Tips For Training Your Working Dog & Their Jobs 

It isn’t all just cute party tricks and catching frisbees, dogs are excellent learners and have the ability to grasp many different tasks. For generations man’s best friend has been helping humans in various aspects of society. Always the willing companion, with the correct training dogs are able to perform a number of useful tasks, taking on roles that can be important and beneficial to a wide variety of people and industries.

The physical traits of dogs lend themselves to being very good at certain tasks, in a lot of cases much better than humans. Working dogs come in all shapes and sizes and can offer assistance in many different roles. From search and rescue, therapy, herding, hunting and care, their instincts are harnessed to perform beneficial tasks.

What kind of working dogs are there? And how do you train a working dog to build these specific skills? Read further to learn more.

What Are Working Dogs?

The American Kennel Club defines “working dogs” as those trained to perform practical tasks or assist their handlers in performing meaningful work. Quick to learn, alert and strong, you might find working dogs guarding property, pulling sleds, hunting, performing rescue missions or serving on the front lines alongside the military or police. Herding, stock and sheep dogs are also part of the “working dog” world, offering great assistance with the management of livestock.

Chances are, you don’t intend to train your dog to help search for missing people or nab criminals (although kudos if you do). However, with a little patience and a lot of practice, you can train your dog to do basic searching and other tasks.

Common Jobs for Working Dogs

Service Dogs

These dogs are bred and trained to help improve the lives of humans, whether that be for mobility assistance, hearing impaired, guide dogs, medical alerts and allergy detection.

Therapy Dogs

These dogs are trained to provide a calming presence to individuals in hospitals, nursing homes and other stressful situations. Any dog breed can be trained for this role provided they are good around people.

Police Dogs

Dogs can do many things to help enforce law and order, with searching for contraband, locating missing people and finding crime scene evidence all in their skillset. Some of the best police dog breeds include German Shepherds, Labs, Bloodhounds and Beagles.

Military Working Dogs

Dogs have played many different military roles for as long as wars have been fought. Skills such as search and rescue, finding explosives, guarding bases, attacking enemies and running messages are all things dogs can be trained to assist with.

Detection Dogs

A dog's sense of smell is up to 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than humans and can reach great distances. This make them excellent for helping detect things like bombs, narcotics and even diseases.

Search & Rescue Dogs

These dogs are trained to be ready within minutes for all types of scenarios, whether that be a missing person, natural disaster or man-made catastrophe. SAR dogs are trained in a variety of skill sets, be that be scenting human breath and body odor, or following trails a person may have taken.

Herding Dogs

Herd dogs are very useful in the agricultural industry. They have been helping humans herd and manage livestock like cattle, sheep, reindeer and fowl for centuries. The best breeds for herding tend to be Border collie’s, Australian Kelpies and Welsh Corgie’s.

Sled Dogs

These breeds are trained to pull land vehicles by harness, most often by sledding over snow. For thousands of years they have assisted with exploration, transportation and even delivering the mail in rural arctic areas. The most common sled dog breed is the Siberian Husky.

How To Train Working Dogs

Establishing trust is the first step in successfully training your dog. It’s important for your dog to respect you and want to please you.

1. Start Training Early

   The younger the dog, the easier it is to harness their natural instincts, which is important for training a working dog. The 0-4 month period of a dog's life is known as the “imprint”, or “critical learning period”. During this time they will learn more than they will the rest of their lives. A puppy’s most important stage in this development period is between 6 and 16 weeks. This is the most impressionable stage in a puppy’s life and the time when its development sets up the good and bad behaviors they take into the rest of their life. Putting time in to train your puppy at this stage is where you will see the most long-lasting effects.
   
   There is an old saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. This isn’t entirely true as dogs can continue to learn at any stage of their lives. In fact, with longer attention spans and more self control, some older dogs can be easier to train than puppies. Others, however, may be quite set in their ways and trickier teach new tricks.
   
   

2. Enrichment is Important with Working Dogs

   Just like a muscle, a dog's brain develops and builds with the more it gets used. During a dog's training, it is important to give them as much positive attention and engagement with the world as possible. Positive physical and mental activities for dogs are important in helping them learn new skills. A dog's decision making and confidence will improve during their development period as we give them more puzzles and games to play, while socializing them with other dogs, people and the world.
   
   A simple exercise you can do is to hide food or treats for your dog to seek and gradually increase complexity and difficulty as their skill develops (using, for example, a shirt that has your scent). Reward your dog for completing a search with treats, toys or praise and be consistent with training - even if it’s just for fun.
   
   

3. Clicker Training

   Clicker training is one of the best learning methods for dogs and working dogs alike. Clicker training utilizes positive reinforcement to drill good behavior and new skills into young dogs. This method marks and rewards good behaviors with the use of a mechanical clicker, creating a sound that is used along with a reward for dogs to associate. Timing is everything during clicker-training, also known as “mark and reward”. With sound as the basis for training, the trainer clicks and presents a reward every time the dog presents a positive behavior.
   
   Not only does the clicker provide a way to communicate between human and dog, it gives our pets a love of learning and something they look forward to doing.
   
   

4. Establish Basic Obedience Training

   Obedience training is important for puppies, as the good behavior they establish early on will be with them the rest of their lives. Using positive reinforcement and cue’s to train your dog is one of the best ways to instill obedience in them.
   
   Begin with basic commands like stop, sit, stay and release to get your puppy into a learning environment. It is important to stay consistent with your message and make sure it is clear your dog knows who is in charge. Rewarding your dog with a toy or treat they love will reinforce the good traits they display. Stay positive, as obedience training takes patience from both the owner and the pet.