So, as many of you know, I've been actively training my pup in Agility and Obedience with the hope of competing. Love it. I have aspirations of being an amazing dog trainer. I have a lot of natural ability if I do say so myself. I wish I had started doing this 10 or 15 years ago. I spent so much time wasting time and wasting talent. I'm really hoping I can still become as good as I would have been if I had started younger.
Biggest Regret/whine/Rant
- Thread starter casey82
- Start date
If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I got the impression that you are still quite young and starting out in life. Whether you're young or old, don't worry about it. Everybody gets started somewhere and it's never too late.
Training dogs is a journey and a process, not a destination. I know people in my local dog community and only one (I think) makes a living with dogs. The rest do it as a hobby and a passion, whether they are breeding, doing agility, obedience, whatever. They might make a tiny bit of money on the side, and they put it right back into trialing, or health testing, or training seminars. Honestly, the one who has a full time training business actually has the least amount of time to put towards training her own dogs because she spends all day working with private clients, and all evening running classes. Then she spends all weekend at shows.
Just slow down and enjoy the dog you have. Right now you're not competing with your dog, so make that your goal and get him really prepared to go into the ring, but don't rush. Sign up for classes and do fun things with him. Don't worry so much about the trainer thing, because everyone who has dogs and works with them is a "trainer". Very few actually go on to do it in a professional capacity, especially full time. You might even decide that you don't like trialing and showing once you're doing it.
It's not about success, or titles, or doing it as a career - it's about working with your dog and having a good time together. Be careful not to put too much pressure on yourself or your dog while you're just getting started, because it will suck the fun right out of it.
Training dogs is a journey and a process, not a destination. I know people in my local dog community and only one (I think) makes a living with dogs. The rest do it as a hobby and a passion, whether they are breeding, doing agility, obedience, whatever. They might make a tiny bit of money on the side, and they put it right back into trialing, or health testing, or training seminars. Honestly, the one who has a full time training business actually has the least amount of time to put towards training her own dogs because she spends all day working with private clients, and all evening running classes. Then she spends all weekend at shows.
Just slow down and enjoy the dog you have. Right now you're not competing with your dog, so make that your goal and get him really prepared to go into the ring, but don't rush. Sign up for classes and do fun things with him. Don't worry so much about the trainer thing, because everyone who has dogs and works with them is a "trainer". Very few actually go on to do it in a professional capacity, especially full time. You might even decide that you don't like trialing and showing once you're doing it.
It's not about success, or titles, or doing it as a career - it's about working with your dog and having a good time together. Be careful not to put too much pressure on yourself or your dog while you're just getting started, because it will suck the fun right out of it.