Change Your Career - Become a Dog Training Professional
Want to Change Your Career and Change Your Life?
Are you passionate about supporting pets & their people?
We have the solution: Become a Certified Dog Training Professional.
The DogNostics Dog Trainer Certificate (DTC) Program is one of the most engaging, comprehensive, and science-based learning experiences available anywhere for aspiring professional dog trainers.
Why Choose the DogNostics DTC Program?
When you enroll, you aren’t just taking a course—you are investing in a future where your passion meets a highly respected, professional skill set. Our students are consistently impressed by both the incredible depth and broad scope of our curriculum.
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Turn Your Passion Into a Profession: Learn how to operationalize kindness and use cutting-edge, force-free science to transform the lives of dogs and their owners.
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Comprehensive, Flexible Learning: Master everything from mechanical handling skills to the knowledge of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
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Unmatched Community Support: Gain hands-on mentoring and join a collaborative network of ethical professionals dedicated to animal welfare.
Ready to take the first step toward a career you love? Don’t just dream about working with animals—gain the credentials, confidence, and community you need to thrive.
The Top Five Reasons You Want To Become a Trainer!
1. Turning a Passion for Animal Welfare into a Purpose
Most people enter the industry because they possess a deep, innate love for dogs and a desire to protect their emotional and physical well-being.
Becoming a professional allows you to advocate for force-free, science-based training methodologies. Help be the voice for the pets; becoming a trainer helps replace outdated, punishment-based methods with empathy, compassion, and a commitment to animal welfare.
2. The Joy of Keeping Dogs in Loving Homes
Behavioral issues are one of the primary reasons dogs are surrendered to shelters or rehomed. Professional trainers don’t just teach “sit” or “stay”; they solve real-world communication breakdowns between species.
You can help prevent relinquishment of pets by repairing the human-canine bond, which provides an incredibly profound, emotionally fulfilling sense of purpose that few other careers can match.
3. Career Autonomy and Lifestyle Flexibility
The desire to escape the corporate “9-to-5” grind is a massive driver.
As a dog training professional, you can be your own boss, set your own hours, and build a business that completely aligns with your personal lifestyle. Whether you offer private in-home consultations, host group classes, or focus on specialized behavior modification, this career offers immense flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom.
4. Fascinating Intellectually Stimulating Work
Dog training is a highly dynamic blend of science and art. For those who love psychology, science, and problem-solving, the field offers endless intellectual fulfillment through Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
Every dog is an individual with a unique history, genetics, and environment. As a trainer, you will always be learning, evolving, and cracking new behavioral puzzles.
5. Empowering People and Building Community
While the job title says “dog trainer,” the reality is that a significant portion of the work is coaching people. True professional trainers love teaching owners how to understand, communicate with, and appreciate their pets.
Witnessing the exact moment a frustrated owner goes from feeling overwhelmed to feeling confident and empowered creates a beautiful, lasting ripple effect throughout the community.
Option One: Enroll In The Complete Program.
Choose the payment option that works best for you.
Pay in Full
Enjoy immediate access to every module, lesson, resource, and assessment.
Or
18-Month Payment Plan
Spread the cost with convenient monthly payments and gain access to one new module each month.
Option Two: Shape Your Way Through The Program One Level at a Time?
Register for one level at a time!
Begin with the Apprentice course and progress through the Journeyman and Master courses.
Our learner-centered program’s mission is to provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed!
Whether you dream of launching your own dog training business; are eager to continue to build on your current career as a dog training professional; want to expand your service offerings as a pet industry professional; or would simply like to take your understanding of how dogs think and learn to the next level, the DogNostics Dog Trainer Certificate Program stands out from other programs, offering both unbeatable content, and value!
Graduates of the DogNostics Dog Trainer Certificate Program are skilled in applying science and artistic endeavor, delivering results through empathy and mutual respect for clients and pets!
The DogNostics Dog Trainer Certificate Program provides an all-encompassing in-depth understanding of operant and respondent conditioning, with students learning about everything from discriminative stimuli, motivating operations, setting events, the transfer of stimulus control; to primary and secondary reinforcement consequences, protocols, and schedules; to canine ethology and social behavior. All students learn the Train-Test-Train method, as well as how to successfully implement the four key stages of learning from acquisition to fluency, generalization, and maintenance.
