Jennifer Lutz: 26, Certified trainer, dog behaviorist, St. Petersburg, 542-4947, e-mail: ggggrrr88@hotmail.com
By ELLEN MOSES
Published May 16, 2004
How did you get interested in this?
I've been doing training and behavior for as long as I can remember. It's something that's always come really natural to me, understanding the behavior as well as the training. I remember training a dog that we had when I was like 9 or 10 years old.
What kind of training do you have?
I went to school at Triple Crown Dog Academy in Texas. It was a 12-week program. We learned everything from behavior modification to puppy imprinting to basic obedience, agility, search and rescue, to assisting the handicapped. Right now I'm at St. Petersburg College, going for a biology (degree) and then hopefully a Ph.D. in animal behavior.
How long have you been professionally training dogs?
I've been certified for the past three years. When I came back from school I jumped right into it. It's taken me some time to build my clientele. I go solely by word of mouth. I do have some veterinarians that are starting to recommend me, which is very nice.
How many hours a week do you work?
Right now I have seven clients, so probably about 12 hours of actual training time. Like with the behavior problems, I do some research and problem solving. I'll spend some time on the computer just getting all my thoughts out, where the behavior is coming from, what I've observed.
What age dogs do you see?
For my basic obedience class, they can start as young as 8 weeks. I do have a puppy class as well that I try to steer them toward, but if there aren't enough people for the puppy class, I just bring them into basic obedience. The sooner the better with any dog, but at the same time no dog is too old to learn a new trick.
What is basic obedience?
In the class we would be learning sit, down, come when called, staying with me, heeling.
What are the most common behavioral problems you see in dogs?
Separation anxiety and aggression. I'm getting a lot of calls for aggression.
How do those problems manifest themselves?
Chewing, that's one of the main things. Chewing on just about anything they can get hold of: a table, a couch. Going to the bathroom throughout the house. Howling. That's a really big problem. Howling, digging, scratching at the doors, and when they (owners) come home, usually there's like a prolonged greeting where the dog is running around or wanting their attention right away.
What's usually at the root of those?
What separation anxiety basically is, is where they have a dependency on us as humans, so when we're gone, they become very anxious and may demonstrate it through destructive behavior. As humans, we have a tendency to want to tell our dogs when we're leaving and when we're coming home, which is basically making it worse.
How can owners stop these behaviors?
Training . . . and having a crate, and giving the dog mentally something to do. I try to encourage everyone to do crate training, especially for puppies. It's the No. 1 tool you can use for housebreaking.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
I love working with people. I love working with the animals. I love showing people that your dog is capable of pretty much anything, especially when you get into behaviors (modification) and you start to see a big difference in the behavior.
What is the hardest or least favorite thing?
Sometimes people will want their dog to be trained, but they really don't want to put the time in to train their dog. And that just gets a little frustrating, especially when you see a dog that has a lot of potential and just has their eyes on their owner.
Any hazards of the job?
Oh, absolutely. Oh, gosh, I've been jumped on by numerous dogs. I have been bitten. That's one of the scariest things, of course. Especially working with my hands so much, the last thing you want is to be bit, and if you don't know how to take care of it, it can become pretty infected.
Any particularly memorable moments in dog training?
Probably one of the most memorable was a very big, big Labrador. It was an older couple that had him and he was really hard for the people to handle because he was so excitable and so boisterous. He was a puppy in this 110-pound body. In that case I actually took the dog (home) and trained the dog, and I worked with the owners. And that was probably one of the best outcomes, where they were just completely ecstatic about the result.
What is your dream job?
Well, my dream is to go into animal behavior. I love big cats and would kind of like to gear toward that. But I will never stop doing dog training and behavior because I find it so interesting.
How much money do you make?
It really fluctuates. Like I might have as many as 10 or 12 clients a week, and then it might slow down and I only might have two, And then I'll get my classes, so it seems like it comes in flows. My group classes are $120, so group to private in-home lessons go from $120 to $1,000 for private training, like behavior modification or any type of specialty training.
What's an example of specialty training?
I had a client who had a problem with her knees, and she had a Labrador-shepherd mix, and sometimes she would lose her balance, or sometimes when sitting for too long she would have a hard time standing up. So we taught her dog to retrieve objects and also if she was to lose her balance, to help her get up.
