Pet Obedience Trainer

Learn the essential methods of disciplining dogs.

Obedience and self-discipline are as important for animals as they are for people.

The Cengage Education Pet Obedience Trainer course teaches students essential methods of disciplining dogs. You’ll learn about canine behaviour, perception and training - skills you can put to work at home with your own pets, with show dogs or in starting up a kennelling business.

The course teaches discipline concepts and ways to motivate your dog. You’ll also learn about canine nutritional needs, grooming, exercise and other health requirements.

On completion of your course:

Upon completion of this course you will be awarded a Cengage Education Pet Obedience Trainer Certificate.

Pet Obedience Trainer - Extra learning materialsKey areas of learning:

  • Introduction to the dog training profession
  • Sensory abilities of the dog
  • How dogs learn
  • Social behaviour and communication
  • Conditioning
  • Applied dog behaviour
  • House training and crate training
  • Testing and selection of dogs
  • Testing and selection of dogs breeders
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Course Number 86400
Course Type Correspondence
Course Duration Max 18 months
Study Hours Approx 110 hrs
Qualification Cengage Certificate

Prerequisites

No previous knowledge or experience is required to take this course.

Learning periods

This course is divided into 3 learning periods

Assessment details:

  • 1 written assessment

Extra learning materials included

  • Dog Training for Dummies - Textbook
  • Clicker Fun - video
  • Introduction to Dog Training - video
  • Dog training clicker

Subjects You’ll Cover

Introduction to the dog training profession

  • Skills, knowledge and experience needed to train a dog and be a professional dog obedience trainer
  • Terminology used to describe the basic structure of a dog
  • Categories of training
  • Evolutionary theory and its relation to selective breeding
  • Ethology and canine behaviour
  • History of the dog
  • Effects of domestication

Sensory abilities of the dog

  • The dog's eye and its functions
  • Detecting sound
  • Scenting ability
  • Taste and tactile sense
  • Changes in the dog's mood through touch

How dogs learn

  • Learned behaviour
  • Learning theory
  • Dependent, independent and intervening
  • Variables to learning and behaviour research
  • Interpreting dog behaviour

Social behaviour & communication

  • How dogs use signals to communicate
  • Types of signals used by dog's
  • The effects of evolution and domestication on dogs ability to communicate with each other
  • Neoteny and its affect on dog's relationships with humans
  • Ritualised displays
  • Direction cues

Conditioning

  • Classic conditioning
  • Conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
  • Conditioning procedures
  • Reducing fears
  • Contrast punishment and negative reinforcement
  • The function of corrections
  • Shaping
  • Sequencing instrumental behaviours

Applied dog behaviour

  • Clicker training
  • A click versus a verbal cue
  • Punishment versus reinforcement
  • The training game

House training & crate training

  • House training techniques
  • Using a crate to train a dog
  • Train a dog to relieve itself in the most appropriate places
  • Train a dog to ring a bell when it needs to go out
  • Problems associated with house training

Testing & selection of dogs

  • Typical testing procedures
  • Identifying training and temperament issues
  • The dynamics of drive thresholds and how they impact on behaviour
  • Specific breeds and their related behaviours
  • Selecting a pet
  • Evaluating a pet dog
  • The influence of genetics on temperament

Testing & selection of dog breeders

  • Identifying puppy mills and backyard breeders
  • Hereditary factors
  • Identifying the right breeder

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