Professional Dog Trainer Program

Professional Dog Trainer Program

Our core 24-week curriculum, encompassing a wider scope of training disciplines and theories than any other school in the industry. Graduates are prepared to enter virtually any dog training field immediately upon graduation.

Prepare For The Full Spectrum Of Dog Training

The Professional Dog Trainer Program is designed for students who want a comprehensive education that prepares them for a wide range of professional opportunities. Over 24 immersive weeks, you’ll develop advanced training skills across multiple disciplines while working alongside nationally recognized instructors in a hands-on learning environment.

You'll graduate with experience that prepares you to pursue careers in fields including:

  • Pet Training
  • Detection and odor work
  • Search and rescue
  • Sporting and hunt dog training
  • Protection training
  • Behavior modification
  • Service and therapy dogs
  • Competitive Obedience

This program is ideal if you:

  • Want one of the most comprehensive dog training educations available
  • Are interested in advanced training disciplines
  • Enjoy challenging yourself
  • Want to pursue specialized careers working with dogs
  • Are committed to developing professional-level training skills
Course Catalog

$19,999

Tuition due in full by program start date

Program length

24 weeks

Total hours

696 hrs

Schedule

Mon to Fri, 9am to 5pm

Campus

Union, MO

Application fee

$60 (non-refundable)

Enrollment deposit

$650 (applied to tuition)

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2027 cohort dates

Jan 11 to Jun 25, 2027
Jul 12 to Dec 23, 2027

2028 cohort dates

Jan 10 to Jun 23, 2028
Jul 10 to Dec 22, 2028

Course Curriculum

20 courses, 134 classroom hours / 562 lab hours. Click any course to expand.

Length: 6 class hrs / 22 lab hrs
Description: Covers the wide range of theories, methods, and techniques used to teach students how dogs think and learn, including purely positive, free shaping, luring, marker training, and compulsion.

Length: 3 class hrs / 8 lab hrs
Description: Teaches students how to test, select, and determine what areas individual puppies and dogs are projected to excel in prior to starting a training program. Covers selection of pets, working dogs, and service dogs, as well as breed recognition and pedigree reading.

Length: 3 class hrs / 12 lab hrs
Description: Covers proper puppy raising, training, and socializing techniques as they apply to pets, working dogs, and service dogs. Students learn common misconceptions and pitfalls in these areas and how to avoid them.

Length: 4 class hrs / 4 lab hrs
Description: An introduction to the science behind dog training methods, the various theories, how they are applied, and their effects on modern dog training.

Length: 10 class hrs / 5 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students to identify and properly respond to breed-specific and non-breed-specific health issues. Students learn to evaluate overall canine health and condition, determine proper feeding, and recognize common ailments in time to get proper veterinary care.

Length: 8 class hrs / 12 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students to recognize and analyze dog body language, common problem behaviors, and the source of those problems. Students learn to think creatively and develop a training plan accordingly.

Length: 12 class hrs / 73 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students for all aspects of competitive canine obedience training including behavior theory, training theory, and the evaluation and modification of problem behaviors as they relate to competitions. Students will be able to train dogs for AKC, PSA, and IGP obedience trials.

Length: 5 class hrs / 60 lab hrs
Description: Students gain practical knowledge of canine retrieval training, learning different theories and methods of the retrieve and how they apply to puppies, pets, hunting dogs, service dogs, and competition dogs.

Length: 4 class hrs / 21 lab hrs
Description: Covers the fundamentals of agility training. Students master the skills necessary to perform each piece of agility equipment with control, and learn how to teach dogs proper jump technique and timing.

Length: 6 class hrs / 30 lab hrs
Description: Focuses on selecting, training, and handling a tracking dog with emphasis on competition tracking and an introduction to search and rescue. Students master teaching article indication, reading a dog during tracking, and how weather, vegetation, and terrain affect the tracking process.

Length: 8 class hrs / 43 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students for all aspects of selecting, teaching, and handling a detection dog to locate specific odors. Students participate in competitive odor detection sports such as AKC and real-world application with law enforcement and private contractors. Also covers cadaver scents and finding buried odors.

Length: 6 class hrs / 94 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students to select, train, and handle a protection dog. Students gain fluency in the theories and physical techniques of decoy and helper skills needed to build dogs for protection work, including drive building, bite development, targeting, and environmental desensitization.

