stardog85
Posted : 10/24/2009 7:46:02 PM
Thanks guys! I'm working from Barnes and Noble because my home internet is down, so I figured I'd check in before heading home.
Jewlieee - Maggie is the main reason I do behavior work instead of veterinary medicine lol. As far as experiences and training to get to this point, it's a long list. 
I've been training dogs for others for about 9 years, starting roughly a year after I adopted my Maggie and 8 months or so after I discovered the wonders of clicker training. I volunteered at an animal shelter starting at 13 so already had a lot of experience handling animals by then as well.
In college I majored in Animal Science with a specialization in Animal Behavior and Wellbeing, a certificate in Animal Welfare and Societal Concerns, and a minor in Psychology. I received my BS in 2007.
I've been working as the Animal Behavior and Training Coordinator at a large open admission shelter in SC for the last 2.5 years and teaching group classes there for 2 years in January. Prior to this job I had only given private lessons, demos, and a 4 week group class for a local independent school while in high school, so up to 7 group classes/week has been a huge change, but did allow me to amass the hours I needed to sit for the CPDT-KA exam.
To keep my skills up to par and keep me humble 
I currently compete in dog agility, have two Delta Society Pet Partners therapy dogs, have dabbled in herding, spent 8 months in SAR, and play around with teaching various tricks and service dog tasks to my animals for fun. Continuing education opportunities have also really helped further my knowledge base. My top picks are the APDT annual conference and Clicker Expo. I hope to go to my second Clicker Expo in March and perhaps my 3rd APDT conference next October.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll egt back to you tomorrow afternoon assuming AT&T fixes the internet by then.