Do you have to be a good student to be a good dog trainer?
What course would be the best for someone who is more practical than cerebral? Who wants to be positive, but didn't do well at school. Someone who has good instincts and dearly wants to work with dogs and learn.
Are there any hands-on training courses where people can be taught practically how to train dogs?
Jemima Parton, by email
Definitely consider any of the www.imdt.uk.com Courses or look at 'Career As A Dog trainer' Course run by Steve Mann, both theory and practical.
ReplyDeleteI am no academic. I have made a change in career in my 40s to get away from advertising sales to get into dog training. I have been training for the past 3 years under the tutelage of Marie Miller who not only is an incredible trainer and behaviourist, but also a very inspiring and patient teacher. I would recommend to anyone that starting out, to find a dog training school who are willing to take you on and let you help out there, initially like me your job will involve cleaning up dog pee and setting up cones, but you get to observe the teaching techniques and as time goes on you will get the chance to get involved with clients as your knowledge increases and so does your confident. Over and above this it is worth looking at some form of formal training. Find out what you are interested in and find the opportunity of training in that field, my interest is Tellington TTouch, so I have started the 3 year training programme as a practitioner, further details can be found at www.ttouchtteam.com . Other people I know have found that the Association of Pet Dog Trainers training programme is excellent www.apdt.co.uk . Another wonderful one to look at is the collaboration of expertise of Marie Miller and Sarah Fisher with their Cool To Be Kind course details of which can be found at www.pawsnlearn.com.
ReplyDeleteTry Sheila Harper's courses:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sheilaharper.co.uk/
Most people end up on her courses after first having been down the traditional pseudo-academic route but finding themselves feeling something's 'not quite right' about what they've learned on the courses they attended. If you're starting with an open mind and not having to 'unlearn' something, you may find you can really make rapid progress using her approach, which is essentially practical and doesn't require you to do the formal academic modules if you don't want to.
I've been training with John Rogerson, who does a lot of practical sessions, plus some that are purely lessons. I left school at 16 so not at all academic! He makes it so simple anyone can understand it, you get to learn all the 'scientific' stuff, but he talks in plain English! I've also studied with Robert Alleyne (practical), Mic Martin (classroom and some practical), assisted at training classes, and had a session with Sarah Fisher, which taught me a lot.
ReplyDeleteJust be warned - if you don't go the academic route *some* trainers will Look Down on you, you might find it hard to join some organisations (despite some of the people who were involved in their inception or are early members having maybe a couple of O'levels between them). But you can go through the Kennel Club Accreditation Scheme for Instructors, which will mean you get a qualification if you hang in there!
Good luck!
The best way is to build up your experience by helping out at a local dog training school. This is what I've done and it is, in my eyes the best way to gain valuable experience. Make sure they use kind and positive methods first and take time to watch and shadow them until they feel you are capable of taking your own class, this could take up to a year or more. There are also practical courses out there although these do not give you enough experience on the job! It takes time to be able to think on the spot with these things as there is more to it than you may initially think. Another thing to think about is that your training people to train dogs so your teaching owners - some people think its all about the dogs but if the owners aren't taught properly then the training may not work. Regardless of if you have a 'natural' instinct with dogs and animals - I do too. People still want a qualification to go by I have a Btec and Degree in animal related subjects and I am not one for academia at all but I did this because I know it will benefit me in the long run and the courses were something I was interested in so it made all the difference. Having natural ability isn't always enough as there are so many different areas to training and behaviour.
ReplyDeleteback to college for me to get up to date with dog training. I'm currently doing level 2 extended Animal Care NPTC with Dean Hart. Didn't do at all well at school, so Dean is helping me and others threw the course with smaller class numbers and not a big daunting college. I settled in well, even at my age!
ReplyDeleteI also attend lectures Dean holds on various subjects, clicker training being the next one.
Nikki