In the early Spring of 2003 I adopted a wild eyed, unsocialized, horrible little puppy. I worked in a veterinary hospital and she was surrendered by an elderly man who was in way over his head with this little devil. I, being a glutton for punishment, fell madly in love. In the ensuing days I began training this little pup, who we figured to be a Blue Tick Hound cross, who I named Etta James. I was a traditional trainer at the time and used everything I knew to get this pup to sit and nothing happened but a few dirty looks both directions.
As I thought about what to do I understood that my knowledge always included the theory of "If it isn't working, get tougher" and I realized that to teach this puppy in the way I knew how might mean I needed to kill her, and although I had not yet read (or even heard of!) "Don't Shoot The Dog", I knew full well that would be counterproductive!
I asked the woman at the hospital if I could get Etta into her classes. She said her class was full, maybe next time. Out of desperation I began searching the internet like mad about this "ridiculous clicker training" thing I'd heard of. Little did I know how much of a blessing being rejected from that class would be. I took a deep breath, picked up a clicker and could not believe the difference I saw. In three minutes Etta went from glaring at me at my attempts to get her to sit to offering me sits with a glow in her eyes that has yet to go out!
I was stunned to say the least and became addicted. I did not know of anyone near me clicker training at the time so I dove into self study. I read everything I could find and in those early days, www.clickersolutions.com was an absolute life saver! I read and trained, and then got ridiculed by the woman at work who turned me down from her class.
About six months later she was let go from the hospital and I went straight to management and asked to take over the classes. They were skeptical, I could tell, but they were kind enough to give me a chance. I have spent the last four and a half years teaching my classes and I have enjoyed every second (well, there were a few classes with some oddball students that weren't great, but overall!). Classes have never felt like work and I always look forward to them. My dream has always been to incorporate and make my business my own. But I was always terrified to get that started.
In May I began a Yahoo discussion list for positive reinforcement dog trainers looking to expand their business, share ideas or find out how to get started. What an inspiration! Having a collection of trainers who have done it, who are doing it or who need support to do it allowed for such dialogue and brain storming that I decided to go for it. This past week I met with an accountant and got all of my paperwork done. I am now only awaiting the offical certificate back from the state and I am officially up and running! I really can not believe this is happening and I can only ultimately come back to Etta for getting me on this path. I always called her my little canine soul mate, but now I think I need to add business consultant to her title, as well!
Jessica
