Apprentice Program

Build Your Dog Train­ing Skills:
100-Hour Appren­tice­ship Program

Get the foun­da­tion of skills and infor­ma­tion nec­es­sary to become a com­pe­tent dog trainer. As an appren­tice at Cold Nose Col­lege, you build knowl­edge and hands-on expe­ri­ence with a vari­ety of group train­ing classes.

Overview

Where: Cold Nose Col­lege
Who for: Aspir­ing or new dog train­ers, dog train­ing hob­by­ists (see required skills below)
Dura­tion: 100 hours
Cost: $650

What’s In A 100 Hours?

45 Hours: Attend and par­tic­i­pate in 5 full Basic Man­ners classes (6 classes per ses­sion). You’ll first observe a class, then take dog through a class, assist the lead trainer with a class, co-teach a class and then teach a full class ses­sion.
10 hours: Observe or assist pri­vate train­ing and/or behav­ior mod­i­fi­ca­tion ses­sions, attend advanced classes and/or week­end work­shops, as well as trainer acad­e­mies.
7 hours: Dis­cus­sion and review of class obser­va­tions, assigned required reading/videos (on your own time).
36 hours: Admin­is­tra­tive assis­tance and/or par­tic­i­pat­ing in week­end vol­un­teer projects.
1 hour: Writ­ten exam.
1 hour: Prac­ti­cal exam.

What You’ll Do

Assist the lead trainer dur­ing group classes, which includes:

• Help­ing clients enter the train­ing cen­ter and man­ag­ing their dogs in class.
• Keep­ing dogs from greet­ing nose to nose.
• Answer­ing gen­eral ques­tions about the class exercises.
• Help­ing lead instruc­tor set up and break down classroom.
• Per­form­ing equip­ment checks to ensure proper fit of har­nesses or collars.
• Per­form­ing a vari­ety of admin­is­tra­tive tasks (assem­bling class port­fo­lios, tak­ing atten­dance, dis­trib­ut­ing hand­outs, col­lect­ing class tuition, etc.).

Out­side of class, you will be:

• Read­ing books about learn­ing the­ory and dog training.
• Learn­ing clicker skills.
• Build­ing gen­eral pub­lic rela­tions skills.
• Per­form­ing gen­eral admin­is­tra­tive and train­ing cen­ter duties (respond­ing to emails, copy­ing class mate­r­ial, assist­ing with gen­eral office duties, clean­ing train­ing cen­ter, etc.).

Must-Have Qual­i­ties

It’s essen­tial that you possess:

• A work­ing knowl­edge of dog behav­ior and dog body language.
• Good com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills with both peo­ple and dogs.
• The desire to learn about dogs, behav­ior, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and teach­ing skills.
• A sense of humor and clean appearance.
• Will­ing­ness to use only pos­i­tive rein­force­ment and force-free training.

Required Knowl­edge, Skills & Abilities

Ideal Knowl­edge:

• Pos­sess basic canine knowl­edge: hus­bandry, body lan­guage, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and breed information.
• Must have a basic knowl­edge of behav­ior sci­ence: famil­iar­ity with oper­ant and clas­si­cal con­di­tion­ing ter­mi­nol­ogy and concepts.
• Be skilled in the mechan­ics of clicker train­ing: tim­ing, obser­va­tion, and treat delivery.
• Have good com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills with people.
• Have the phys­i­cal abil­ity to be able to demon­strate skills com­monly used in class (for exam­ple: loose leash walk­ing with a strong, pulling dog).
• Be able to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tively to clients, point­ing out spe­cific suc­cess, as well as the abil­ity to explain how to improve client/dog behavior.
• Have the abil­ity to observe dogs and peo­ple, rec­og­nize and work quickly to defuse poten­tially haz­ardous or dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tions between dogs and people.

Min­i­mum Knowledge:

• Be com­fort­able around dogs of all sizes and breeds.
• Must be will­ing to learn about behav­ior sci­ence; specif­i­cally oper­ant and clas­si­cal con­di­tion­ing ter­mi­nol­ogy and concepts.
• Rapidly acquire the mechan­i­cal skills required for clicker train­ing: tim­ing, obser­va­tion, and treat delivery.
• Learn to observe dogs and peo­ple, rec­og­nize and work quickly to defuse poten­tially haz­ardous or dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tions between dogs and people.
• Have good com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills with people.
• Be able to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tively to clients, point­ing out spe­cific suc­cess, as well as the abil­ity to explain how to improve client/dog behavior.

Phys­i­cal Demands:

This job includes stand­ing for at least 60 min­utes, bend­ing, lift­ing (50 pounds or less), fast paced walk­ing, strength and bal­ance. Occa­sion­ally, you may hold dogs for clients or demon­strate exer­cises with untrained dogs. May be required to inter­vene in dog-dog scuf­fle, when needed.

Work Envi­ron­ment:

The work envi­ron­ment is var­ied and can include work­ing out­doors in heat, humid­ity, and wind; work­ing indoors in a fin­ished build­ing with or with­out air con­di­tion­ing; all con­di­tions involve dogs.

Call or email us for more info.