This is a master trainer course for semi-professional and professional civilian dog handlers or trainers who wants to go deeper into advanced service dog training.

The objective of the course is to produce well versed dog handlers/trainers with the tools needed to be effective and comfortable also in instructing others.

The course will be online on two Internet platforms; Zoom and Workplace. Seminars and group discussions are held on Zoom and the practical training will be done via Workplace where the participants upload their video clips. The participants will receive feedback daily.

The course is divided into two main blocks with shorter segments.

The first block focus on having a systematic approach to the practical dog training. Participants use their own dog(s) to improve their skills in setting goals, identifying skills and breaking them down into separate behaviours for dogs and humans, planning, carrying out and evaluating the effects of the training. Reward development and functional obedience will be done by all participants but the other skills are chosen by the respective participants to fit their needs.

Examples of subjects from block 1:

·       How to set specific and measurable goals

·       Creating a procedure for selection of dogs

·       Reward signals

·       Using progression plans to plan and evaluate training

·       Basic learning theory

The second block focus on how to transfer knowledge to other handlers/trainers. As per today there has not been much work done on how to be a more effective instructor. We will therefore depart from a similar but more well researched student-teacher context. Instructing dog handlers/trainers has many similarities to supervising PhD students at the university. While the supervisor has the overarching responsibility for providing knowledge and maneuvering the student towards the end goal, the student is responsible for the daily work.

Participants have the possibility to continue training their own dog(s) or appoint a “project dog team” that they can instruct and receive feedback from for a period of approximately 6 months. Reward development and functional obedience will be trained by all project dog teams but just as above, the other skills to be trained are chosen to fit the needs of the respective dog teams.  

Examples of subjects from block 2:

·       How humans learn

·       Creating trust

·       Giving and receiving feedback

·       Basic principles of student-teacher interactions

Participants and their project dog teams have unlimited access to SWDI courses on the app and our webinars during the course.

Duration: 1st of March 2025 to 1st of March 2026. The participants are expected to devote, on average, one hour per day for this course. One advantage of the online format is that participants can fit the course into their ordinary schedule.

Price: 6 450 Euro per participant. Payment can be done once or quarterly.

The number of participants is 4-8 and we try hard to form a group that has different experiences. If you are interested in the course please send a brief description of your previous experience and current activities in the field of dog training to info@swdi.se.