In short and in plain language
This post is for dog schools and dog trainers. Customers often call with the same questions. Your website can answer them.
Each type of course gets its own page. It shows the plan, the dates and the open places.
The form asks for the age and breed of the dog and what you need. Many dogs are mixed breeds. So a list with breeds alone is not enough.
Dog trainers often need a permit from the authority. Mention it on your site in a plain way. Pages for each course and place help people nearby find you.
We bring your dog school online with a clear website.
Saturday morning on the training field: the puppy class is under way, several leads are tangled at once, and the phone buzzes in a jacket pocket. Whoever is calling wants to know whether there is still a place in the next course, whether a young dog just growing out of puppyhood still fits the group, and what it all costs. The call can only be returned in the evening – and by then the caller may well have found another dog school. Demand is not the issue: according to the German pet supplies industry association, the latest count put the number of dogs in Germany at 10 million, with at least one in every fifth household (IVH, The German pet market, April 2026). The issue is that the answers to the same questions only exist in the trainer’s head. This article shows how the website of a dog school or a self-employed dog trainer takes over those answers: with course pages that show open places, an enquiry form that asks the right questions about the dog, the permit under Section 11 of the German Animal Welfare Act as a factual signal of trust, and subpages that get the school found locally.
Key takeaways
- The customers live almost everywhere: the latest count put Germany’s dogs at 10 million, with at least one in every fifth household; across all species, 43 percent of all households kept at least one pet (IVH).
- Every course type gets its own page with target group, format, dates and the current status of open places. That saves the follow-up question that otherwise waits on the phone every evening.
- The enquiry form asks for age, breed or mix and the concern. 43 percent of dogs in Germany are mixed breeds (IVH) – a pure drop-down list of breeds therefore falls short.
- Anyone who trains dogs for third parties or instructs owners in training their dogs needs a permit from the competent authority under Section 11(1) sentence 1 no. 8(f) TierSchG. It belongs on the site as a plain statement, not as a home-made seal.
- According to Google, local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Subpages per course type and location supply the relevance, the business profile supplies the location.
A Saturday on the training field – and the phone rings
Dog schools work where their customers are: on the training field, in the park, in the pedestrian zone for encounter training. The office is a jacket pocket. That is why a large part of the admin ends up in voice messages and evening call-backs, and every enquiry starts with the same questions: Which course fits? When does the next one start? Is anything still free? What does it cost? If you train alone as a self-employed professional, you answer these questions between two sessions – or not at all, because your hands are needed on the lead.
A website does not change the job, but it changes the order. The site answers the standard questions before anyone calls, and the form collects the details needed to place a dog in the right group. What is still discussed on the phone is what a conversation is worth having for: the dog’s behaviour, its history, the owner’s expectations. Whether a course can also be booked directly is a second question. Online booking suits one-to-one sessions well, and group courses less so, because their composition is only settled after a first conversation.
What the pet statistics show
Which pages a dog school needs
The structure follows a pattern that has proven itself in other course-based trades. A gym with personal training separates group classes and one-to-one sessions, a driving school separates the licence classes and leads each one to the sign-up. The dog school separates by the dog’s stage of life and the owner’s concern – and that is exactly the split customers look for when they type “puppy class” and the name of their town.
Puppy class
For whom, from what age, in what group size. The page answers whether a young dog still fits before the question is asked on the phone.
Everyday skills and adolescents
Loose lead, recall, encounters. This page says what should be different at the end of the course – in everyday language, not jargon.
One-to-one training
For topics that have no room in a group. Add the format of the first meeting, where the training takes place and whether home visits are possible.
Dates and open places
An overview with course start, weekday and status: places open, few places, waiting list. Maintained in one place, visible on every course page.
About the trainer
Training, approach and the permit under Section 11 TierSchG. A photo at work with a dog says more here than a studio portrait.
Contact and directions
Training field with directions and parking, the meeting point for town sessions and the form with the details about the dog.
Six areas sound like a lot. For the start, a single, well-structured page with a course overview, a section about the trainer and contact with a form is often enough. That is how the starter website is built: a one-pager with a contact form, plus imprint and privacy notice. Separate subpages per course type follow once it is clear which course brings the most enquiries – then with copy that grew out of the customers’ real questions.
Course pages, dates and open places
The most important detail on a dog school’s site is not a statistic but the status of open places. Show it, and you get enquiries for the right course; hide it, and you get enquiries for fully booked courses and have to turn people away. That does not require booking software. An overview of dates, maintained in one place and shown on every course page, is enough for many businesses – what matters is that it is current. A course marked “places open” for weeks that then turns out to be full costs more trust than an honest waiting list.
- For whom: the dog’s age, prior experience and, explicitly, who the course is not meant for.
- What is practised: a few points in everyday language, such as loose lead, recall, calm waiting and meeting other dogs.
- When and where: weekday, time, number of sessions, meeting point and what applies in bad weather.
- Status of places: open, few open or waiting list – with the date of the last update.
- Price: as the total price for the whole course; for memberships or multi-session cards the minimum term sits right next to it.
- What to bring: lead, harness, treats and whatever proof is required on site.
If you let people book and pay for courses online, you are in electronic commerce with consumers, and a formal rule applies there that is easily overlooked. Section 312j(3) of the German Civil Code (BGB) requires that a button used to place an order is labelled legibly with nothing other than the words “zahlungspflichtig bestellen” (order with obligation to pay) or a corresponding unambiguous wording. A button saying “sign up now” does not usually meet that requirement. For many dog schools the route via a non-binding enquiry is the better fit anyway: the trainer first sees which dog is coming and then confirms the place.
