Careers with Dogs

[Coyote_Bandit]

Anybody know anything about canine careers?

Having collected more rejection letters than I care to count, I am contemplating my next career after being downsized some time ago.

I've threatened to learn how to groom the little critters and then go out and open my own little business.

But I really think I would find training a lot more rewarding - particularly some of the advanced types of training that produce assistance dogs, rescue dogs, security dogs, scent dogs, etc.

What do you have to do to get into this kind of work?

:shrug:

[Corgigal]

1. get this certification

It matters and when I hired a trainer for my Corgi dog I made sure they were trained and certified with this company.


http://www.apdt.com

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. APDT

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers.

No offense, but I am more interested in learning how to train seeing eye dogs or cadaver dogs or search and rescue dogs. Those dogs are not exactly pets. They are working dogs and I am quite sure they require a whole different level of training - and expertise in training - than your pet Corgi.

[Corgigal]

4. still going to need it

you wont get near a dog like that without that certification.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. I'm not so sure

I've reviewed the schools and programs listed on this website:

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/Misc.htm#career

None of them seem to require certification by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. Though most certainly seem to have some rather stringent practical hands on requirements.

[Corgigal]

9. contact some people who do that type of training

My husband is retired law enforcement and I asked him who trained our K-9 unit. They only used one guy who was a dog trainer and he was also retired law enforcement. Police dog training is a high standard because of what is expect of those pups. We used beautiful shepherds.

Anyway good luck. You can always try to apply to work at some training facility, or intern, to see if you even like it.

[Coyote_Bandit]

10. Thanks

One of my main reservations about the APDT certification is that it appears to be based largely on a written examination - accompanied by a recommendation from a vet, a client, and a colleague. There doesn't seem to be any real review of how effective the candidate is in actually training and achieving results.

I am looking for somebody in my region of the country (I live in JOklahoma) that does this kind of work.

Yes police dogs must be trained to very high standards as lives may depend on the quality of work done by the dog. Same is true of many therapy dogs such as seeing eye dogs.

My guess is that these are skills that are largely acquired through guided practical experience.

[Mizmoon]

2. Attend the North Korean Culinary Institute

:P

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. I'm not particularly fond of seaweed (or culinary dog)

But I have investigated the possibility of going to culinary school. A full course takes about two years and really is rather xpensive.

Think if I go to culinary school in Canada I can use that as a tool to successfully immigrate?

[Mizmoon]

6. I knew a guy who went to the C.I.A.

the Culinary Institute of America of course. He took a whole class in de-boning poultry.

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Really?

My grandmother taught me how to do that when I was about eight years old. She also taught me how to gut and pluck the bird. She was a great cook.

[Mizmoon]

11. He claimed he could do it

with something like three strokes of the knife after the class.

I just always thought that was funny - de-boning class.

[driver8]

19. LOL! Now that's funny! (In a twisted sort of way.) n/t

[CAcyclist]

12. Have you any current experience?

Have you trained your own dogs?
Most people in these careers have spent years training dogs at basic levels before getting into more specialized fields.

Have you considered getting a veterinary technician degree? There's a lot of demand for good technicians nowadays and not just in private practice.

[Coyote_Bandit]

13. Yes

I was raised on a working ranch/dairy/farm and have been around many, many animals. I currently have two dogs and a bird which I trained. Because of where I grew up, I have worked with more abandoned and dumped dogs and cats than you can imagine - and quite a variety of farm animals as well.

I have absolutely no interest in working as a veterinary tech. Why? Because I also happen to have ten years of college, three graduate degrees and two professional licenses. And absolutely no desire as a single 40 something woman to continue in any traditional type of career. I will not be able to return to a position similar to my previous two positions. I have now been jobless for over three years (but doing a bit of freelance and consulting work). Like it or not, I am forced to make a career change - and I have been unsuccessful in finding work in related fields. I am looking for something I will enjoy and find rewarding while being able to be independent and primarily self-employed. That is the only way I can forsee avoiding a similar position during the next economic downturn. I trust my ability to secceed in my chosen endeavor over the reliability or integrity of any employer any day. I figure if I have a skill and can work for myself then I am better off than if I work for somebody else and allow them to profit from my work. I am also hoping yo find work that will also provide an opportunity for me to leave the city and live and work in a small town setting. That will give me the ability to spend time with my young niece and nephew and help care for my aging parents.

Perhaps you have a better suggestion. I'd be interested in hearing it. Seriously.

[Wcross]

14. Do you have any money to work with?

How about a kennel? I pay 10 dollars a day per dog when I go out of town. I have 6 dogs and it ends up costing 3-400 bucks a trip. You could also offer nail trimming and grooming services. I can NOT get near to my dogs with the clippers or siccors. For some reason dogs behave better for a stranger????
You could also contract with a nearby vet and offer a health checkup/shot option to the owners of the dogs. Run them to the vet while they are boarding with you. If you give the vet enough business I bet he will make housecalls.

[Coyote_Bandit]

16. Not a bad idea

Except I am talking about going to a small town in a predominantly rural area. I really think the only feasible way to work with animals there is to combine grooming, boarding and training services. I know someone there who opened up a small business boarding cats. They built their facility on property they already owned and only the wife works in the business. She does get fairly steady work but does not earn nearly enough to be self-supporting. And that is not an option for a single gal like me.

[driver8]

20. 10.00 per day?? It costs us $45.00 per day to board our dog, and

we provide all of his food.

I told my wife that if I ever get laid off, I am opening a doggy day care/ boarding service.
The place we go charges $16.00 for a half day and $30.00 for a full day for doggy day care. There are usually fifty or sixty dogs there at any one time.

