Certification as a dog trainer means that your skills have been discovered or created, assessed, tested, and proven. At the Dog Trainer College, certification is received after the student has been a part of classroom instruction, book-work, oversight from experienced trainers/instructors during training sessions, and successful completion of real-life training testing. Herein the student’s skills are developed and honed. Bad habits are dropped and replaced with effective training methods. Even beginner students who start a course with little to no training experience can graduate feeling confident and competent when new challenges are presented. This leads to a certification that means something!
Certification will only be as valuable as the school it is received from. Dog training is a practical, hands-on, applied skill. For a certification to have value and “teeth” it must involve hands-on training with oversight from experienced instructors. This immediately reveals the weakness of online courses. Only methodology can be learned through books and clicks. Clients want to know that you have gained training experience through the tangible training of dogs, not merely reading a book. Certification through DTC will mean far more than any online course! Training must be learned by doing! This means more than training dogs from a humane society. Most shelters do not have certified trainers on staff. This means that an online student could be learning bad training habits and not know the difference. A student partnered with an experienced instructor will develop training habits that are distinct and perfected.
Certification proves to potential clients that you can do what you proclaim. It means you can back up what your website and other marketing material state you can do. It broadens your market base and therefore increases income potential. In a day when backyard trainers attempt their claim to fame, the general public wants to know that you have exceeded “paper” training and can truly accomplish the training of their dog.
Many professing trainers out there eventually complicate the dog’s problems instead of transforming it. During a comprehensive course at DTC, students learn how to train a variety of dogs in a successful approach. This skill must be proven and tested in order to receive certification at DTC. This is one of the many reasons why the Dog Trainer College has a nationwide reputation for producing quality dog trainers.
Trainers who make the effort and investment in becoming certified at the Dog Trainer College will have a well-rounded education that encourages clients to come their way instead of their competitors. In this way, certification pays for itself and more.