Prices: total price and term side by side
The enquiry form: details about the dog instead of follow-up questions
A form for a dog school has one peculiarity: it concerns two parties, and the more important one cannot write. The fields therefore have to ask for what the trainer needs to place the dog – and only that. This applies to breed as well. According to the analysis of the German pet supplies industry association, 43 percent of dogs in Germany are mixed breeds. A drop-down list of breeds does not fit a large share of dogs; a free-text field “breed or mix” is more honest and carries more information, for example “shepherd mix, on the small side”.
| Field in the form | What the detail is needed for | Required or optional |
|---|---|---|
| Name and a way to reply (phone or email) | No way to reply, no answer; one channel is enough | Required |
| Age of the dog | Placement in puppy, adolescent or everyday course | Required |
| Concern in your own words | What does not work in everyday life or what should be learned | Required |
| Breed or mix | Size, temperament and breed background, as a free-text field | Optional |
| Name of the dog | How to address the dog in class and match the enquiry | Optional |
| Preferred course or one-to-one training | A pre-selection that can still change in the conversation | Optional |
| Experience with other courses | Starting at the right level | Optional |
The selection also has a legal side. Article 5(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation requires personal data to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes of processing – data minimisation. Details about the dog serve the placement and are therefore easy to justify. Details about the owner that contribute nothing to the placement, such as date of birth or occupation, do not belong in a course enquiry. How few fields are enough is shown in the article on the contact form with fewer fields; for a dog school, age, breed and concern are added because each of these fields replaces a follow-up question.
Three fields that cost more than they bring
State the Section 11 TierSchG permit plainly
Under Section 11(1) sentence 1 no. 8(f) of the German Animal Welfare Act (TierSchG), anyone who wants to train dogs for third parties or instruct owners in training their dogs requires a permit from the competent authority. That describes exactly the business model of a dog school: group course, one-to-one training, coaching the owner. On the website, this permit plays the role that chamber membership or a register entry plays in other professions – verifiable proof, not an advertising promise. It therefore belongs, plainly worded, on the page about the trainer. One sentence is enough: that the permit under Section 11 TierSchG has been granted and which authority granted it.
What does not belong on the site is a home-made seal. An emblem saying “tested” or “certified” claims an assessment the visitor cannot trace; the permit is an administrative act, not a quality seal. If you have also completed training or an examination with an association, name the training body and the qualification – as text that can be checked.
For newly founded dog schools the permit also has a timing aspect. Section 11(5) TierSchG provides that the activity may only begin once the permit has been granted. The competent authority decides on the application within four months of receipt; the deadline can be extended by up to two months where the scope and difficulty of the assessment justify it. For the website this means: the pages may be built early, but course dates only go in once the decision has been issued. If you want to collect enquiries before then, check with the authority what is permitted in the meantime. What else is due in the first weeks after registering is covered in the article Business registered, no website yet.
The supervisory authority in the imprint
A dog school does not sell hours on the field, it sells a calmer everyday life with the dog. The website has to show which course fits which dog – and whether there is still room in it.
Pictures of dogs rather than portraits
Many service providers put a portrait of the owner at the top of their website. For a dog school, a different picture works better: the trainer at work, at eye level with a dog that is learning something right now. Visitors are not looking for a person first, but for the answer to whether their dog will be in good hands – and a picture from training answers that more readily than a studio photo. Portraits have their place on the team page, not at the top of the home page.
Training in motion
Exercises on the field, lead walking in the park, encounter training in town. The pictures show what actually happens in the course.
Dogs of different sizes
Small and large dogs, pedigree dogs and mixed breeds. Anyone who sees only one type of dog wonders whether their own fits in.
Consent before publishing
Pictures from class often show owners too. Their written consent is in place before the picture goes online.
The last point is easily overlooked. A photo from class almost always shows people as well, and publishing it needs a legal basis. Which questions to settle for your own and third-party pictures is covered in the article on using website images legally. The same applies to feedback from customers: it belongs on the site only with consent and word for word. How to collect customer reviews without polishing anything is described there.
Subpages per course type and location
Anyone looking for a dog school looks nearby; people rarely drive across the region for a puppy class. According to Google, local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. A website cannot change the distance, but it can change the relevance: a page “puppy class in Hildesheim” matches a search for exactly those words better than a home page that explains everything at once. The Google Business Profile supplies location and training times, the website supplies the content the profile points to.
- One page per course type: puppy class, adolescents and everyday skills, one-to-one training. Each with its own heading, its own copy and its own dates.
- One page per training location only if training really takes place there: its own meeting point, its own directions, its own dates.
- No location pages with the town name swapped and otherwise identical copy. They help neither searchers nor visibility.
- Course type and location in the heading and page title, the way people search: “puppy class Hildesheim” instead of “our services”.
- A clear route from every course page to the enquiry, with the matching course already pre-selected.
When a separate page per location pays off and when it only creates duplicates is described in the article on location pages. For mobile dog trainers who visit owners at home, the business profile has its own solution: service areas instead of a fixed address. Google allows a maximum of 20 service areas for this, and the boundaries of the entire area should not extend more than about two hours’ drive from the business’s base. For a trainer making home visits around one town, that is usually ample.
How to go about it
Start with what is asked on the phone again and again. For one week, write down every question that comes in by call or message – that list is the outline of the website. Often the next course start, the open places, the price and whether one’s own dog fits a particular course are at the top. From that come the course pages, the overview of dates and the fields of the form.
Then settle the form of organisation. A registered dog sports club has different obligations and different means than a commercial dog school; for a club, the article New association: plan the website from day one fits better. For the commercial dog school or the self-employed trainer, a lean presence is enough to start with and grows later by course pages and locations. What that looks like for businesses in the region is shown on the page about a website in Hildesheim.
The next step
Sources and legal basis
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