I'm thinking about starting a dog training program, and needed a little advice. Here's the background:
I worked at Petsmart teaching training classes for three years (full-time). Now I'm training service dogs - a job which I LOVE, but frankly doesn't pay quite enough. A friend of mine who's a trainer, was looking into starting a training program at an existing doggy day care, but after talking to the owner and marketing guy, and after getting another job, decided not to do it. So now I'm thinking about offering my services to the day care, and designing and teaching their training program. I'm confident that I can do this, given my training and teaching background, and writing the curriculum is not the question.
My questions are - I was wondering if any of you have done anything like this, and could give me advice? How much should I ask to get paid (commission/hourly/both; should I ask for a set fee for writing the program, and if so, how much?)? I'll definately start with a puppy class and beginner obedience class, but should I go ahead and plan advanced classes too (knowing that I only want to work two days a week - like, 4 classes a week)? I'd like to do seminars for their day care workers about dog behavior and supervising play (probably about 4 hours for the seminar) - how much should I charge for that?
I appreciate the help!
I worked at Petsmart teaching training classes for three years (full-time). Now I'm training service dogs - a job which I LOVE, but frankly doesn't pay quite enough. A friend of mine who's a trainer, was looking into starting a training program at an existing doggy day care, but after talking to the owner and marketing guy, and after getting another job, decided not to do it. So now I'm thinking about offering my services to the day care, and designing and teaching their training program. I'm confident that I can do this, given my training and teaching background, and writing the curriculum is not the question.
My questions are - I was wondering if any of you have done anything like this, and could give me advice? How much should I ask to get paid (commission/hourly/both; should I ask for a set fee for writing the program, and if so, how much?)? I'll definately start with a puppy class and beginner obedience class, but should I go ahead and plan advanced classes too (knowing that I only want to work two days a week - like, 4 classes a week)? I'd like to do seminars for their day care workers about dog behavior and supervising play (probably about 4 hours for the seminar) - how much should I charge for that?
I appreciate the help!
