Dog Training - Important Tips
Recommended Answer:
How about volunteering at your local shelter. There are plenty of dogs that need trained there. You will also be able to build a name for yourself as people will see you as the person who trains dogs at the shelter. Plus this will help many of these unwanted dogs get into homes. Most dogs end up at the shelter because of training/ behavior problems. You will have the advantage of training many problem dogs.
Getting involved with 4H, your local comunity college, and other comunity organizations that need class instructors will help, Plus with the exception of 4H you will get a stipend for teaching classes.
You need to train at least 100 dogs before you can remotely call yourself a trainer. You need to train at least a 1000 with consistent results before you can call yourself an expert. The biggest part of pet and house hold dog training is problem solving. You do not get the problem solving skills without experience.
Guard Dog Training Tips & Tricks Revealed
- No reason why you can't do it that way, however the best way to get your name around is to train and show in obedience,rally,and agility and get some titles. It will help you with hands on experience and teach you a lot of things that they don't talk about at dog training schools. Good luck, you're in for a great ride.
- I don't think 10 dogs qualifies you as an "experienced dog trainer."
- Experience is earned over years of training dogs yourself to a high standard. Do you mean a dog trainer or instructor? How can you instruct others if you have not gained the experience yourself/
What makes you think the public will come to a young kid straight oout of college who has never trained a dog to do anything himself and has no personal training?
ETA: Josh - you say you have only trained two dogs? Not many is it? And what have you trained these dogs to do? Are they obedience or tracking titles dogs, or do you mean you trained them to just come when called, walk on a leash and basic pet exercises. There is so much more to training, and as others have said, you need idemnity insurance, plus a great deal of tact in dealing with their owners!
I suggest you start getting much more experience with your own dogs and with a trainer/instructor/mentor before you start calling yourself a competent instructor and don't let me put you off if this is what you want to do. Just don't go out half-****** !
Enjoy the learning journey.
Ö - To become a behaviourist or dog trainer takes many years of hard work practical experience and study.
Ten dogs does not an expert make, 200 plus and you may be getting somewhere 2000 plus and you will be moving towards what you need to do to be able to consider yourself experienced.
You need to work with rescues and re-homers and you need to constantly continue to study the latest scientific findings which are constantly changing. Ask to follow an acknowledged expert for as long as it takes to gain practical hands on experience. Join an organisation that will help you gain knowledge and practical experience.
I personally believe it takes a minimum of seven years to become a good trainer and behaviourist. Education on its own is useless, it must be coupled with practical experience.
I do hope you do not believe that graduating will equip you to work with dogs? Most degrees are purely academic with no practical hands on requirements.
Added*
Listen to Felicia Josh she is a wise lady. With regard to your question owning dogs and training them professionally is a whole different ball game. As Felicia said you have to deal with the general public 75% of your work will not be training dogs it will be training people. Guess what is the hardest animal to train. I will give you a clue it is not a dog.
7 years of training dogs professionally and you can start to call yourself something of an expert. The more you work with dogs the more you realise just how little you actually know. - Hi Josh...
Sounds like you are diving in which is awesome. But... if I were to add two comments? Be careful doing anything on Craigslist. There are some dang crazy people in there.
I think Cookie had great suggestions...and obviously new comer Stan (below) is going to bring a WEALTH of solid knowledge to the Y/A table. Also, consider leading a canine 4-H group to that list. I led canine 4-H for 2 years and my kids mostly had old farm dogs etc. We cleaned swept the fair two years in a row. My kids took Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion in the Obedience and Showmanship classes.
Amazingly....the kids were far easier to work with then their parents (go figure). Anyhow.. it's a great way to get to work with a variety of dogs, a variety of people...you make a huge difference in getting kids involved in something positive (while teaching them responsible pet ownership)...AND you're away from the element of Craigslist. I have bought a couple things locally from Craigs...but I hear a lot of very unsettling things about it too. Lots of off the wall individuals lurk there.
I wish you the best...
.
ADDED: Legit
Stan,
Agreed... it's like 2 vets getting out of vet school. One going into practice for 10 years and one going into research. Both legit veterinarians....but I want the one with 10 years of "in the trenches - hands on" experience treating my dogs. You can read up on something until you are blue in the face...but... reading and applying are TWO very different things.
.
ADDED #2 - Legit
Josh..
ALL hands on experience counts for something. But...be very careful with the theory of "the college kid who wants no money over the professional who wants $150 an hour". There are people who will happily pay $150 an hour for someone who's got a lifetime of experience in their field. Free is good to a point. But (as you will learn) after dealing with the public.. that "free" offer will bring on an element of "expectations" from people that will ultimately make you very sorry you e-v-e-r whispered the word. ESPECIALLY if someone thinks you did more harm then good. You can't get a behavioral quirk ironed out in 2-3 sessions. It may take you 2-3 sessions just to really figure out what makes some dogs tick. So...if some inexperienced dog owner comes to you (and you attempt to help)...but the dog reacts poorly to the method you used (there are many ways to skin a cat)...trust me...you will get accused of making the dog worse. Then you'll have that to deal with in addition to the dog.
The other "news flash" you better BRACE yourself for is that working with the animals is the easy part... dealing with the general public is a WHOLEEEEEE other side of your pending education that's going to be rough one. No matter what business or field you decide to go into....it takes a thick hide and endless patience to deal with a v-e-r-y demanding... highly "judgmental" public.
If you want it bad enough...you'll succeed at becoming a trainer...but.. there are MANY rungs on this ladder... so... take cautious steps while climbing it...that's all I'm saying.
.
.
ADDED#3 Legit
Stan-
Not so much wise as "bludgeoned into reality" after dealing with the public for so many years. I attended and graduated from the "School of Hard Knocks"...and then went on to get my upper level education at "Murphy's Law" University....LOL
.
No comments:
Post a Comment