Also called: Assistance Dog Trainer
Trains dogs to help people with disabilities — guiding the blind, alerting to seizures, or retrieving items.
Spends the morning teaching a young lab to open doors and pick up dropped keys, then works with a new handler who uses a wheelchair to bond with her dog.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Apprenticeship with a service dog organization (often 2-3 years); certifications available.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Animal Science, Psychology.
Growing much faster than average (about 11% over 10 years). Animal trainers overall.
Low risk for 10 years. AI won't train a dog to open doors or alert to seizures; this stays hands-on with animals and handlers.
Classes: Animal science CTE, Biology, Psychology.
Official data: O*NET occupation 39-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.