While many know that pets, and dogs in particular, are an important part of the family, it may seem hard to imagine a career in dog training, dog walking, or even dog grooming; in other words, making a living out of what you love. But, as anyone familiar with the canine species knows, it takes a lot of time and care to ensure your pet is happy and healthy, and there are many individuals and companies ready to assist in this regard. Dog training requires a person with knowledge and understanding of animal behavior, someone calm and reassuring
If you have what it takes, the next step is to learn how to stand out from the rest and market your dog training courses or sessions above the competition. Let’s dive in.
Learn the Basics
Dog training is an exciting and rewarding career that involves correcting animal behavior, easing separation anxiety, and acclimating canines to new home situations. As with any small business, you want to learn as much as possible about dog behavior and training methods. There is a lot of information online, but to gain the foundational know-how it’s best to read books, attend seminars and workshops, or even go as far as to take behavior and obedience classes. If you own a dog, work on training them first.
The next step is to get experience in the field. If you have neighbors or family members who may need your skill set, that’s an option. However, the best way to gain experience with different kinds of dogs who have various backgrounds is to volunteer at an animal shelter or seek an experienced dog trainer to join on an apprenticeship basis. Animal shelters are often short-staffed and could do with an extra set of hands.
However, more important than that is what you will learn when you volunteer your time. Shelters house different breeds of dogs that have different life stories, meaning that they have picked up and acquired coping mechanisms or behaviors that you could learn a great deal from. It would give you a window into the world you hope to join.
Social Media
While this market may seem saturated and outdated, it certainly is not. Potential customers purchase with their eyes, if they see a dog that is well trained in a video on Instagram, it will remind them of their own dog’s behavior and perhaps reach out to you. As much as it is about your page, it’s even more about having an online presence so that past and current satisfied customers can mention and tag you, which is the fastest and least expensive way to reach more people. You never know how many followers your current client has, and if they are overjoyed with what you’ve managed to achieve with their dog, they may send you a shout-out and attract business for you. It’s like a passive advertisement.
If you are the kind of person not too keen on social media and the influx of information that it brings with it, you can easily get someone to post for you. The beauty of the scale of social media, meaning the sheer volume of people who make a living off it, is that plenty of tech- and social media-savvy folks are at the ready to advise you at any time, and even take over your posts or channel at a very fair price. This point takes us seamlessly into our next tip.
Delegate Tasks
One person can’t be good at everything. So, while you are busy learning new techniques and focusing on your actual job of training dogs, it’s a good idea to assign and delegate tasks to professionals who can assist with dog training marketing. It is tempting to micro-manage and have an eye on all the happenings, but if you are going to make it big, it’s a valuable to lesson learn now already: stick to what you are good at, and perfect that part, let others do their jobs, and trust in their potential and capabilities. Successful delegation is an art, and learning how to do it well can stop you from focusing on what’s important.
Keep Training and Advancing
With all the marketing tools, teams, and gadgets in the world, a person can still be beaten by someone who doesn’t stop practicing. Training dogs is a creative and simultaneously highly emotional task, it takes years to become good, and several more to become the trainer that you hope to be. Albert Einstein said creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought. That beautiful quote speaks to the aspect of dog training that makes a person an expert.
Since most dogs are soft animals in nature, they tend to be temperamental if they haven’t been raised correctly or in alignment with a style that suits them. To train dogs, it’s essential to know oneself first and be able to differentiate between a canine’s feelings, be it anxiety or anger, and your own. It most definitely is a fulfilling career, as the result of your work can be seen directly in how a dog behaves after you’ve worked with them. Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.