K9 Instructor Online Certification

Introducing a break-through program in K9 trainer training! This brand new course is available now! This is literally the only one of its kind worldwide!

The Online version of our On-Site Police K9 Instructor course is now available in the comfort of your own home. This amazing course teaches world-class, relevant methods. Students learn how to train K9s for law enforcement, military, and security. Students can begin anytime after an online account is created…usually a day or two after enrollment. This course can be completed in as little as 6 weeks but access is granted for up to a year, so long as payment agreements are current.

Tuition for this online version is $3500.
Apply today get your K9 trainer career in progress!

About Our Online Police K9 Instructor Trainer Certification Course

K9 trainer course

There are no prerequisites for this stand-alone course. Students will need at least two dogs to work with. Since we do not recommend decoying your own dog, two dogs will be needed – one to decoy and one to train in trailing, detection, etc. More than two dogs are recommended in order to get more hands-on training experience.

Training K9s is obviously a very hands-on skill. And a rare skill. Therefore we do require students to gain hands-on proficiency even during this online course. We’re here to help with that! Read on.

There will be handouts for you to download, videos to view, and notes to be taken while watching the videos. Some videos may not have accompanying handouts; it is therefore your responsibility to take notes of the information therein. There is a Final Exam at the end of the course so these handouts and notes will be extremely valuable for review. Another option is to attend here at the College with other classmates/Instructors and take your Final Exam on-site here at the training center: 717 Beaver Hollow Rd, Spencer, IN 47460. Available 2023 dates are as follows: 

  • April 17th-28th
  • May 8th-19th
  • September 11th-22nd
  • October 30th-November 10th

To facilitate hands-on training, online students are invited to visit us here at the College. This is NOT required but certainly encouraged. Be advised that there are prerequisites for your visit.  The visit is designed to be towards the end of the course.  Therefore, at the time of your visit, you and your dog will need to be on cold trails, past imprinting on target odor, and you should have some decoy/helper experience.  Your visit will help to expand the skills of both you and your dog.  If you are not far enough along in by one of these dates, you must wait until the next available date.

Course requirements for graduation

Complete all course material and homework assignments, Final Exam, send videos to your instructor of you and your dog/s completing K9 skills (what we call the Practicals), or visit on-site to take your Final and Practicals. The final grade will be determined by these Practicals videos as well as the Final Exam. As with all of our other courses, students must at least acquire a final grade of 80% to graduate. Graduates are certified as a K9 Instructor.

The four video requirements are:

This course emphasizes obedience, trailing, bitework (including decoy work), and detection. These skills are taught from a leading-edge perspective, not low-level, outdated training. Graduates who utilize these methods will operate on a higher tier than many K9 trainers out there. Dog Trainer College constantly encourages our students to strive for excellence; never settle for mediocre.

This course certainly applies to working dog training. If you are having trouble acquiring solid working dogs for your course, we may have some available. Contact us for pricing and availability. We typically have German Shepherds and Malinois, and sometimes Labradors or German Shorthairs. Pricing varies according to age and the amount of training we have into the dog at the point of sale. For info on puppies, see our For Sale page.

Financing is available via the Tuition Finance Corporation. 50% of the tuition must be paid to the school as a down-payment. Depending upon credit score and other criteria, a monthly payment can be as low as $80/month. Students have up to 24 months to pay in full.* Student must first apply to the school (check yes on the application when asked if financing is needed). Upon acceptance, the school will initiate the contract via TFC.

Please note that once your course account is set up, there will be no refunds.

Online Course Outline For K9 Instructor Certification

  • Training Fundamentals
    • Conditioning
    • Phases of Training
    • Correction vs. Reward
  • Obedience Training
    • Basic and Advanced
    • Proper use of a Prong collar
    • Proper use of a Remote collar
  • Canine Health
    • Canine CPR
    • Canine First Aid
    • Kennel Management
  • Teaching Practical Agility
    • Confidence Development
  • Scent Theory
    • The Trailing Dog
    • Osphresiology
    • Narcotics and Explosives Detection
  • Selection of K9s
    • Puppy
    • Adult
  • Testing necessary drives
  • Drive Development
    • Puppy development
    • Prey Drive
    • Defense Drive Hunting Ability
  • Training the Search (Narcotics & Explosives)
    • Imprinting Target Odor
    • Simple Direct Association
    • Deferred Response
    • Other Detection Training Methods
    • Search Methods
    • Vehicle Searches
    • Building Searches
    • Teaching the Alert
    • Problem Solving
    • Proofing
  • Protection Equipment
    • Bite Sleeves
    • Bite Suit
    • Muzzle
  • Decoying Techniques
    • Proper Handling Techniques
    • Agitation
    • Working the Grip
    • Target Biting
    • Channeling Drives
  • The Trailing Dog
    • Scent Theory
    • Variable Surface Trailing
    • Scent Discrimination Trailing
    • Problem Solving
    • Patrol Containment Techniques
  • Criminal Apprehension
    • Building Searches
    • Open Area Searches
    • K9 Swat Integration
    • Problem Solving
  • Law Enforcment K9
    • Case law
    • Tactical Insertions
    • Search & Seizure
    • History of K9 training
    • Real-life Scenario training

*Delinquent accounts will merit loss of certification.