Q- why did you want to be a service dog trainer?

A- there wasn’t really any specific reason, I actually originally wanted to be a working dog trainer for police dogs and in my research in finding a school I kinda discovered the world of service dogs and I fell in love with it.Q- what are your favorite parts of the job?

A- for me mostly it’s the look on my clients face when I give them their dog and they can kind of start to realize that they are earning independence in their life. Because a lot of times when you are training a service dog it’s to increase the independence that someone with a disability isn’t able to have in their life, and so when they kind of start to realize that’s what their dog can give them that’s a really, really good feeling. 

It’s hard to give the dogs away after you’ve had them for so long, but that look on their face makes it all worth it. That is my favorite part.

Q- what are some traits someone going into this job needs?

A- patience is one of the big ones I always talk about, dogs are living creatures and they have their own thoughts and qwerks one would say so being patient and being able to work through those and realize that when your training a dog it’s not going to be a perfect one and done kind of thing. Every dog is individual so make sure that you have the patience to figure out how you're going to train the dog and when that doesn’t work out to be able to know that that’s okay too.