How To Start A Dog Training Business

How To Start A Dog Training Business
Business Idea

If your dogs always obey your every command, you may be able to turn this skill into a money-making opportunity by learning how to start a dog training business. This type of venture involves working with both dogs and their owners to teach obedience and behavior skills. Most of the time, you’ll be teaching the dog owner more than the actual dog.

While you’ll always come across one or two dogs who think that they’re in charge, most canines are eager to please. Once their owner understands how to be consistent and effectively communicate with their pet, the dog will usually fall right in line.

When first learning how to start a dog training business, decide where you will be conducting your classes. Many dog trainers operate in parks or pet stores. Some provide private instruction at the customer’s home. If this is your goal, you won’t need an formal office (other than a place for you to take care of administrative activities such as bookkeeping and sales calls).

If you plan on providing a climate-controlled indoor area for training classes, rent a large, open building if you don’t have a barn or something similar at home. In addition to space, you’ll only need a few additional supplies like treats and training aids to start.
How To Start A Dog Training Business – What You’ll Need

While learning how to start a dog training business doesn’t legally require any specific type of training, many of your customers will expect some type of certification. Because there aren’t any legal requirements, potential trainers can literally answer a few questions and basically purchase their certification.

Do yourself a favor and pursue a legitimate certification program that offers courses about animal behavior and various training methods. Even if your way is better than any of the known training approaches, it’s never a bad idea to develop a little well-rounded knowledge. Organizations like the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) can provide more information about reputable programs.
Keys To A Successful Dog Training Business

By gaining a reputation for transforming the most ill-mannered dog into an obedient companion animal, you can guarantee your success as dog trainer. This means more than teaching a puppy to shake hands or play dead. It will mean correcting troublesome behavior that includes anxiety, aggressiveness, or simply ignoring every command.

While understanding how dogs think will help you along your way, a little human psychology won’t hurt a bit. In most cases, a person who has a way with animals can completely turn a troubled animal around given enough time and consistency. This illustrates the fact that both the dog and the owner usually need to change behaviors and habits during the entire course of training.
Finding Clients For Your Business

As you learn how to start a dog training business, think about what you can do to attract customers. Once you’ve established yourself, word of mouth will do the rest, but finding those first customers can be a challenge.

Creating a website that describes your approach and various services is one way to find clients. Printing pamphlets and business cards that can be left at pet stores, veterinarian offices, and animal grooming shops is another way. If you can afford to do so, conducting a free class to generate a little buzz would be a great way to get your word-of-mouth advertising started.
Expansion Ideas

Once your dog training business is well-established, you may decide to expand. Consider training other potential trainers or creating an instructional book or DVD. If you like working with the animals better than the people, you could always train your own family of animals for a variety of purposes.

For example, trained dogs can be used in commercials and films or they can work as service animals. If one of your animals becomes a star, your services will be in high demand. At this point, you could consider training birds or exotic animals for other similar opportunities.