It’s also important to refresh your memory and update your knowledge with continuing education.

5. Be specific!

When coaching clients, be very specific in both your praise and your criticism.  “I like that you rewarded your dog just as soon as his rear was on the floor.”  Or, “you might try keeping hand lower so that your dog doesn’t jump up for the treats.”  Being specific helps your clients to improve, and it shows that you’re paying close attention to them – and they deserve your attention!

Are you considering becoming a certified professional dog trainer?  You love dogs and want to train to be a dog trainer.  If that sounds like you, then beware!  Every dog you encounter as a certified professional trainer has a person attached to the leash.  More than that, as a professional dog trainer, it is your ability to teach the person that has the greatest impact on the long term success of the dog.

Many certified professional dog trainers choose dog training as a career because they love dogs and are trying to turn a passion into a profession.  Be sure that your passion includes helping and teaching people.  If you want to become a professional dog trainer, it can be a challenging career path for someone who loves dogs but doesn’t have well-developed people skills.  What does this mean for you?  Here are some dog trainer requirements that focus on the human side of the equation:

1. Communication: As a certified professional trainer, you must be able to clearly and efficiently convey information to clients and prospective clients.  Many clients have busy lives with competing priorities, and your time as a certified professional trainer – especially in group classes – is very limited.  This makes clear and efficient communication vital for both your profitability and customer satisfaction.

2. Have a Heart: Compassion shouldn’t be reserved for the dogs, but also shared with your clients and prospective clients.  Many people turn to certified professional dog trainers in times that are especially stressful and emotional for their families.  They are struggling to cope with problems that seem overwhelming to them.  Criticizing their choices and judging the past does little to help a client move forward with solutions to the challenges they are facing.

3. Organization: As a certified professional trainer, you’re a teacher whose expert knowledge of dog behavior is the basis of your professional credibility.  It is essential that you be able to organize your class content and client communications so that you present information clearly and in a way that can be understood by your clients.

As you investigate the options and weigh the question – to become a certified dog trainer or not? – don’t forget that certified dog training professionals must like people, too!