I Spent a Week Surrounded by Dog Trainers... Here's What I Learnt.

7th July 2026

Recently, I travelled across the country to spend a week training alongside some of Australia's most respected dog trainers. Going into it, I honestly wasn't quite sure what to expect. When you bring together a group of trainers from different backgrounds, different states and different training styles, it's easy to assume there'll be competition, big egos or people trying to convince everyone that their way is the only way.

I came home fired up, a fresh perspective on my own training and a reminder of why I fell in love with this industry in the first place.

Lets get into it;

I wasn't as alone as I thought I was.

Running a business can be incredibly isolating, and I think dog training isn’t any different. It can be a competitive industry, particularly in smaller areas where everyone knows who everyone else is. It's easy to find yourself wondering whether you're the only one facing certain challenges, questioning your decisions or feeling like everyone else has somehow figured it all out.

Spending a week with trainers from all over Australia completely changed that perspective. Not one question went unanswered, and no one seemed interested in keeping their knowledge to themselves. People openly shared what had worked for them, but they were just as honest about the dogs that had challenged them, the mistakes they'd made and the moments where things hadn't gone to plan.

There was something really refreshing about hearing experienced trainers openly admit that they'd gotten things wrong before, or that they were still learning too. It reminded me that nobody builds a successful career by pretending to know everything. They build it by staying curious, asking questions and being willing to keep improving.

Nobody really has everything figured out.

I think it's human nature to look at people who are further along than us and assume they've got everything sorted. Whether it's business, dog training or life in general, we compare our behind-the-scenes to somebody else's highlight reel.

What I realised during the week is that everyone is still working towards something. Some trainers were trying to grow their businesses, others were refining their handling skills, some were changing the direction they wanted to take, and others were simply trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible. No matter how experienced they were, nobody had every answer.

You don't have to know exactly where you'll be in five years' time. Sometimes you just need to trust that if you keep showing up, keep learning and keep doing the work, the next step will reveal itself when it's meant to.

Dog training isn't just a career; it's a lifestyle.

Dog trainers never really stop being dog trainers. We'd finish training for the day, head out for dinner, and within a few minutes we'd somehow be debriefing on the day, talking about behaviour, genetics, or the plans we had for the future of dog training.

To anyone else, it probably would've sounded ridiculous. To us, it was completely normal.

It reminded me that this industry isn't just something people clock in and out of. It's something they genuinely love. We spend our spare time reading books, watching seminars, discussing different ideas and analysing behaviour because we want to understand dogs better than we did yesterday.

When you're surrounded by people who are just as passionate as you are, that passion becomes contagious.

Respect doesn't mean you have to agree.

One of the things I appreciated most was hearing so many different opinions. There were trainers in that room with decades more experience than me, people whose knowledge I genuinely admire and whose achievements I have a huge amount of respect for.

But I also realised something really important.

You can deeply respect somebody without agreeing with every opinion they have.

I think that's actually healthy. If everyone thought exactly the same, our industry would never evolve. Respect isn't about copying somebody else's philosophy word for word. It's about listening with an open mind, asking questions, considering different perspectives and then deciding what aligns with your own values and the dogs standing in front of you.

There is something to learn from everyone, get off your high horse.

If there was one lesson that stood out above everything else, it was this.

It doesn't matter whether someone has been training dogs for twenty years or twenty days—every single person knows something you don't.

Sometimes it's a different way of explaining something. Sometimes it's a handling skill you've never considered a sometimes it's simply a conversation that makes you look at a behaviour from another perspective.

The best trainers I met weren't the ones trying to prove how much they knew. They were the ones asking questions, taking notes, sharing ideas and staying genuinely curious. They understood that learning never really finishes, and I honestly think that's what makes them so good at what they do.

I hope I never lose that curiosity and I strive to continue to learn off everyone I meet.

I'm so very glad I went.

I came home with pages of notes, plenty of new ideas and a whole lot to think about, but more than anything, I came home feeling grateful and more aligned than ever.

Grateful that I chose this career. Grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time with people who challenged the way I think, reinforced some of the things I already believed and reminded me that growth often comes from simply being willing to listen.

It also reminded me that no matter how long you've been doing something, there's always another perspective to consider and another lesson waiting to be learnt. I hope that's something I never lose, because I think curiosity is one of the most important qualities anyone can have—not just as a dog trainer, but as a person.

It's funny—when I booked the trip, I thought I'd come home with new training techniques. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely did. But the things that have stayed with me the most aren't the practical skills. They're the conversations over dinner, the laughs between sessions, the willingness of complete strangers to share what they'd learnt over years of experience, and the reminder that none of us ever truly "finish" learning.

Ruby