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What is a Guide Dog Trainer?
A Guide Dog Trainer assesses potential Guide Dogs both throughout the months of training and in a formal assessment period.
All of this is to understand the suitability for the dogs to one day become official Guide Dogs. Guide Dog Trainers also teach our dogs to ignore distractions, respond to the Handler’s (the person with low vision or blindness) directions, expose them to environments such as shopping centres and busy CBDs, as well as teach them to use escalators and all forms of public transport. They teach dogs their formal skills such as going around obstacles, stopping at roads, crossing roads in a straight line and stopping if a car crosses their path.
Guide Dog Trainers liaise with our canine facility staff about things like diet, health checks, grooming and any “off-duty” concerns at the start and end of their days. They work independently out and about in the community for a large part of their day.
What does a day in the role look like?
The great thing about being a Guide Dog Trainer is the variety.
Some days involve lots of short sessions per dog to build their skills on focused activities. These sessions might only be 2 – 3 minutes long in the first few weeks. Then once enough foundation skills have been taught, street walks take place. The locations vary and a Trainer might go to 2 – 3 different places each week.
Guide Dog Trainers may work with up to eight dogs each with each dog completing several kilometers of walking a day at some stages of training – that’s a lot of walking!
What skills or qualifications do you need to become a Guide Dog Trainer?
Guide Dog Trainers need to be physically fit and enjoy an active workplace.
Great Guide Dog Trainers enjoy continuous learning and are constantly motivated to improve their training and knowledge. There is a mix of repetitive work that requires motivation to carry out to a high standard, as well as work with great variety that requires good planning and prioritization skills. Like any job, there is some administration such as recording training and assessment notes. Trainers need to be passionate about training dogs for people with low vision or blindness, and of course, they need to love working with dogs!
Qualifications that are helpful to become a Trainer are dog training and/or animal behaviour certifications. There are several different qualifications of this type in Australia such as a ‘Certificate IV Companion Animal Services’ and ‘Certificate III Dog behaviour and training’. These are offered through organisations such as TAFE, NDTF, Karen Pryor Academy and Delta or certifications from training and behaviour professional bodies such as CCPDT, IAABC and KPA-CTP. We recommend joining organisations like APDT (association of pet dog trainers) and PPG (pet professional Guild).
A drivers license is required (unless you have a disability which precludes you from obtaining one).
What should I do if I want to apply?
Build your resume! Get some formal training through courses such as those listed above, as well as show a commitment to continuing education with webinars and conferences. Build a work history showing your experience working with dogs and training dogs alongside a professional dog trainer or with a dog training club. It doesn’t just need to be dogs either, any animal training as long as it is following evidence based best practice is a good place to hone your skills.
Look out for jobs! Guide Dog Trainer roles are advertised very infrequently. This is because lots of trainers stay in the profession for years– and why wouldn’t you? It’s one of the best jobs in the world! There may be other roles that could interest you in our canine facilities, puppy development or our nursery roles including whelp and breed stock advisor. We also have lots of volunteer roles that you can apply for if you are over 18 years of age.
