J.D. Antell's Professional Dog Walking Blog

Dog training is a natural evolution for dog walker’s. You are informally training the dogs you walk every day. They are learning the routine: the time you arrive, the greeting ritual, the leash hook-up ritual, and of course acceptable behavior on the walk. It’s the last item which is most likely to convert into a paid training opportunity.

Training dogs whose leash manners are less than stellar has many benefits.

Once my business had a good client base, I became a little more picky about the dogs I took on. Not because they weren’t great and loving animals, but because the owners had spent no time training them how to behave on a leash. I introduced “leash-manners” as an add-on to my dog walking service and generally it was mandatory for dogs who pulled like bulls.

I presented it to new clients as a huge value (it was). They could have their dog walked and trained for only a few dollars more than the per walk fee. It was good for them because their dog became much more enjoyable to walk, I didn’t have to endure the yank and pull anymore, and I was paid for my service.

It truly is a win-win, and when presented that way, your clients will happily pay the add-on fee for a few weeks of training. Once the dog is under control the owners will be VERY thankful and you likely will get hired to do more training for them, their friends, and neighbors.

Practice the training technique for leash-manners I demonstrate in The Dog Walker’s Companion DVD until it become second nature. Soon you’ll be confidently training your client’s dogs to be wonderful leash companions, earning more money, and well on your way to becoming a successful trainer.

Remember, be observant and learn from your dogs as well. Dogs look for reliable indicators or cues as to what is expected of them, or as an indicator of the arrival of good or bad things (picking up the leash for example indicates they will be going for a walk). Stay tuned in. Becoming a good trainer involves two-way communication. The better you understand your furry companions, the more effective you’ll be in communicating what you want from their end of the bargain. Observation is the key in determining what might be getting in the way of a given training technique.  Sending mixed signals or cues is a common problem for novice trainers.