Training dogs? where to start? - Page 1

 Just wanted to know if anyone could provide some advice on how to get into dog training, and whether it's worth doing various courses to gain certificates. I'm 22 years of age and have an enormous love for german shepherds, currently I'm training my dog for protection work. I'm from Australia, and i'm extremely eager to one day get into breeding and training as a carear. Any advice on a pathway to gain knowledge and learn about the training, dog behaviour as a basic starting point would be much apreciated. Would love to hear from experienced trainers, and to hear of your stories and how you got into it, and would you would recommend.

Cheers

leigh14,

Seems we share a passion for GSDs.  An aspect of the breed that I value is the working history of the GSD, either in herding or schutzhund.  I would suggest your best initial avenue is to title a dog.  Join a club and work at putting titles on a dog...become a national competitor in schutzhund and compete at the WUSV, and wham!, your a trainer/handler everyone wants to learn from.  Work at learning how to be a schutzhund helper, and eventually get classified.

I wish one of my five children was a kid like you.

Idog

So do you want to be a trainer for mainly German Shepherds in Schutzhund, or do you want to be an overall dog trainer, what interests you the most?  And you have to look at how you'll make a living.  I don't see being a breeder as a career, or making a lot of money- it costs a lot to have a breeding program with quality dogs.  Trainers may make money off selling trained dogs or importing services, but even that is competitive, and good breeders don't make much off breeding-- think of all the costs associated with housing, health testing, and training your breeding dogs. 

The best way to become a dog trainer is not through shcools, but through apprenticeship.  Find a highly recommended trainer near you and do whatever you can to get in working for them.  If you do go to a school, look at the qualifications and sucess of the teachers, and know that it can be expensive and you may end up cleaning kennels and not nearly as much training as you need-- you can't learn dog training in 4 weeks, nor 4 months.  You can only get your feet wet.  Instead of dog trainer's school, go to seminars, you can search for them in your area, dog training seminars, there's trainers who hold events all over the country.  Know that even if they do not train in the same style, you can learn something from everyone.  Join professional organizations for dog trainers, and watch their events and seminars. 

Become well rounded, but not by skipping around to many trainers.  You have to stay with one good trainer long enough to learn fully what they do, apprentice, take constructive criticism, then you can go to others, and develop later on what works for you.  Asking a ton of questions is what I've been known for, LOL, but it helps me learn.  I like to listen to people, then pick their brains and provoke thoughts, that is how I learn from them.

And as you go along and master what you've learned from others, you will develop your own style.  Part of dog training is theory, but most of it is hands-on, reading a dog, and working with a lot of dogs from start to finish-- Different dogs of all types and temperaments (not just GSDs), and their owners as well.

The best thing would be to get a dog (or two) and train it.  When I first got into training dogs (mind you, I only intend to train my own dogs, not be a "professional trainer" or anything like that) I joined just about every class at our local training club, whether I had a dog in the class or not.  I still observe or drop in on classes.  Two of the other people I've trained my dogs alongside have now started apprenticing, they help train the classes we used to take and eventually can teach them on their own.  There's only so much you can get out of books and courses.  To be honest someone like myself probably won't be paying to go to a trainer that hasn't walked the walk (ie if I'm looking for a class or drop-in for competitive obedience, I'm looking for an instructor or mentor that's already titled multiple dogs).

I would also become well versed in learning theory, operant conditioning, and different styles of how dogs learn.