Dog Trainer's Job - For Dog Lovers

That there is only one correct way to train a dog is a huge misconception.
Training a dog is very different than just understanding animal or dog behavior.
Hi, I'm Rabozeri, and welcome to How Much Can I Make?
I am a curious journalist, fascinated by what people do for a living, what their jobs are really like, and how much they can earn.
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So let's get started.
This is another one of our segments about dogs and animals and working, making money, maybe a lot of money, we're gonna find out.
And today with us is Lisa, who is a dog trainer.
How long have you been dog?
Six years.
Wow.
Yeah.
How did you start?
So um it was always my dream to be not a dog trainer, but to work with dogs.
And I was in corporate for 25 years, and something happened with the organization I was working with.
And I just said, What am I doing?
I have no life.
I have I work 24-7.
I'm never with my own dogs.
And so I said, I'm I'm making the change.
And I just decided to start working.
And, you know, I didn't start as a dog trainer.
I started walking dogs.
I actually started volunteering at a local shelter, uh, trying to get the hardest dogs they had so I could just learn about dogs and dog behavior and dog body language, and I started from there.
And and you always knew that you wanted to work with dogs?
I knew very early on in my ear late 20s, and just for context, I'm in my 50s now.
In my late 20s, um, I had an experience where I brought my dog to a kennel and he came back depressed.
And then I brought him to a different kennel a few weeks later, and he came back the happiest dog on the planet.
And I said, This is what I want to do.
I want to give people peace of mind that their dogs are being taken care of properly and that they're happy and healthy.
And I said, This is the this is the dream.
Okay, so that was a dream, and how did you make it reality?
Well, first I had my previous, you know, my corporate job paid pretty well, so I just started stashing money away.
I built up a really big nest egg so that when I left I had enough money to live for a few years in case this didn't, you know, in case the dog dream didn't work.
And then I started walking dogs, I started training my dogs, I started taking a working with a lot of dog trainers.
So I've probably spent close to$20,000 on different seminars, shadow programs, online courses, subscriptions to different podcasts and so on, just trying to learn dog behavior.
And then I started training dogs on the cheap.
What do you call on the cheap?
Uh$25 an hour.
So uh, you know, just to get my hands on dogs and working with my friends' dogs and not charging people and and just go, you know, trying to get my hands and work with as many dogs as possible.
And at what point did you uh know that you are ready to go professionally and actually somebody will pay you for that?
Uh I started doing a few more seminars, and one of my mentors was like, What are you doing?
You've got this.
You should be charging a lot more.
What is the day like?
You you meet with different clients, uh, they tell you what they want.
How does it work?
There are multiple different ways.
Each day is a little bit different, which is one of the fun parts of this job.
It's never mundane.
So I will meet with different clients.
I do uh what's called an evaluation where I meet with the client and their dog and assess what they're looking for, what the dog needs.
I actually observe the dog behavior because, you know, a lot of owners aren't dog trainers.
They don't understand dog behavior.
So I can certain often see things that they may not even recognize as signs of behavior to come or signs of anxiety, aggression, whatever the case may be.
So I do meet with different clients.
Sometimes I'll do one-on-one lessons, but often I do what's called a board and train.
So the dogs come and live at my house for a few weeks.
I'll wake up in the morning, first thing I do is get all the dogs out, have them potty, then I feed all the dogs, and then we just start training.
Uh people come to you in desperation because the dog dogs are misbehaved, or are they coming to you when they purchase a dog from the beginning?
That's a great question.
Um, it's a little bit of everything.
I've had people come to me before they even purchased a dog, asking for my help on picking the right dog, specifically for special needs children and so on.
I've had people come to me saying, Help me, you know, we're gonna re-home this dog if we can't figure it out.
I've had people come to me and say, we may need to euthanize this dog.
Can you help us?
So it people come to me for all sorts of reasons, from desperation to exasperation.
Oh gosh, he's jumping again.
Or they just want to get ahead of it because they know getting that professional advice and hands-on experience is going to lead to better dog behavior.
And let's face it, we're gonna have a dog for hopefully over 15 years.
If you amortize the cost of training over the 15 years, it's well worth the investment.
Uh, we're gonna get to a cost in a second, but uh you mentioned special needs kids.
Why is this you train a dog differently?
