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Animal Trainers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Train animals for riding, harness, security, performance, or obedience, or for assisting persons with disabilities. Accustom animals to human voice and contact, and condition animals to respond to commands. Train animals according to prescribed standards for show or competition. May train animals to carry pack loads or work as part of pack team.

Related: Animal Breeders Animal Caretakers Animal Control Workers Exercise Trainers & Group Fitness Instructors Veterinary Assistants & Laboratory Animal Caretakers

Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing, & Hunting Service

Summary
Details

Cue or signal animals during performances.
Talk to or interact with animals to familiarize them to human voices or contact.
Administer prescribed medications to animals.
Organize or conduct animal shows.
Train horses or other equines for riding, harness, show, racing, or other work, using knowledge of breed characteristics, training methods, performance standards, and the peculiarities of each animal.
Feed or exercise animals or provide other general care, such as cleaning or maintaining holding or performance areas.
Evaluate animals for trainability and ability to perform.
Observe animals' physical conditions to detect illness or unhealthy conditions requiring medical care.
Feed or exercise animals or provide other general care, such as cleaning or maintaining holding or performance areas.
Keep records documenting animal health, diet, or behavior.
Conduct training programs to develop or maintain desired animal behaviors for competition, entertainment, obedience, security, riding, or related purposes.
Train dogs in human assistance or property protection duties.
Feed or exercise animals or provide other general care, such as cleaning or maintaining holding or performance areas.
Evaluate animals to determine their temperaments, abilities, or aptitude for training.
Retrain horses to break bad habits, such as kicking, bolting, or resisting bridling or grooming.
Use oral, spur, rein, or hand commands to condition horses to carry riders or to pull horse-drawn equipment.
Advise animal owners regarding the purchase of specific animals.

Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

42810/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

20.58/hr

Currently Employed

790

Yearly Projected Openings

140

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Dependability
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Self Control
Independence
Cooperation

Animal collars
Domestic pet training kits
Ear plugs
Harnesses or its accessories
Leashes or leads
Muzzles
Personal computers
Pet grooming products
Protective coveralls
Reins
Safety sleeves
Swivel carabiner
Therapeutic heating or cooling blankets or drapes
Whips
Whistle

Calendar and scheduling software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Medical software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Transaction server software
Web page creation and editing software
Word processing software

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Animal Trainers

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