I got the job!!!

Ok, taking advice and making my own thread.. So this is just copy/pasted from the good news thread..

Just found out I got the job!!! I'm gonna be a dog trainer!

So beyond excited, as this will be the first time I will be paid to teach people how to train their dogs!

And now I'm a little nervous, I've never trained a whole class before! I will be an assistant for some classes but they also want me to teach my own classes as well (and come up with my own curriculum).

Anyone have ideas of what some cool classes would be?
-They want me to teach my own intro to agility class based off of their curriculum- which goes over all the equipment much faster than any of my classes ever have. So that makes me a little nervous as far as injury.

Other ideas I had:
- tricks class
-intro to disc work they wanted me to do.. So thinking rollers, catching the disc while still holding it, arounds, tug with disc, some basic toss and catches, and various tricks found in disc work? ...thinking of having them order jaws discs and pup jaws discs for those smaller dogs and sofflite discs for both sizes.
-reactive dog class
-body awareness/conditioning class
-possibly some privates
-impulse control/crate games type of class
-maybe an intro to shaping class

Anyone want to throw other ideas out? I will be assisting in agility, obedience and possibly a flyball class.

I will have free mat time so I can play with angel again (with low jumps and contacts) and get Chloe started again! Eee I'm so excited.

Analogies/jokes related to class

Also, for those that train or go to training classes, what are some good analogies or funny jokes to keep it light hearted? I think of myself as a more serious straightforward informational kind of person, so may need some ideas/help to be funny/entertaining.

My other classes are rally-o and prep for the CGC test! And a clicker class.

Congrats!

Ohhhh man, CONGRATS! That's so exciting. I think the reactivity and conditioning could probably be combined into one very useful class dealing with most anxiety/fear-based issues. With behavior modification.

Please update with anything and possible photos of the agility, flyball, and obedience classes. Photos are good, yes yes yes.

Congrats!

I like the idea of a reactive dog class. I found out Michaela is reactive when we went to basic obedience class (or, as I liked to call it, Screaming Dog class).

Congratulations! Training is a lot of fun.

Congrats! I would be nervous too. Have fun!

Definitely deserved its own thread, congratulations!

So happy for you!

Congrats!

Thanks everyone!

Trying to brainstorm and create syllabus for classes is more difficult than I thought, mostly because I don't know how long people want to spend on various things and looking at the other classes it looks like they move through things very quickly. Where I typically like spending more time on solid foundations and moving slower. But I understand if we are getting mostly pet owners they probably don't want to spend money working on boring foundation skills..

It does take some time and skill/playing with it to get the best plan.

I've been editing my syllabi for years now and have just gotten to the point where I am happy with them due to students having the highest level of learning and success/progress with them.

You also have to learn to convey your reasoning for things to students. Our agility classes start off in "Intro to agility" - this happens to be my favorite agility class to teach and I have been tweaking my syllabus a little bit each session - it has really evolved in the last two years. The Intro to Agility class is for people wanting to do it for fun, to maybe compete, or for high-stakes competitors. None of them learn it any differently.

I refuse to pull out contact obstacles or weave poles in the first session, aside from a table and wobble board, occasionally a very low-pitched a frame 5 or 6 weeks in. My students don't see jumps for two weeks. The first session of 6 weeks are little skills - driving forward, flatwork, front crosses on the flat. One jump work sending, wrapping. Tunnel work, and small sequences with jumps and tunnels. Learning to transport dogs, tug with dogs, send them to targets. Get them comfortable moving off leash and keeping focus.

Might not look the most fun - but it's a safety concern. If they are taking my classes, they are going to be learning safely and properly, end of story. And this is the first thing I cover during the first night of classes each session - and while less than 10% of my students go on to compete, over 50% of them go on to the next class and continue learning. Most people appreciate that you are doing things from a safety standpoint when you can elaborate on what that is, exactly.

Good luck!