New career path *small edit*

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I lost my job yesterday.. I was originally thinking about trying to become a chef, but I have found that it isn't for me. I wasn't as happy with the work as I thought I'd be. I am going to look for a job doing anything that isn't kitchen related so I can pay my bills and work on saving up towards moving out..

Anyways, for my career change. As many of you know, I am passionate about animals and LOVE working with them. I also have a talent for training dogs. I was thinking about training police dogs to do the sniffing work (sniffing out drugs and bombs, and sniffing out gasoline and other fire starter products in arson cases). My dad works in a court and said he'll get contact information for someone who would be able to give me the information I would need to know about this field.

Another idea is training the service dogs. Does anyone know of any special requirements/education needed for the training of service dogs, as well as any other information I would need?

Edit: I for some reason forgot to mention groomer is another option I'm looking into and any information you can give about education and any other information I may need to know would be appreciated too.  

[Akari_32]

My old Culinary teacher flies puppies in from New York (I live in FL) and trains them and puts them through classes to be guide dogs. She really loves it, and its a constant supply of puppies :p The downer is sending them back when they are ready. It could be done locally, though. We JUST, last year or year before, got our own local guide dog organization....

Anyways, I don't know what sort of training or certification you'd need to do something like that. You could always just call organizations near you and say its something you're interested in.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Akari_32

My old Culinary teacher flies puppies in from New York (I live in FL) and trains them and puts them through classes to be guide dogs. She really loves it, and its a constant supply of puppies :p The downer is sending them back when they are ready. It could be done locally, though. We JUST, last year or year before, got our own local guide dog organization....

Anyways, I don't know what sort of training or certification you'd need to do something like that. You could always just call organizations near you and say its something you're interested in.

We have Hearts of Gold close to where I live. They give classes, but their website has nothing about prices.. I'll have to give them a call to find out about their prices.

There are three different Petcos around where I live that are hiring Grooming Assistants! I applied for all three locations! I am hoping to be hired into one of them!  

[Shanna66]

i hope you get a good animal job. im currently looking for a new job too.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Shanna66

i hope you get a good animal job. im currently looking for a new job too.

I hope so too. Good luck with your search. I hope you find a good job soon as well.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

I was told that (here in quebec anyway) to train police dogs I had to, or it was strongly recommended to..take police technology. Which I thought was weird because learning all the laws doesn't have much to do with training dogs.

The groomers that I know, have no actual education in it. However, any field involving animals, it doesn't hurt to have a DEC in animal health. But I would say get a job as an assistant and try to work your way up. It's VERY physical work though. Unless you have a lot of experience and get hired just for the finishing work.

Training service dogs, again, animal health is a good start. But you could probably contact mira to ask about qualifications.  

[Latrans]

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

I was told that (here in quebec anyway) to train police dogs I had to, or it was strongly recommended to..take police technology. Which I thought was weird because learning all the laws doesn't have much to do with training dogs.

The groomers that I know, have no actual education in it. However, any field involving animals, it doesn't hurt to have a DEC in animal health. But I would say get a job as an assistant and try to work your way up. It's VERY physical work though. Unless you have a lot of experience and get hired just for the finishing work.

Training service dogs, again, animal health is a good start. But you could probably contact mira to ask about qualifications.

I guess in a way, knowing the laws can help to know what to train a police dog to do since different situations on the job and different violations of the law can require different courses of actions. So the dog would have to know various commands for various different courses of action so he can perform the correct task.

I have seen groups that provide education in grooming, but from what I can tell, it's not absolutely required. If I decide to go the route of groomer (which I probably will), I was most likely going to start as an assistant. I have applied for three grooming assistant jobs at different Petcos. I am greatly hoping I get the position! I already have some basic bathing knowledge and also knowledge of clipping nails since I usually do that myself with mine and my family's animals. I can lift my parents' 60 pound dog to put him into the tub, so I don't think I'd have much difficulty with that part. 45 to 50 pounds is a little easier for me (which is the weight lifting requirement for the positions I applied for). I still should work on my upper body strength so it's a bit easier to lift heavier dogs comfortably though.. ^^'

I'll be sure to contact Mira and find out more about the service dog training! Thanks! biggrin  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Latrans

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]

Mainly obedience training of mine and my family's dogs. I have also taught my parents' oldest dog several different tricks.  

[Latrans]

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]

Mainly obedience training of mine and my family's dogs. I have also taught my parents' oldest dog several different tricks.

You should try to get more professional type experience--either do a sport with your dogs or try to get hired on at a training place.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Latrans

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]

Mainly obedience training of mine and my family's dogs. I have also taught my parents' oldest dog several different tricks.

You should try to get more professional type experience--either do a sport with your dogs or try to get hired on at a training place.

Unfortunately, I don't think we have any facilities around that we can do any kind of sport/sport training.. My dog, Bandit is the only one of our older three that is in good enough health (one is blind and has arthritis in his back, and the other has arthritis in his leg.. Bandit has absolutely no health issues) to do it, and I'm still working on the basic obedience with my mom's puppy, so it would be a while until he's ready for sports. He loves running so he'd be an excellent candidate for that though! And I think most places around here require some form of formal education or prior experience.. I will look into those though. I'll try to locate at least some kind of courses that are local that I could try for some sports. Agility would be fun I think! biggrin Thanks for the suggestions! biggrin  

[Latrans]

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]

Mainly obedience training of mine and my family's dogs. I have also taught my parents' oldest dog several different tricks.

You should try to get more professional type experience--either do a sport with your dogs or try to get hired on at a training place.

Unfortunately, I don't think we have any facilities around that we can do any kind of sport/sport training.. My dog, Bandit is the only one of our older three that is in good enough health (one is blind and has arthritis in his back, and the other has arthritis in his leg.. Bandit has absolutely no health issues) to do it, and I'm still working on the basic obedience with my mom's puppy, so it would be a while until he's ready for sports. He loves running so he'd be an excellent candidate for that though! And I think most places around here require some form of formal education or prior experience.. I will look into those though. I'll try to locate at least some kind of courses that are local that I could try for some sports. Agility would be fun I think! biggrin Thanks for the suggestions! biggrin

Obedience and tracking would be more applicable I'd bet.

Where are you located, if you don't mind my asking?  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Latrans

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

CrissAngelLover12345

Latrans

What kind of dog training have you done in the past? :]

Mainly obedience training of mine and my family's dogs. I have also taught my parents' oldest dog several different tricks.

You should try to get more professional type experience--either do a sport with your dogs or try to get hired on at a training place.

Unfortunately, I don't think we have any facilities around that we can do any kind of sport/sport training.. My dog, Bandit is the only one of our older three that is in good enough health (one is blind and has arthritis in his back, and the other has arthritis in his leg.. Bandit has absolutely no health issues) to do it, and I'm still working on the basic obedience with my mom's puppy, so it would be a while until he's ready for sports. He loves running so he'd be an excellent candidate for that though! And I think most places around here require some form of formal education or prior experience.. I will look into those though. I'll try to locate at least some kind of courses that are local that I could try for some sports. Agility would be fun I think! biggrin Thanks for the suggestions! biggrin

Obedience and tracking would be more applicable I'd bet.

Where are you located, if you don't mind my asking?

West Virginia. The part of the state I'm in doesn't have much.. >.<