Teaching Dog Obedience

There is an old saying that when you see a dog being a nuisance, the real fault is with the owner. Most people buy a dog and perhaps buy a book on dog training, but never get beyond page two. Their dog becomes a member of the family and if there is a little dysfunction they don’t notice. That is they don’t notice until the neighbors, friends and other family members are up in arms about the digging, barking, jumping or general mess of the animal, and there is a demand for change. At that point, they might realize they need a little one on one training themselves on how to keep the dog from misbehaving. Someone who teaches dog training in the home would be both, dog and owner’s new best friend.

First and foremost before taking the steps toward teaching dog obedience, it would be a good idea to find out if there are other such teachers in the area, and whether they would be enough business to support everyone putting in an effort to teach. As there are certain costs, especially at the start this is very important.

Secondly, you would need to establish your credentials as a dog trainer yourself. This type of work is of course suited, only to those who are very good with pets, but who can also deal well with other people. Helping the animal in this case means teaching the humans how to train and properly discipline their pet. In this regard, you are helping not only the dog and his family, but the entire community as well.

If you are already certified then you are on the way to teaching others how to train their own dog. If you need to become certified you should of course have at least a few courses in dog training under your belt before you get started teaching. The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers calls for at least 300 hours of dog training experience before becoming certified. This is of course a major commitment, but a small one when compared to either owning your own business, or supplementing other income for many years to come.

The next step is finding customers and this can be done with relatively little cost. Printing out business cards or flyers and leaving them where people with pets are likely to visit is one of the least costly ways of promoting your business. You might also start a blog giving some dog training instructions online and explaining how you can help teach people how to train their dog. Since this is teaching someone in their own home, you might want to look into becoming bonded so that any accidents will be covered. Since this is a one on one teaching experience you will also need to draw up a contract exactly spelling out what you will be teaching the pet’s owner, the amount of time of each session, and of course the cost you have both agreed on for the instruction.

Once the certification and promotion costs are covered teaching owners how to train their dogs has relatively low overhead. This can be a very rewarding small business to start on your own.

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