Dog jobs

Experienced Dog Trainer

PAWS Therapy & Assistance Dog Training

We are on a mission. We need someone extraordinary to join it.

PAWS Therapy & Assistance Dog Training is the UK's leading provider of therapy and assistance dog training. Our dogs work in the NHS, in police forces, in hospitals, schools, universities and support families transforming the lives of the people who need them most.

This is a part time freelance role with real room to grow. Many of our mentor team run their own training businesses alongside this work. If that sounds like you, read on...

This isn't a classroom job and it isn't a kennel job. It's something better than both.

You'll be out in schools, in homes, on video calls with a family who's been waiting months for the support you're about to give them.

You'll assess dogs at critical points in their training journey.

You'll deliver workshops to rooms full of people who are nervous, excited, hopeful and sometimes overwhelmed.

And you'll meet them exactly where they are.

Part of the role is online. Part of it is on the road. All of it is meaningful.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

You'll deliver in-person training to schools and educational institutions, building genuine confidence in educators and handlers. You'll attend group assessment days and assess dogs at various stages of their training journey.

You'll run workshops for diverse groups of people with a wide range of learning abilities and disabilities, and complete private individual assessments at school and therapy locations.

Online, you'll deliver 1:1 Zoom support, lead virtual live training sessions for cohorts on our Assistance Dog programme, and run group support calls across our Certification, Schools and Assistance Dog programmes.

You'll be an active, trusted presence in our student Facebook communities, giving real time feedback and genuinely showing up for the people in our programmes.

You'll write reports that are thorough and timely.

You'll create engaging video and social media training content our students actually want to watch.

You'll help us source and interview additional trainers and liaise with the wider team on student progress. And you'll contribute to building new training resources that keep our programmes ahead of the curve.

The travel is real! You'll need to be comfortable driving two hours or more to reach schools and client premises, with occasional overnight stays. Therefore, your own car and business insurance are essential.

WHO YOU ARE

You don't just love dogs. You love people too.

You're the trainer who reads a room, who adapts on the fly, who can run a group session for six people with wildly different needs and make every one of them feel seen.

You show up to a primary school at 10am with the same energy you bring to your Zoom support Clinic at 4pm.

Force-free is not a training buzz word for you. It's a commitment.

You understand trauma. You understand neurodivergence. You understand safeguarding.

And you understand that sometimes the most important training skill is knowing when to slow down.

You are proactive, creative and solution-focused.

You work well remotely and communicate brilliantly with a team you might not see in person every week.

WHAT YOU BRING

Essential:

• 5 or more years of dog training experience
• A relevant training qualification
• An unwavering commitment to force-free, ethical training that aligns with the values at PAWS
• Strong people skills
• Solid computer literacy - you must be able to write well, send emails and update student notes
• Confidence working remotely
• Your own car with business insurance
• And a working understanding of safeguarding, trauma informed practice and neurodivergent awareness

Desirable:

• Experience working with people with disabilities
• A background in or familiarity with the education system

WHAT WE OFFER

This is a freelance, part time role with pay reflective of the services you deliver, typically in the region of £1,200 to £2,300 per month depending on your availability.

There is genuine opportunity to grow with us. This is a business that is not just transforming lives, but changing an industry and we want dedicated people on the team who want to grow with us.

HOW TO APPLY

Opportunities like this are incredibly rare, especially in the dog training world. This is a role that's meaningful, inspiring and uniquely rewarding.

We receive hundreds of applications. So please think creatively and make yours stand out for all the right reasons.

Tell us who you are, what you believe about dog training, and why PAWS is the place you want to do your best work.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: £1,200.00-£2,300.00 per month

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Work from home

Application question(s):

• Tell us about your dog training journey. How long have you been training, what qualification(s) do you hold, and what led you to force-free methods?
• At PAWS we work with a huge variety of people, including those with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and neurodivergent individuals. Tell us about a time you had to adapt your training delivery to meet someone's specific needs. What did you do differently and what was the outcome?
• You're on a school visit and a handler is really struggling. The dog is clearly stressed, the teacher is embarrassed. Walk us through how you handle it.

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Northern Ireland