22/10/2026
As a professional dog walker, I have such a great appreciation for dog trainers 🫶🏻🦮
I have a professional animal education and working background which enables me to provide the pet care services I currently offer: pet sitting & dog walking. However, whilst a lot of my knowledge and skills are relevant to dog training, that doesn't mean I can officially position myself specifically as a Dog Trainer.
I've dealt with a fair few walks that have been such painful experiences, sometimes literally, on my poor hands, limbs...and exhausted brain. Lovely dogs in nature but definitely not ready for dog walking services!
One example would be terrible leash walking, one of my biggest pet peeves! I'm not talking about a little bit of pulling, I mean, dogs practically choking themselves out on the lead or pulling me along like a freight train. At that point, I know the dog isn't enjoying the walk at all and nor am I. Extreme behavioural issues like this can become too dangerous and unethical to manage in the long run.
There are still some less serious yet challenging behaviours that niggle at me during dog walks. I often think to myself, "I wish I knew how to stop this from happening" or "it would be cool if I could get the dogs to..." I can often see the issues but I'm not professionally equipped to resolve them.
Where appropriate , I apply techniques I learn along the way, putting in a lot of extra time and effort to help the dogs in my care but admittedly, that's a lot of excess pressure I put on myself in addition to my existing professional responsibilities.
The work involved in dog training is NOT easy and you'd be a FOOL to think so (you have to read that in Samuel L Jackson's voice 😎). Will I become a dog trainer at some point? Quite possibly! At the moment, I'm enjoying what I already do best along with new, creative projects in business. There is scope and interest - very exciting to see what my pet care future holds! ♥️🐾
For now, I highly recommending these successful, professional dog trainers, who I'd love to learn from myself:
Sevyn K9
Paige • PS K9
House of K9
GemK9 Dog Training
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