Читать книгу Careers with Dogs - Kim Campbell Thornton - Страница 46

As a child, Kim Toepfer was attracted to animals of all kinds and read everything she could find about dogs and training. She developed “intelligence tests” for her pet dogs and participated in 4-H programs. When she began thinking about a career, she assumed she would become a veterinarian. In college, however, Toepfer discovered an interest in psychology and behavior that altered her career path.

“While there is no degree requirement for becoming a dog trainer, I think a good, solid education in science—biology and genetics—and psychology—abnormal behavior and ethology—is extremely valuable,” she says.

Longtime dog trainer Susan Bulanda, who started learning about dogs and their training as soon as she could read and had an established clientele in her town by the time she entered high school, also found a psychology degree to be helpful in her career development. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with courses in education, followed by a master’s degree in education, with courses in behavioral science.

“When I started in the dog-training business, there were no schools, no Internet, and few opportunities to learn,” she says. “By the time I graduated high school, I came to the conclusion that force was not the way to teach a dog, that education and psychology were the answer.”

You won’t find any degrees offered in dog training per se, but many colleges offer degrees in animal behavior. At Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, Bulanda has developed two popular and successful programs for people who want to enter dog-related fields, including training. Level I of Canine Training and Management is for students who want to become dog trainers. In addition to covering training methods and services, the program includes business-management practices and communication skills.

Training Herding Dogs

Susan Rhoades bought a 70-acre farm and stocked it with sheep to keep her dogs occupied, but the property and livestock ended up becoming her livelihood. She teaches herding-dog training and holds herding trials on the land, as well as judging American Kennel Club and American Herding Breed Association herding trials. She got her start after training with renowned trainer Wink Mason, who himself has a farm used for training stock dogs and raising sheep.

“I asked him to help me make a living at this and he taught me to train all breeds of dogs and understand how dogs think,” Rhoades says. “I started giving lessons a few years after that, part-time, and it grew into a full-time business. It is really fun to see the reaction of the owner when the dog turns on to stock and does what he has been bred to do for ages. Sometimes the owners have tears in their eyes from seeing their dogs working.”

“If you do not know how to manage a business, you could be the best trainer in the world and you would fail,” Bulanda says. “And at some point, dog trainers must be able to promote themselves through written material such as brochures, pamphlets, and articles; they must give talks to interested groups; perhaps make a video; and most important of all, they must be able to teach and counsel their clients.”

The Level II program focuses on research and behavior problems and is designed for people who want to become certified animal behavior consultants. Among other things, students learn about how to interview clients and gather facts about a behavior problem, the causes and treatments of behavior problems, and the way dogs learn. They also get a course in the behavior of cats and parrots so they can deal with interspecies issues.