Good people skills
Time-management skills
Problem-solving ability
Respect for clients, both canine and human
A desire to improve the relationship between dog and person
Physical fitness
Captain Haggerty: The Trainer’s Trainer
Arthur J. Haggerty, born in Manhattan on December 3, 1931, grew up around dogs and handled several breeds in dog shows at a young age. While serving in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, he became the commanding officer of the K9 Corps. In 1962, he founded Captain Haggerty’s School for Dogs. The Captain (as he became known) proceeded to blaze a trail as a dog trainer with uncanny abilities. If dogs could do it, he prepared them for it. He worked with sentry dogs in Germany, Okinawa, and the Philippines; with police dogs in London, Hong Kong, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.; with guide dogs in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. He spent years working with avalanche dogs; sled dogs; messenger dogs; bird and varmint dogs; scout dogs; patrol dogs; and explosive- and narcotic-detector dogs.
The Captain also supplied dogs for the silver screen, the stage, and television. In the early 1970s he was called to supply dogs for the movie Shamus, starring Burt Reynolds. His distinctive look—tall, broad, and bald—appealed to the director, who hired him to play a “goon.” Bitten by the acting bug, he would go on to appear in or handle dogs for more than 150 feature films and 450 television commercials. His dogs appeared in soap operas such as As the World Turns and All My Children, and he and his dogs were often guests on David Letterman’s late-night talk show.
He also wrote. In 1977, with fellow New York dog trainer Carol Lea Benjamin, he wrote his first book, Dog Tricks, which became, and remains, a best-seller. Other books followed: The American Breeds, How to Get Your Pet into Show Business, How to Teach Your Dog to Talk, The Zen Method of Dog Training, and Service Dogs. Additionally, he wrote some 1,000 articles on dogs for various periodicals. He won many awards from the Dog Writers Association of America, and the Alliance of Purebred Dog Writers offers an annual Haggerty award for excellence in the field of dog writing.
Through training classes, seminars and workshops, books and articles, and television appearances, the Captain inspired thousands of dog lovers and helped many a professional trainer get a start. He also became a noted American Kennel Club judge. A true icon in the field of dog training, Arthur Haggerty died in July 2006, leaving his daughter, Babette, a well-respected and successful trainer in her own right, to carry on.
A dog can be beautiful and personable, but if he isn’t well socialized, he won’t perform reliably. He should be able to stay focused for long periods despite the distractions of strangers or unusual activity. Trainers who work in this field often find their canine stars in animal shelters. These animals are often too rambunctious and smart to fit well into homes, but those same characteristics can make them highly trainable.
In addition to working with paying clients, many trainers do volunteer work. Burwell is past president of the Lone Star Search and Rescue Dog Association, which trains dogs for tracking and air scenting and participates in searches for lost or missing people.
Education and Training
Anyone can print up some business cards and claim to be a dog trainer, but most respected trainers have some sort of relevant educational background or extensive personal experience before they start teaching. Dog trainers acquire their skills and knowledge in many different ways, from on-the-job training to formal education. Lots of dog trainers get started by training their own dogs for obedience trials or other dog sports and then move on to teaching other people’s dogs. For the person who wants to make dog training a career, however, a more standardized educational route may be the way to go. Much more is known today about dog behavior than in the past, so an education in psychology and behavior is useful for dealing with and communicating concepts to dogs and their people.
Canine fitness trainer Gail Miller Bisher, owner of Super Fit Fido Club, puts a Dachshund through a workout course. Bisher helps couch-potato dogs and owners get into shape.
Service-Dog Trainers
Service dogs help people who have physical or emotional disabilities, enabling these people to get around and live more easily on their own. The dogs include guide dogs for people with visual impairments, assistance dogs for those with physical limitations, hearing dogs, and psychiatric service dogs.
A service-dog trainer must first teach skills to the dog and then teach owner and dog to work together. “A service-dog trainer needs to be patient and organized, with good communication skills and the ability to think creatively, critically, and objectively,” says Nancy Fierer, director of Susquehanna Service Dogs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “It really helps to be able to take information from one area of life or study and apply it to training. The person has to love people and animals and learning. Flexibility is also important. The trainer always needs to keep looking for better ways to train.”
Before they can qualify to teach teams, service-dog trainers may need to complete a two- to three-year program that teaches them how to train the dogs and how to work with people of differing abilities. “Our training methods are very specific,” Fierer says. “Most trainers will not be able to work in our program without extensive training. Good positive experience is important, too, either with dogs or people with disabilities.”
The actual training of a service dog usually takes approximately six months after the dogs are returned as adults by their puppy raisers—the people who care for them, socialize them, and teach them basic manners until they are old enough to begin the training needed to become service dogs. Beyond actually teaching the dog, trainers are generally expected to care for the dog. Sometimes the dogs also live with their trainers (sometimes they live in a kennel situation). Filling out paperwork related to applications for service dogs is another facet of the job.
There are a limited number of openings for service-dog trainers at organizations. Some trainers volunteer with a service-dog organization before being accepted into the training program.
Whether they have high-school diplomas or college degrees, dog trainers can achieve certification through organizations such as the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. Accreditation isn’t necessary, but it adds an element of credibility.
College
As a child, Kim Toepfer was attracted to animals of all kinds and read everything she could find about dogs and training. She developed “intelligence tests” for her pet dogs and participated in 4-H programs. When she began thinking about a career, she assumed she would become a veterinarian. In college, however, Toepfer discovered an interest in psychology and behavior that altered her career path.
“While there is no degree requirement for becoming a dog trainer, I think a good, solid education in science—biology