Earn Continued Education Units While You Learn!
CEUs have been granted by The Pet Professional Accreditation Board, The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and The International Association for Animal Behavior Consultants
Apprentice Course: PPAB 25, CCPDT 21, IAABC 25. – Journeyman Course: PPAB 25, CCPDT 21, IAABC 25. – Master Course: PPAB 25, CCPDT 21, IAABC 25.
Become a Certified Dog Training Professional
Your Comprehensive Program Covering The Required Skills and Knowledge To Practice Competently
Your Program Instructor
Louise Stapleton-Frappell – B.A. Hons, PCT- A, PCBC-A, CAP3, CTDI, DN-FSG2, DN-CPCT, CWRI
Your Program Curriculum
Please View the curriculum below to understand the depth and breadth of this unrivaled Dog Training program.
Have a Question About The DTC Program?
The Apprentice Level has been amazing! Even with prior experience, I have learned so much in this course and have really enjoyed it! Not only has the information and coursework been enjoyable and informative, but I have had all of my questions answered by the wonderful course instructor, Louise Stapleton-Frappell. She has been so helpful and kind, and really makes me feel seen and understood. She responds to questions in a very timely manner and offers great advice! Overall, this course has been wonderful and I am so excited to continue!
Graduates Have Real-Life Training Skills To Help Them Support Pet Owners
DN-DTC graduates have a comprehensive understanding of and the ability to apply many training methods, including
- luring,
- capturing,
- micro-shaping,
- targeting,
- environmental molding,
- social, and conceptual learning.
Students begin the program learning how to efficiently and effectively lure behaviors and end the program not only having an in-depth understanding of the scientific principles involved in training but also with the competent skills to teach complex compound behavior chains, sequences, merges, modifiers, quantifiers, comparatives and matches to sample.
The program theory and skills are covered in individual modules in the three Dog Training courses –
- Apprentice,
- Journeyman,
- Master.
- Each of the three courses consists of six modules which include individual lessons, supportive documentation, e-learning videos, and an assortment of fun homework assignments that allow you to practice your skills and test the knowledge you have gained.
- Each module builds on the knowledge and skills gained in the previous modules, and each course builds on the knowledge and skills from the previous course.
- Successful students gain a course attendance certificate for each level – Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master.
- On successful completion of all three levels, applicants can take their final online exam to earn their professional Dog Trainer Certificate and the right to display the credential, DN-DTC, after their name.
The DogNostics Dog Trainer Certificate Program contains the necessary skills and knowledge, as well as the required CEUs, to gain your Professional Canine Trainer Accreditation – Accredited by The Pet Professional Accreditation Board.
What does this mean? It means that when you have completed your program here with DogNostics, you will be fully prepared to not only sit the PCT-A examination but also to successfully prepare and submit your videos for the skill assessment.
To learn more about this credential, please visit The Pet Professional Accreditation Board.
Let’s Get Started Today!
Gain Your Dog Training Apprentice Course Certificate
Build Your Foundations in Professional Dog Training
Gain Your Dog Training Journeyman Course Certificate
Refine Your Skills. Expand Your Knowledge. Train with Confidence.
Gain Your Dog Training Master Course Certificate
Achieve Professional Excellence in Dog Training!
What Alumni Say
“I took the Apprentice training first and signed for Collaborative Care, as well as taking webinars in between… their methods are kind and respectful to the animals as well as the people. Real confidence building… I am over the moon with enthusiasm and although this is an online course for me, I feel they have my back at every turn… So happy that I found them first!” – Cheryl King
Transfer Your Dog Training Certificate to The Pet Professional Accreditation Board
The Pet Professional Accreditation Board has conducted due diligence on the Dog Training Certification program. It has approved the skill testing conducted here at DogNostics to be transferred to the PPAB independent credential.
If you click here and review the PPAB Transfer Matrix, you will see that if you apply for a PCT-A credential, you are only required to take the proctored online examination and submit one coachin video.
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