I trained the dog uh first of all earlier as a puppy, as and as a pretty, you know, young puppy, and we discussed what would be a good fit for a special needs child, specifically, you know, a very calm dog, the right breed, the right more than the breed, the disposition of the dog.
And you can see that pretty early on.
And then the the methods I used and what I trained for was a little bit different, right?
I want a dog that's just gonna be very comfortable hanging out in place, a dog that'll put his head in your lap while life is going on, while kids are running around, when new people are coming in and all of that.
So I've seen I have friends that have dogs and they have great trainers and all of that, but when they the trainer is not there, they do whatever they want, as if they've never been trained.
Yeah, I've seen that.
And I tell people right up front follow through is one of the most important things that you can that it's going to lead to your dog's success.
If you don't follow through, don't waste your money.
And it's up to the owners.
I can get the dog started, and then I specifically train the owners as well.
But if the owners aren't willing to follow through, the dog may be great with me, but not with them.
And that's something I lay out pretty clearly in the evaluation before people spend money.
Let's get into the nitty-gritty.
How much can you make when you start up?
That's a great question.
And one of my mentors said at the very beginning, when I was first starting this six years ago, he said you charge what you're worth.
And in the beginning, when you don't have a lot of dog experience, you're not worth what top dog trainers who've been doing it for 15 years get.
Right now I'm hiring, and people are like, Well, I've I've had personal dogs all my life.
Well, that's great, but that doesn't mean you know dog behavior or dog training.
That's the difference.
So when you first start out, it's gonna be, it could be a bit of a struggle.
And that's why I started dog walking, and I was walking dogs for$40 an hour, but it wasn't one hour that I was spending.
It was in, let's say, 15 minutes to half an hour to get there, an hour walking the dog, 15 minutes to half hour to get to the next place.
And so it came to like two hours for$40.
So it's like, wow, I'm making$20 an hour to start.
All right, great.
And I also had a part-time job when I started.
How much can you make in this field once you're an expert in the field?
Right.
You can make millions.
I mean, one of those one of my mentors is raking it in right now.
Now his expenses are pretty high, but he'll, you know, do daycare for, let's say, 60 dogs, he'll board 20 dogs, and he'll train eight or nine dogs at a time.
Now he has a full team, but the revenues for that can be exponential.
What would an average dog trainer make?
You know, an average dog trainer trains would cost, and I'm just talking average, maybe 125, 150 an hour.
An hour?
An hour.
You know, if you have four or five clients a day, that's a lot of clients, and that's different from a boarding train where I take the dogs and they live with me for two weeks.
I work them multiple times a day.
That doesn't come out to nearly the same uh price point.
It comes to less.
So let's say for a board and train, I've seen it anywhere from$900 a week to$1,600 a week.
And that's for one dog, you know, for uh seven days a week.
There are dog trainers who, you know, have all sorts of classes on YouTube and subscription models and all of that, where that money just rolls in and they're doing what they love.
But it's not you don't make millions off the bat.
You have to start small and grow and grow at a rate you're comfortable with.
Because if you're not comfortable with how fast you're growing, no one's getting the attention they need.
What would you say is the kind of person that should go into this kind of business?
What are the required skills or character traits?
You know, it's funny because when I got into this business, I was like, well, I like dogs.
I always want to work with dogs.
And what my mentors kept telling me was this is not about working with dogs, it's about working with people.
It's true, I spend most of my time with the dogs.
However, if you can't speak to people, this is not the profession for you because you need to train people.
And if people are put off by your approach, by the way you word things, by your personality, it may not be the right fit.
I know, you know, several people who were extrem somewhat socially awkward, so they wanted to work with dogs, and that's great, and that's a a you know, that that's a very viable lifestyle.
However, training when you're dealing with people as much as you are may not be the right fit.
Uh what I don't understand, you say it's like working with people, but you're working with a dog.
The person, the owner is not with you when you train the dog, correct?
Correct, but the owner's the one handing over that check.
The owner is the one I need to train at the end of the training to make sure that they can the dog is ready to go home.
If you can't approach the owner in the right way, they're never gonna trust you and give you their money and their family member.
What is the funniest story that comes to mind if I ask you about one?
Oh, I don't know if I'd call them funny, you know.
I had an owner show up really couldn't stand up straight drunk to a training lesson, a one-on-one lesson.