Length: 10 class hrs / 25 lab hrs
Description: Prepares students for selection, training, and delivery of service and therapy dogs. Students learn ADA law and the wide range of helping behaviors service dogs perform, and how to train and maintain them.

Length: 8 class hrs / 8 lab hrs
Description: Students analyze and work with fearful and aggressive dogs through multimedia presentations and hands-on experience. Covers principles of aggression, safe handling techniques, counterconditioning, and management techniques including various safety tools.

Length: 10 class hrs / 10 lab hrs
Description: Builds on students’ ability to problem-solve specific areas of training. Students work together to evaluate and break down various dog training behaviors and techniques, learning to think creatively to resolve training errors.

Length: 6 class hrs / 34 lab hrs
Description: Students master the skills needed to compete at the highest levels of competitive obedience training. Students will be able to design, instruct, and carry out competitive obedience training programs for private or commercial use and prepare to show in dog trials.

Length: 2 class hrs / 10 lab hrs
Description: Students learn to select, train, and compete with a dog in agility trials, including lead-out techniques and building speed and control. Students will also be able to teach others to train and successfully compete in the sport.

Length: 3 class hrs / 22 lab hrs
Description: Advances the already-trained retriever to longer distances, water retrieves, blinds, and multiple item retrieves including doubles and triples. Students also learn laser-guided and named item retrieves and how they apply to service dogs.

Length: 4 class hrs / 14 lab hrs
Description: Further develops the student’s ability to work with tracking dogs by increasing track length, age, and difficulty. Students practice training a search and rescue dog, learn to read behaviors of lost humans, and explore how to offer services to the community.

Length: 5 class hrs / 15 lab hrs
Description: Builds on specific odor detection knowledge by recreating typical police canine searches such as vehicle and building searches with varying amounts of substance. Students learn about canine law and how to offer private contracting services to the public.

Length: 4 class hrs / 28 lab hrs
Description: Provides in-depth experience in canine protection including police apprehension techniques, area searching, and various protection sport scenarios. Students learn how to safely catch and drive a protection dog for specific areas of training.

Length: 3 class hrs / 4 lab hrs
Description: Exposes students to the differences between mobility and stability service dogs and teaches specific service dog tasks to help disabled individuals in everyday life.

Length: 4 class hrs / 8 lab hrs
Description: Teaches students how to train service dog tasks including diabetic alert, migraine alert, allergy detection, seizure response, PTSD trigger response, and night terror response.

Graduation Requirements

Performance Tests

The Working Dog Trainer Program is taught at the Kennelwood Academy Main Campus in Union, MO, a 40-acre property featuring a 10,000 square foot indoor training hall, outdoor training arena, retriever pond, tracking fields, and on-campus student housing. It is truly a dog trainer’s paradise.

Instruction starts in the classroom with lectures, video evaluation, discussions, and demonstrations, but the primary teaching method is hands-on dog training supervised by nationally recognized experts. The program is offered in January and July. Class meets Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. A minimum of 90% attendance is required (626 hours).

Graduates are exceptionally qualified candidates for careers in pet resort training, behavior modification, odor detection, protection handling, hunt dog training, search and rescue, and service and therapy dog work.

  • Puppy Imprinting
  • Tracking and Trailing Test
  • AKC Novice Agility
  • AKC Scent Work, Novice Container Division
  • AKC Scent Work, Buried Odor
  • Retrieval Test
  • Send Out Test
  • Competitive Tracking
  • Search and Rescue Tracking
  • Specific Odor Detection, Building Search
  • Lost Item Search
  • AKC Open Obedience
  • Therapy Dog Test
  • Service Dog Retrieval Test
  • Hunting Retrive Test
Written Exam
  • One written exam, minimum 70% to pass
  • Up to 3 retake opportunities if below passing
Attendance
  • 90% minimum attendance required (626 hours)

Training Tools and Equipment

Students are encouraged to wait until arrival before purchasing new equipment. Many items are available through the academy. Budget approximately $1,500 for equipment (not including dogs, food, or vet costs).

Collar(s)$20 – $80
Crate(s)$40 – $250
Retrieval items and dumbbell(s)$5 – $60
6-foot leash(es)$20 – $120
33-foot long line$20 – $100
Specific odor scents$5 – $500
Dog reward toy(s)$10 – $100
Tracking tools$5 – $40
Agitation collar or harness$20 – $180
Bait apron or training vest$5 – $120
Training bench$40 – $120
Retractable leash$20 – $60