What It Takes to Train a Service Dog
Becoming a certified service dog trainer is a rewarding career, but it goes well beyond basic obedience training. It takes further education to do it well. Service dogs need up to two years of intensive training, and trainers must be able to teach complex tasks, including life-saving behaviors like seeking help during a medical emergency.
Public Access Comes With the Job
Public access is a huge part of a service dog's role. Dogs must remain calm and nonreactive around distractions, and trainers need to be able to desensitize dogs to frightening or disruptive situations. That means teaching a dog to ignore other animals, crowds, and loud noises; lie quietly under an airplane or train seat or under a desk; and stay focused regardless of what's happening around them.
More Than Basic Obedience
Because the stakes are so high, this program asks more of incoming students than a typical obedience course: a service dog may need to stay composed in a crowded restaurant, a busy airport, or beside someone having a medical emergency. That's why ABC has specific entry requirements before you can enroll.
Prerequisites for Enrollment
This program is for students who already understand dog behavior and follow the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) training philosophy. If that's not you yet, ABC recommends starting with our Dog Obedience Program first.
All students must have a high school diploma or equivalent. Beyond that, you'll need to meet either the minimum education requirement or the minimum experience requirement below, not both.
If you're already credentialed as a dog trainer by an ABC-recognized school or organization, you've likely already met this requirement:
- ✓Animal Behavior College (e.g., ABCDT, ABCDT-L2)
- ✓Animal Behavior Institute (e.g., CACTP)
- ✓Catch Academy (e.g., CCDT)
- ✓Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (e.g., CPDT-KA, CPDT-KSA)
- ✓International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (e.g., IAABC-ADT)
- ✓International Association of Canine Professionals (e.g., CDT, CDTA)
- ✓Karen Pryor Academy (e.g., KPA CTP)
- ✓National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors (e.g., NADOI Certified Member)
- ✓National K9 Learning Center (e.g., CPT)
- ✓Penn Foster (Dog Obedience Trainer/Instructor Graduate)
- ✓Tarheel Canine (graduate of a professional obedience course)
- ✓Triple Crown Dog Academy or Starmark Animal Behavior Center (graduate of a basic obedience course)
- ✓Victoria Stillwell Academy (graduate of the Dog Trainer Course)
- ✓Any ABC-recognized animal behavior or training certification
- ✓A degree in animal science or a related animal behavior field
Credentialed elsewhere, or not seeing your school listed? Call 800-795-3294. Exceptions are considered case-by-case.
Don't meet the education requirement? You may still qualify through experience. See Option Two.
Qualifying experience includes:
- ✓Instructing group classes, private lessons, board-and-train lessons, or virtual sessions with people and their dogs
- ✓Attending continuing-education classes or seminars in dog training
- ✓Volunteering at a shelter training dogs, or as a volunteer training assistant in shelters
- ✓Preparing and implementing curriculum and lesson plans for clients
- ✓Preparing client homework assignments
ABC reserves the right to verify education or experience, so be prepared to present documentation if requested.
Don't meet either requirement yet? Consider starting with ABC's Dog Obedience Program instead. It's a great foundation, and graduates earn the ABC Certified Dog Trainer (ABCDT) credential that satisfies this program's education requirement.
Explore the Dog Obedience ProgramReady to Start Your Service Dog Trainer Career?
If you meet the prerequisites above, the next step is simple: get more information or apply today.
