Dog Trainer Salary - How Much Can You Make?
It takes more than a passion for the well-being of dogs to make it as a successful dog trainer.
When it comes to training dogs and their owners, you need to be naturally calm, patient, and an excellent communicator. You’ll always play the role of student as you need to be willing to develop new skills, stay well informed of all the best techniques, have determination to grow and be challenged, and find drive in helping dogs slowly adjust to their role as a member of their family.
Of course, much like with every other career, you also need to consider if you will earn enough to make a living with a dog trainer salary. Let’s see how much you could make as a dog trainer.
Working for an Organization or Independently
Working for a company versus working for yourself will significantly affect your potential salary as a dog trainer. Many trainers work for private companies and government-run or volunteer-run shelters.
Working for a company will likely mean less responsibilities, as your employer is normally in charge of finding new clients and assigning them to you.
Moreover, your employer is usually responsible for covering most of the expenses required for a trainer to provide their services. As a company trainer, you would be paid as a regular employee with an hourly wage. Your employer would determine how much they will charge for classes with you and how many clients you will get each time.
Working as an independent dog trainer is slightly different. You will have a lot more responsibilities and with more responsibility comes more risk. You will be responsible for marketing your business and getting new clients. You’ll also be responsible for every detail of your business, from finances, class schedules, to the everyday tasks required to run and maintain your business. Plus there’s the whole job of building your brand and reputation - becoming well known in your local community so you can get the referrals rolling in.
Thankfully, these days there are apps like bookyourpet.com - an easy to use platform that supports dog trainers just like you to attract, book and support your dog training clients on and offline.
Featuring loads of automations - you can leverage tech to do the jobs of several people - so you can effortlessly deal with booking, payments, communications, sales reports, team scheduling and more. PLUS it also makes it fast and easy for new clients to find you. Tools like this definitely make starting your own dog training business more appealing!
While working independently as a certified dog trainer may sound challenging at first, it definitely has its benefits. You will have the freedom to determine your own hours and how many or even which clients you want to work with.
As an independent dog trainer, you will also be able to decide what type of training you will offer and what packages you’ll offer to your clients (one-on-one or group classes for instance). You will obviously also be in charge of your own rates, which can change as your experience and knowledge grows.
What Are the Wages?
Wages vary depending on a trainer's experience, education, schedule and marketing skills. Some trainers like to focus on group classes, private classes, or both, and may only work part-time.
Others can charge more than the average prices because they are highly recommended and have great reviews. And when trainers know how to market themselves properly, they can gain a lot of attention from prospective clients.
Regular obedience classes average $15 to $25 per dog in each class, with an average of 8 dogs per class and usually 4 to 6 classes per week. This can amount to $1,000 - $3,000 per month for a dog trainer. Private classes are typically priced from $35 to as high as $150 per hour and more.
Annual wages in the US start from $30,000 per year and often go up to $80,000 (and higher), with an average of $45,000. As a dog trainer, where you fall on this scale depends on several factors.
What Are the Expenses?
When working as a trainer for a company, there are little to no expenses. However, working independently does have some additional costs, but they are usually pretty low. Expenses can be anything from toys and treats for dogs, insurance, and rental space for your classes.
There are also some free options like public parks that can be used without any cost, as long as the weather permits it. Transportation expenses should also be considered, especially if you do a lot of private classes and meet your clients in their spaces.
Factors That Affect a Dog Trainer Salary
Your location is a very important factor. Trainers in bigger cities can have a larger pool of potential clients than in smaller towns due to the higher demand, raising their income. Of course, competition is also higher in bigger cities, so it would require more effort in marketing on their part, which means more expenses.
Transportation costs can also be higher in a city if you travel long distances to meet your clients. Of course, most trainers do include these costs in their initial pricing.
Your education level can also factor into the formulation of your pricing. You don’t need any certifications to become a dog trainer in many countries. However, there are several programs that focus on dog training and work towards certificates that you can earn to help you develop more skills.
In some places, you need to complete a minimum number of training hours with a certain number of dogs within a specific period. There might also be a written test that a trainer might have to take to earn the certification. Advertising yourself as an educated specialist in your field can allow you to raise your prices for providing a higher quality service.
The more knowledgeable and experienced you are, the more you can charge. Higher prices based on expertise can also build your reputation, making you a highly sought-after dog trainer. Of course, providing competitive pricing might make you more approachable to dog owners who are on a budget, ultimately bringing in more clients.
Types of Training
Some specialized trainers earn much more than regular dog trainers that simply offer obedience classes.
For example, trainers specializing in dog behavior modification tend to charge more because they mainly work with tougher cases, such as aggressive or high-stress dogs. These trainers are usually working with adult dogs to rehab them after they have developed aggressive behavior, experienced trauma or did not get the appropriate training as puppies, by using corrective techniques.
It can be challenging and even dangerous to work with an aggressive dog, and it might also take longer depending on each case. Therefore, pet parents can expect to pay more to hire these experts.
Training service dogs is also a very specialized field. A service dog trainer tends to charge more than $100 per hour. This is because it requires a lot of thorough training for a dog to perform its duties. Such a dog needs to perform at 100% since they are responsible for the well-being of people.
For that reason, this type of training also takes a lot of time. Unlike most regular obedience training, this type of training is always regulated.
Law enforcement dog trainers can also have a higher income than regular trainers due to their specialized focus. Much like a service dog trainer, law enforcement dog trainers are also regulated. It also requires a particular process and time commitment to gain the certification to be able to provide this type of training.
Other specialized dog trainers include those that focus on competition or dog show training, and their prices usually differ since they offer a different kind of service and dog training technique.
Choosing a Career as a Dog Trainer
If you choose to follow a career in dog training, there are many things to consider first. There are a lot of opportunities to make a good living out of it, but it requires a lot of dedication on your part to find success. While salaries for some trainers can stay at the lower end, it is totally possible to have a significant income as a dog trainer.
If you decide to set up your own dog training business, the right tools are important to help you find clients and make the experience of working with you a breeze - that’s what we do here at bookyourpet.com. Not only can we help make your business easier to run, we can also help connect with new and existing clients and make marketing your services to them, effortless.
Some trainers can earn higher salaries due to their education, experience, or serving a more niche market through their specialized training. Serving these more specialized markets usually means you’ll have to invest a considerable amount of time and money in advance to train in these fields. But for many, it’s so worth it to have a solid specialism - and to have a greater purpose associated with working to support differently able people, or the military, or people in need of therapy animals.
But even if you don’t specialize, being a good dog trainer isn’t just being able to teach a dog to sit or roll over, it’s also being able to help dogs of all ages and breeds socialize and be easy-to-live with family members.
When a dog is well mannered, not only is he happy understanding his role in the family, the family isn’t constantly stressed trying to manage a dog with undesirable behaviors.
So as a trainer, you will have a significant impact on the entire family, four-legged and two. So if helping to create harmonious lives for families and their pets sounds appealing, becoming a trainer may just be the perfect choice for you!