In 2010 the Association of Professional Dog Trainers began the National Train Your Dog Month campaign. The APDT thought it was long overdue to dedicate a month to bringing awareness to the importance of socialization and training, and most of all, to inform the public that training your dog can be easy and fun! We selected January as the perfect month because so many dogs and puppies are adopted or purchased from breeders and brought home during the winter holidays. Our desire is to help these new pet parents start off the new year right with their newest family member.

The event is designed to promote the importance and benefits of training dogs to become happy and healthy companions. Too many dogs are turned into animal shelters each year for behavior and training issues that could be easily solved with proper socialization and positive, gentle, science-based methods of training. Moreover, we want the public to know that training your dog is not just beneficial, it’s FUN!

We hope that trainers, shelters, dog sports enthusiasts, veterinarians, groomers and most of all, dog owners, will help us celebrate the joy of training and enjoying a healthy relationship with your companion dog not only during January’s National Train Your Dog Month, but throughout the rest of the year as well! We have a variety of training resources and other suggestions on this site with ideas on how to promote training to your friends, family, and training clients – basically anyone who lives with and loves dogs!

APDT members around the U.S. are planning events on their communities to promote National Train Your Dog Month in January, as well as to promote the benefits of training throughout the rest of the year. You can find local APDT members by visiting the APDT web site at apdt.com.