[Wcross]

21. I am in a rural area in Tennessee.

My vet is great! I had two females spayed for 100.00 and 4 males nuetered for 180.00! When I take them in he always gives me a volume discount but his standard rate is 10 dollars a day per dog. The last time I kenneled them he charged 7 a dog after discount.
This guy is a true country vet- has a barn on the property and does a lot of work on horses and cattle.

[CAcyclist]

15. I think you totally misunderstand the animal field

There are only a few jobs for specialized dog training like you are talking about and while you could work for yourself, chances are higher that you would have to be an employee of a non-profit or police or military organization.

If you want a job that will guarantee you an income and which you could do anywhere, a vet tech degree is a better bet - techs can be self-employed,too. If you think that's beneath you, then go to vet school. I became a veterinarian because I wanted to work in the animal field and I quickly realized that being a trainer, breeder, groomer or farm manager wasn't going to be able to guarantee that I could find a job in bad times and I could work for myself.

[Coyote_Bandit]

17. Of course I misunderstand

If I had all the answers I would not have asked the question.

We have an aging population which might suggest an increasing need for various types of companion and assistance dogs. And I am not just talking about seeing eye guide dogs here - there are also dogs trained to work with the deaf, some diabetics, those with seizure disorders and various mobility problems as well as those with challenges such as agorophobia and autism. And we have an increasingly violent and more heavily policed country which might suggest an increasing demand for protection dogs and scent detection, tracking and rescue dogs - as well as police dogs. Among these are the dogs that can help recover lost children or alzheimer's patients who wander away from their home or care facility. They can locate cadavers and even things like termites and mold. There are about 60 million American dogs right now - many of whom are latchkey miscreants who are neglected and could benefit, along with their owners, from some basic training. Seems reasonable to me to expect increased need and demand for highly trained dogs.

Maybe right now there are only a few jobs at a few places that do specialized training. But I am not at all convinced that is true. Dog training is one of the vocational skills taught to some prisoners - and it is a prize assignment that often benefits a prisoner at parole hearings. There are numerous schools that offer specialized training. Maybe there are only a few established elitist programs, but that does not mean that I can't learn how to do the training - and I am talking about practical skills - and then go out and open my own shop. At least you have not stated any reason why that cannot be done. That, at least, is somewhat encouraging.

Please do tell me what a self employed vet tech does in a small town in a rural area. There are only two vets in this particular area - one treats prmarily livestock and the other treats mostly small domestic pets and offers boarding and grooming services. Both serve a large geographic area (multiple counties) because, well, the area is sparsely populated and th folks who live there are not exactly rolling in dough. They don't call the vet unless they think their prize cow is really going to die despite all the remedies from the local farmer's co-op. Sad to say but I would wager that you would be more successful running a rendering service that picks up the dead animals. And vet school in my 40's? Oh please. How many years would it take just to finish all the leveling classes to even submit the application? My own experience with higher education suggests that its value is highly overrated. And this idea is nothing short of financial suicide. At least the idea of dog training has some slight remote possibility of coming to fruition.

[Ayesha]

18. I just replied to you

...in the career forum. I have a lot of info that may help you.

I should warn you though that many nonprofit service dog organizations don't pay trainers very well. And many people with disabilities live off social security and can't afford to pay a private trainer much either. That being said, there are exceptions, and the work is very rewarding.

[CAcyclist]

23. Well, good luck with your endeavors anyway

I had some of the same criteria when I was deciding what to do for a career - my conclusions led me to veterinary medicine. For a brief while during the dot-com boom I was questioning why I had spent so long to go to school and not make as much as these people who were just kids and hadn't even graduated yet. However, here I am, having weathered the dot-com implosion; bought my clinic in 2002 at about the worst economic time, and we're doing great 3 years later. I will always have a job, no matter what happens - if Bush throws this country into a deep depression, I can still get a job with the government inspecting meat if worst came to worst.

True, vet school is 4 years plus whatever undergrad classes you might need to take to meet the requirements, but we had people in our class in their 50's. And the cool thing about that is once you graduate, you get instant respect from the clients. Veterinary medicine is one field where the grayer you are, the more in demand you are.

The years of schooling needed for vet med is why I recommended a vet tech degree - I recommend a two year program with a public college and not the accelerated 9 month degree from a private for profit college like Western Career College where you pay through the nose for a crappy education.

Techs are in high demand in private practice and they can work as contractors with multiple vets to provide specialized services such as in-home hospice care, transportation services , behavioral counseling, reproductive services, dialysis, rehab/sports medicine. There's a business called Scout's House in this area that just opened up and they do orthopedic rehab work and with all the dogs having knee surgery nowadays, I only see this niche growing and growing. You don't even need to be aligned with a vet to do canine sports medicine. They can also work in the field for the government or private non-profits in wildlife recovery programs.

I see this field growing exponentially in the future because there is so much that paraprofessionals can do. I think the field for trainers is going to grow, but I just don't see it as a career that is going to provide the flexibility and income you want. I never called it elitist - I called it specialized - there's a difference.

[Jamastiene]

22. I was a dog groomer for 6 years and I can honestly

say that I do not recommend grooming if you care about your back. If you don't mind the idea of living the rest of your life in constant daily pain from back troubles, I guess go for it, but personally, I wish I had never taken that job.

There is also a real risk for tick born illnesses. Not to mention that depending on which part of the country where you live, you may see tons of abusive situations. I know that is what both Liz Paul and the Faery Dog Groomer said at a seminar and what I witnessed as a groomer's assistant gives me nightmares to this day. It's amazing how often nothing gets done even if you alert the Humane Society to horrors. I won't go into detail about what I have seen, because I don't want to dredge it back up and suffer through fresh nightmares like the old ones I had for years.