The Definitive Guide to Becoming a Service Dog Trainer

Service Dog Trainers Take Their Skills to the Next Level

Dog trainers all have one thing in common: their job allows them to help animals and people live better lives. Whether it’s an obedience trainer teaching a class full of puppies how to walk politely on a leash or a service dog trainer teaching a labrador to open a door or retrieve something for her owner, the work trainers do is important and rewarding.

Obedience trainers mold dogs into good canine citizens and, in the process, make life better for them by instilling desired behaviors. Well-trained dogs know what is expected of them and make life smoother for everybody concerned.

Service dog trainers, on the other hand, have a much more complex task. Not only do they have to train dogs to obey basic obedience commands like “sit,” “stay,” “down,” and “come” but they also have to teach these working dogs the tasks that will allow handlers with disabilities to live more comfortably and independently.

The tasks service dogs do vary from person to person. Many different categories of service dogs exist:

• Mobility assistance dogs
• Hearing dogs
• Psychiatric service dogs
• Guide dogs
• Allergy alert dogs
• Diabetic alert dogs
• Autism service dogs
• Seizure alert dogs

Why Does a Service Dog Trainer Need Extra Training?

Service dogs are working dogs with important responsibilities. For some people, their life can depend on their dog’s training. Psychiatric service dogs provide invaluable support to individuals coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental illness. These highly trained canines offer a range of practical assistance, from alerting their owners to signs of anxiety or panic attack or interrupting destructive thought patterns to creating physical barriers or guiding them to a safe or quiet place in crowded or overwhelming environments, all while offering companionship and a sense of security.

With that in mind, it’s clear that service dog trainers take on a lot of responsibility and must know what they’re doing.

Learning how to become a service dog trainer starts with being a competent obedience trainer. You need to know how to teach a dog basic commands with the goal of instilling impeccable manners and the ability to handle all sorts of distractions without becoming reactive.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that service dogs have almost unlimited access to public spaces and businesses. Therefore, they must be prepared to deal with noise, crowds, traffic, other animals, elevators and escalators, and whatever else modern life throws at them.

Of course, the other part of service dog training is task-oriented. The types of things service dogs have to perform far exceed learning simple tricks like “shake” or “play dead.” Trainers need to be able to assess a specific task like retrieving medication or turning on a light and break it down into teachable steps, or behavior chains.

Service dog trainers also need to learn how to be attentive to the special needs of a service dog. A lot is required of these animals, and paying close attention to their health and well-being is important. Service dogs are asked to suppress their natural instincts and stay alert and on task while working. These loyal animals will often work through pain or illness, to their own detriment.

To be clear, there is a vast difference between a highly trained service dog and an emotional support animal or a therapy dog. There is a lot of confusion these days because so many more people have dogs with them in public places and some of them have vests on and some don’t. Sadly, some are misrepresented as service dogs when they are not.

Only service dogs trained to perform specific duties to help persons with disabilities are protected by the ADA. Therapy dogs do not receive the same level of training, and emotional support animals may have no training at all.

Interested in Becoming a Service Dog Trainer?

Demand for service dogs is higher now that more and more people are realizing how much these amazing animals can do to improve quality of life for someone with a disability. Waiting lists to get a dog are long and costs are prohibitive for many people.

Service dog trainers are needed to help meet the demand. If you are an obedience trainer already, taking your skills to the next level to become a service dog trainer can be as simple as taking an online course.

For someone with a foundation in training skills and knowledge, an online service dog training class can teach you how to prepare these special dogs to help people with disabilities, how to work with their handlers, and how to make sure service dogs stay healthy and happy.

Service dog training is a rewarding, fulfilling career. If you love working with dogs and helping people and you don’t mind making a little more money in the process, it’s definitely worth your time to develop the skills to be a service dog trainer.