become a dog trainer

I was given two adult chihuahuas for my birthday and I trained the older one to do some basic tricks (sit, down, here, etc). However, the younger one has doggy ADD. I started taking him to PetSmart’s Puppy Education class (because he’s too small to be placed in a Beginner’s class) and he was the only one who was scared to learn anything. So although my dog came out not learning a thing that day, I learned so much by watching the dog trainer handle the other puppies. Teaching both dogs the following days just reinforced the goal of wanting to become an accredited dog trainer. Am gonna check out ABC.

The dog has an enviable mind; it remembers the nice things in life and quickly blots out the nasty.

^{Barbara Woodhouse}

I taught my first 2 paid dog training classes this past weekend. Puppy I and Beginning I. I’ve made a name for myself as a capable, friendly assistant, and now I’m being made offers to substitute teach. Its perfect because while I don’t want to make dog training my primary source of income, I WOULD like to continue to do it and learn from it on the side! I have one more graduation test/class for my beginning group to complete, and then a comprehensive final exam….and then I’ll be official!

I found an outstanding online dog trainer certification program through Animal Behavior College. I finished the theory part, but had to take a break because my family was breaking up and my son’s dad became unemployed etc etc….

My advisor found a mentor for me, but I have not yet contacted her because of the drama mentioned above. I think I’m feeling ready though. So, Monday, I’m going to contact both a local shelter/rescue in which to volunteer, and also my trainer/mentor.

The one thing I’m really struggling with is the following: I took in three dogs already—one was an adoption from the shelter, one was a rescue from dogsindanger.com who turned out to be a dog used for fighting. The most recent was a stray and clearly abused/neglected chihuahua. Before I found the chihuahua, I had fostered multiple dogs in the past six months, having up to five dogs at a time ranging from a doberman and a deaf boxer to little aussie-mix pups. I also took in four cats: one that was left on my doorstep, one that was severely abused, and two feral kittens.

The truth is, I took on too much, as far as animals are concerned. I am not currently fostering—in fact, the founder of the rescue for which I was fostering became upset with me because I had to ask her to take my foster back. He was a sweet guy but he peed in his crate every single morning.

Because of unexpected changes in my living and financial situation, an ADHD diagnosis of my son, and other curveballs, AND because the AMstaff has fought with multiple dogs and recently gave me stitches and crushed (slightly) the bone in my middle finger, I feel I have got to start paring down.

Chai, my adopted dog, is only a year old, she is a beautiful, red colored mix (she’s got a huge head like a rotti but she kind of looks like a lab/ pit cross)—I feel like she has the best chance of finding a good, loving, permanent home. She’s also the most expensive dog re: food & vet expenses. Sundae is going to be difficult to rehome because she is very strong and muscular, and has a history of major dog aggression. The Chihuahua is easy to care for, but she has not yet been vetted due to my financial limitations. She is also mean to my son, and she has even demonstrated some hostility to me over the past couple of days.

What I’m ultimately saying is, I feel like a hypocrite. How can I deserve a certification in dog training when I can’t even manage the dogs I have? When I’m considering rehoming them, in fact? My intentions were good, I really just wanted to save lives here—but as I said before, I got way in over my head.

Damn Cesar Millan makes it look so easy!

Any kind words would be much appreciated here…

:I

4 months into a training program, I am finally done with my theory portion. 9 chapters of reading, practicing, and taking quizzes. Now I have 3 weeks at home to practice on my mom’s dogs, see if I really remember anything I read, and see if I can get those pups to listen to me!! After that, I’ve got 10 volunteer hours at a shelter and then an internship and a final exam! If I successfully complete that stuff, I will have finished my 3rd goal of 2008. Wish me luck!

Does anyone know which online classes are good?

I may be getting an internship at the local humane society’s training department. It’s unpaid, but it will provide experience that I need. I meet with a lady on Tuesday to discuss the position.

I’m also going to start my mom’s puppy in agility and continue my dog’s agility training. I’m getting ready to make a jump for them. I also need to make weave poles and a chute and get a tunnel. I want to also get or make a teeter and an A-frame (Bella will be amazing with the latter).

At first, I was only going to do agility with my mom’s dog. But, after Bella has showed time and time again how good she is at stuff like that, I decided that I have to do it with her too. The other day she jumped over some stuff in my room. She jumped at least 22” high and at least 64” in length.

I’ve been working with Bella on a daily basis. She is getting so much better. She sits and lies down almost completely consistently. She comes for the most part, followed by an automatic sit nearly every time. If we are in my room with no distractions, she heels beautifully. A nice, formal heel, complete with an automatic sit. But, the second we leave my room, she pulls because of too many distractions, but she is getting better with that too. We’re also working on stay. She isn’t consistent with this at all. Sometimes she’ll stay for a long time and a long distance, other times she won’t stay at all.

Of course, we will continue working on this stuff.

I don’t have much to say about this right now. I’m not really getting any closer to my goal, but I’m not moving away from it either.

Or, maybe I am moving towards it. I’ve been working with my mom’s dog nearly everyday, working on sit, speak, down, come, jump, sing, drop it, leave it, and dance. She’s doing good. I’ve also been ready everything I can get my hands on related to dog training and everything else dog. I’m becoming slightly obsessed.

I’ve been working with my mom’s dog on jumping almost everyday. I told my mom we should do agility with her, and I think I may have convinced her. Right now, Ellie (mom’s dog) is jumping 12” no problem (she soars over that jump) and almost jumping 17” (she’s still hitting the jump with her back feet). She’s only 14 weeks old and is jumping more than what would be required for her current height class. (I wonder if that much jumping is bad for a puppy.) She’s freaking amazing.

I noticed that these entries seem to be more about training my dog (or dogs, if you count my mom’s), and I thought about renaming it to that, but I decided that I won’t. After all, what better place to start than to train my own dog.

I took Bella to the vet today. She has diarrhea and was overdue for her shots. She did good for the most part, except when they had to get a stool sample. She growled a tiny, barely audible growl. It’s the kind of growl she does when we’re playing tug-o-war or when she’s just giving you a bit of a warning. She would never attack or bite a person. She loves people. And she knows she’d get in trouble for biting a person. But, the veterinary assistant decided she should put a muzzle on her. Which I understood. But there was no reason to leave the muzzle on her for the duration of the exam or to write a “Be Careful—may require muzzle” note on her file. That really irritates me because I know Bella better than anybody else knows her and I know she wouldn’t bite somebody, unless (a) they were attacking me, or (b) they gave her a very good reason to, as in, they were trying to hurt her. But those are extremes and things that can’t really be trained out of a GSD.

Anyway, Bella did good today. She went in her crate when I told her to, and she sat and laid down when I told her to. The laying down was impressive, especially since we were in a stressful situation. She was so nervous when we got there. I felt bad. The only thing bad I have to report is that she was pulling very badly on the leash (I just had her buckle collar on her).