Dog Trainers work with dogs to teach obedience and tricks and to address undesirable behaviors. Dog Trainer job descriptions often focus on three primary duties: evaluating each dog’s individual needs, establishing training goals and a training plan and overseeing the actual training process.
A Dog Trainer should be able to fulfill various duties and responsibilities. The following are some duties and responsibilities a Dog Trainer should be able to execute:
- Interviewing dog owners to understand challenges and goals
- Evaluating dogs in person and identifying potential challenges
- Creating custom training plans for each dog
- Training dogs to walk on and off-leash
- Obedience training, such as training dogs to respond to commands
- Socializing dogs with other household pets and teaching them “play etiquette”
A competitive Dog Trainer will have certain skills and qualifications, including:
- Patience, consistency and the ability to reign in emotions
- Attention to detail, particularly concerning subtle dog behaviors and common examples of canine communication
- Knowledge of different dog breeds and inherent behavioral variances
- Strong people-to-people communication skills
- Past experience and education in dog training, behavior modification and related skills
- Familiarity with and/or mastery of job-specific terms and concepts like behavior chains and leash training
