Could i get some career advice from you guys?

[ninny]

I am thinking of opening a dog training center. It would not be for several years however. I am wanting to build my name up and train under more people before i go out on my own. What do you look for when you look for a trainer? I am thinking of going through the animal behavior college to get a degree in training from them. I work with a service dog group now. They said I could get a training certification through them. So i'm wondering which would mean more to future clients? I know people will want to know what i do with my dogs. So i've been working my tail off with them. Now that we are on the other side of my Dh's kidney transplant, i can really get going. Both of them will be getting CGC's and therapy dog certifications this summer. Kiowa will be working with people needing physical therapy. Juny is going to be doing reading assistance programs. Kiowa i have started on scent detection. He will be trained for search and rescue and drugs/bombs. He also does demos for the service dog group . Juny may or may not be trained for scent work. I got her from the pound so she needs lots of work still. I need to build her attention span some more. Shes very ditsy. I'm thinking of titling them both in AKC rally. Juny in agility. I'm wondering if just two dogs is enough to say that i've trained dogs? These are the first two i have done on my own. I've worked with my mom with the family dogs for years. I've worked with a few clients as well. I'm at the four dog limit that DH has so until my two old guys go no more dogs for me. Once i have a working car again i hopefully will get to teach the puppy class my group does. Then do the other classes and be a CGC tester. Im going to be taking a online course to be a vet assistant as well. What else should i do? I use mostly positive training methods. I do clicker training sometimes too. Thanks!

 

[carolinagirl58]

I think without a long track record some people would be reluctant to give you a chance, which isn't fair but it is a fact. So to intice them to give you that chance, offer some incentives. Maybe you could offer a free first class so people could see for themselves how you handle youself with the dogs. You could also try putting discount coupons in your local newspaper. Good luck to you!

 

[chickbea]

When my friend started her business years ago she did a lot of pro bono work for the local humane societies. She worked with dogs who were classsified as unadoptable due to behavior issues. Obviously the shelters were more than appreciative, and once they saw the good work she did, they started referring her to adopters.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
that's a great idea!!

 

[Okie Amazon]

Check into Tom Rose school for dog trainers.

 

[ninny]

Thats a good idea. A guy I use to work for is getting into breeding GSD's for police work. Im going to be calling him see i can work with them. I'm going to be offering classes with my service dog group next year or two to my town. Im more wanting to on my own train and sell started and finished working dogs. I'll see what happens next couple years. If things take off then i'll have a multisided biz (grooming, boarding,retail,training). If not then i'll be offering a couple dogs a year for sell. I'm going to work with the rescues and get the dogs that way. Everything depends on how many more human babies we have. I'm a stay at home mom first. I hope that makes sense.

Im still wondering about the degree though. I'll check out the tom rose school as well.

 

[dutchhollow]

I wouldn't waste time or money on the 'degree'. Put your time and money into titling your own dogs.
When I started (have been training full time professionally now for 14 years), I did 6 week obedience courses at a local park. Most people just want basic obedience on their pet (I had cdx'ed two dogs by this time), and had been taking lessons from a highly rated trainer in obedience and agility for several years.
Once my kennel facility was up, I stopped doing the classes (probably 10 years ago) but did enjoy them, still run into a few old students and their dogs, there was just a retirement party for one lab that got certified as a therapy dog and worked the local school system, sad to see him that old, I rembered him as a pup!
I have been since I said full time hunting/preformance testing trialing in the hunting 'games' for a long time. But what you have accomplished is going to say a lot more then a piece of paper on the wall (and anyone that knows anything about dog training will think very little about that).
You need to have a plan. Are you just going to do lessons, or board dogs to train , obedience s and r stuff. Focus on one thing (what most people need and want is basic obedience so they can live with their pet), and concetrate on learning all you can, go to any seminar you can get too, don't listen to one training and box yourself into 'their' method. The more tools you have in your box, the more successful you will be, no two dogs are the same, and neither is the way they learn.