The best thing I've ever seen is someone who was going to re-home a dog because of some aggression issues.
It was an older dog, he was 10 years old.
They actually thought he they might need to put him down, and I took this dog in.
The first week was really tough.
He just tried to bite me the whole time, but the second week he was miserable, he was just kind of shut down, and the third week it all came together.
He came out of his shell, he was playing with other dogs, he was playing with me, he was happy, he was working, he was proud.
And his last night with me, he didn't really like to be pet too much.
He came in for full snuggles and couldn't get enough love, and that is why I do this.
And I'm super happy to say he hasn't been rehomed, he's not going to be rehomed.
His owners are following through super well.
We just had Thanksgiving, they had dogs, people at their house, no issues, and he's doing well.
And to me, it may not be funny, but it's the best thing that I've ever seen as a dog trainer.
Yeah, I can say that.
What about challenge?
What is the big challenge of the job?
Well, you know, one of the hazards is being bit.
Have you been bit?
Yes, a couple times.
A couple times.
Never terribly, but I also have a lot of precautions in place, a lot of safety protocols, a lot of safety equipment around.
Uh, if the dog is questionable, I go very slowly.
I keep certain equipment like a slip leash, just a regular leash, you know, regular rope leash on them, you know, whenever we're working together, so I have a way to grab them if something goes awry.
And I guess, you know, some of the challenges are also owners not following through.
Because you see a dog come so far, and then you see an owner just not interested in anything you've done.
You see an owner who doesn't want to walk the dog, who doesn't want to engage with the dog.
Why did you want a dog?
And to me, because I take this work so seriously and it's such a a part of who I am, seeing someone who just doesn't engage with their dogs i i is so disheartening and it's hard to send them home.
But did it ever happen to you that you got attached to a dog while you were uh training it and then you had to give it back to the owner?
Absolutely.
I tell there there are a few owners I've said, if you don't want your dog, I'll I'll take him.
You can just give him back.
I I I love this dog and that one I was talking about, the the one that I had that was the buyer who went home when he left.
I got a little sad because I had just watched him grow and come so far out of his shell.
It was a fantastic uh experience.
What are the most common misconceptions about dog training?
One is you don't need to be able to deal with people, right?
Uh we kind of touched on that.
Being able to talk to people is huge.
Two is I know dogs, I can do this.
Training a dog is very different than just understanding animal or dog behavior.
Right.
Or loving them.
Exactly.
Um, and you know, with this job opening, everyone's like, well, I've had dogs forever, doesn't mean you can train.
Another one is, oh well, I know everything there is to know.
Or my way is the the best way.
So that there is only one correct way to train a dog is a huge misconception.
If you Google how to train your dog, hundreds of hits will come up and everyone will be different.
It's like asking someone, well, how do you go on a diet?
Is there any kind of certification that one should get before they become a trainer?
You know, it's there are all sorts of places offering certifications.
There are all sorts of schools out there, none are required.
So, but the y you can go to a dog school that charges a thousand to ten thousand.
Uh it you know, it's to me it's more about hands-on experience because learning in a book what dog behavior looks like is very different than seeing it in real life.
Right.
What is your advice for somebody that wanna break into the business?
Get your hands on dogs.
That was the first training seminar I went to when I didn't even know if I wanted to be a trainer or a boarder or a walker.
Hands-on dogs.
The more dogs and more temperaments you can get your hands on, the better.
How do you do that?
Volunteer.
Dog shelters all over the place need people to handle their dogs.
Volunteer at a local shelter.
And then just work your way up to some of the more challenging dogs.
Work with friends' dogs.
Just start getting your hands on dogs.
That's the best thing you can do.
Do you have to do any continuing education every now and then?
I do.
Uh I go to work with different people every year.
Uh, I want to see the way different people handle dogs.
Um, I watch tons of videos and all of that.
It's not required, but if I want to become a better dog trainer, that's the way I'm gonna do it by seeing more people train dogs in different ways.
And I pulled a piece from this dog trainer and a piece from that dog trainer, and this makes sense to me, and this I can do.
Working with people at least once a year, usually more, is the way that I do my continuing education.
Right, never stop learning.
No, no.
And if you think you know everything, that's a sign, that's a dog trainer I wouldn't want to hire.
Okay, well, thank you very much.
That was very educating.
Thank you.
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