[nagdu] Training dogs?

[Raven Tolliver]

Daryl,
The gateway into dog training is typically through a volunteer
position, internship, or some other dog care related field.
I worked with dogs at my local animal shelter for roughly 16 months,
and that was my only experience with training a multitude of dogs
before I landed here at LDB.

Dog training is mostly training people. At the shelter, I spent a lot
of time training volunteers, and explaining positive reinforcement
training to adopting families. Training people is much harder, for
sure.
This is why I would like to go into guide dog training, where you
spend much more time actually training a dog yourself than training
the person. You also get to know a dog's personality, preferences, and
tendencies before you ever hand the leash to the person you will have
to train to handle the dog. That is what I liked a lot about training
shelter dogs. I definitely prefer training dogs over people, but at
least with guide dog clients, most of us are committed to getting
stuff right because unlike most pet owners, we depend on our dogs'
being well behaved.

Honestly, anyone could apply to be an instructor apprentice at a guide
dog school and probably make it depending on presentation and such. A
lot of schools don't want anyone with previous dog training experience
because then they can imprint their training techniques on you without
much past influence. Many of the guide dog trainers I've spoken to
have no previous work experience in a field even remotely related to
dog training. I think all of the schools require you to go through a
couple-several year apprenticeship anyway, so what difference does it
make?

I think volunteering is a useful learning experience because it allows
you to gain hands on knowledge, and enables you to learn whether this
is right for you or not. At the animal shelter, I dealt with all sorts
of awesome, awful, and awkward situations with dogs, which prepared me
for almost anything I could encounter at a guide dog school. I saw
some of the worst and some of the best and everything in between, so
if you could find a shelter, vet clinic, boarding facility, doggie
daycare, Humane Society, etc to work or volunteer at, go for it.
-- 
Raven
Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
www.1am-editing.com

You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

>> From: Daryl Marie via nagdu
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 9:59 PM
>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Daryl Marie
>> Subject: [nagdu] Training dogs?
>>
>> Hi!
>> If this is off-topic, forgive me... it does tangentially relate to dogs
>> and
>> guide dogs... so figured I would ask you lovely people for some opinions.
>> Without getting into a lot of personal stuff, I'm becoming frustrated and
>> disillusioned with my current job, and finding work is annoying at best
>> and
>> downright impossible at worst. I'm thinking about changing direction and
>> doing something related to training/helping dogs - service dogs, pet
>> dogs,
>> whatever. Anyone who has or is doing this have any pointers for me? I
>> know
>> some of you have owner-trained guide dogs, worked at guide dog schools,
>> animal shelters, etc.
>>
>> Any advice welcome.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Daryl
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rr.com
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2012.0.2258 / Virus Database: 4365/10438 - Release Date:
>> 11/03/15
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/carcione%40access.net
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>