Transforming Shelter Dogs into Family Pets: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at ABC’s Students Saving Lives Program

At Animal Behavior College we believe that all dogs deserve the best shot possible at finding a furever home. For shelter dogs, the outlook can be bleak. The ASPCA reports that close to 400,000 dogs are euthanized every year in the U.S. A lot of these are healthy dogs that could have made wonderful pets.

ABC created Students Saving Lives in 2004 to try and make a dent in that number. How? By offering one-on-one training with shelter animals.

Obedience training and curbing behavior problems makes dogs more adoptable, as does socialization, and who better to help train dogs than dog training students? Shelter dogs need training; students need real world experience. It’s a win win!

Students Saving Lives is an international campaign to rehabilitate shelter dogs by providing training. All of our students are asked to spend at least 10 hours volunteering at a shelter, humane society or rescue organization. We can happily report that more than 90% of our ABC students participate.

ABC students have a passion for animals and know that training shelter dogs can be a matter of life or death for some of these animals. For two decades, our students have been helping hounds find homes. As of 2023, more than 10,000 ABC students have volunteered 185,000 hours working with shelter dogs.

How Does Shelter Dog Training Make a Difference?

Shelter dogs spend almost all of their time cooped up in kennels. When would-be adopters are introduced to a dog, they’re often literally bowled over. All that pent up energy and joy at getting a little attention can make a dog seem wild and uncontrollable. People are put off by dogs that jump on them and bark and pull on the leash when they try to walk them. People often take a hard pass.

It’s not the dog’s fault. Look at it from a shelter dog’s perspective. You’d be excited too if you’d just been let out of a tiny kennel with a concrete floor for the first time all day to meet brand new people.

But what if you knew better? What if a nice, patient volunteer worked with you and talked kindly to you and taught you how to sit quietly and walk politely on a leash? The next time someone comes to visit, you’ll get a chance to show them what a good dog you really are. And good dogs have a better chance of going home!

Shelters are full of trainable puppies, and yes, with the positive reinforcement training techniques our students follow, even old dogs can learn new tricks.

Socialization Matters

Sometimes it’s not that a dog is too crazy, it’s just the opposite. Sometimes shelter dogs withdraw from all human contact. Dogs can’t tell you their stories, but too often shelter residents have every reason to fear and distrust humans. They shrink away, tremble, and refuse to make eye contact or take treats from human hands.

These are the dogs who break our students’ hearts because most dogs have an affinity for humans. To see a dog so fearful tells you their natural love for people was extinguished by cruelty or neglect.

Our student volunteers spend hours working with dogs who have been ignored or betrayed by humans, teaching them to trust again.

There’s nothing so rewarding as that moment when a shelter dog finally makes eye contact and creeps forward to accept a treat from your hand or a gentle pat on the head is priceless.

Training Truly Saves Lives

By becoming a dog trainer, you can continue to save lives throughout your career. Dog obedience trainers can actually help keep dogs from entering shelters in the first place.

Every single day dogs are walked into animal shelters and abandoned by the people they love, and it’s heartbreaking to watch. Owner-surrenders often happen because of problem behaviors–issues that dog trainers could help solve.

 If you have a passion for dogs; if you’d like to be a part of saving canine lives, enroll in ABC’s online Dog Obedience Instructor Program. We’ve been helping students launch training careers since 1998. Becoming a dog trainer is one of the most rewarding careers an animal lover can have.