Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between dog trainers and service dog trainers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a dog trainer and a service dog trainer. Additionally, a service dog trainer has an average salary of $34,195, which is higher than the $32,811 average annual salary of a dog trainer.
The top three skills for a dog trainer include PET, training techniques and customer service. The most important skills for a service dog trainer are customer service, safety procedures, and training materials.
| Dog Trainer | Service Dog Trainer | |
| Yearly salary | $32,811 | $34,195 |
| Hourly rate | $15.77 | $16.44 |
| Growth rate | 28% | 28% |
| Number of jobs | 76,324 | 24,864 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Dog trainers can be self-employed or work for animal clinics, shelters, and dog daycares, where they teach dogs commands and resolve various behavioral issues. They may also choose a specialization, such as service dog, puppy, or trick training, show dog grooming, and aggression management. It is also part of their responsibility to evaluate the disposition of dogs and temperaments to provide progress updates to dog owners and teaching owners how to reinforce good behavior. Moreover, this job requires dog trainers to be passionate and patient about training dogs.
A service dog trainer specializes in training dogs to perform service tasks for disabled handlers. They teach dogs to follow specialized commands and to be calm in stressful situations. The tasks that a service dog needs to carry out vary depending on the needs of their handler, so a service dog trainer may specialize in training service dogs for a specific set of tasks, such as being a seeing-eye dog.
Dog trainers and service dog trainers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Dog Trainer | Service Dog Trainer | |
| Average salary | $32,811 | $34,195 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $46,000 | Between $23,000 And $49,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | General Dynamics |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a dog trainer and a service dog trainer in terms of educational background:
| Dog Trainer | Service Dog Trainer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between dog trainers' and service dog trainers' demographics:
| Dog Trainer | Service Dog Trainer | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.9% Female, 61.1% | Male, 35.7% Female, 64.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 7.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 1.7% White, 71.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 7.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 1.7% White, 72.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 16% |