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Dog trainer. Especially if I could do it for free to help challenging dogs at shelters become more adoptable. I've done a lot of training with my own dogs that

Dog trainer. Especially if I could do it for free to help challenging dogs at shelters become more adoptable. I've done a lot of training with my own dogs that would definitely allow me to handle the basics of training, but I'd want to train under someone much more experienced so as to be able to work with highly aggressive dogs and others with extreme challenges that make them unadoptable in their current state.

awillen 6y ago
Or alternatively color commentator for the NFL or NBA. I'd really like to be just like Jeff Van Gundy... dude just goes off on wildly entertaining rants that are sometimes barely related to the actual game while getting to watch basketball games from the best seat in the house. And makes a boatload. I don't think I'd need to learn any additional skills - my wife will vouch that I'm well practiced at long, tangential rants.
tom_b 6y ago
I think much training for dog aggressiveness is more about helping people to understand drives and managing "triggers" than training them out of the animal . . . it seems underappreciated by many normal dog owners. My last dog had super high-prey drive and was also a fear biter. Both drives were incredible. You could play train her to do almost anything in a very short period of time with classic behavior shaping. It was unfortunate that her fear drive was higher. But this mostly meant proper space management and patience were required along with never assuming that a situation was "ok" by default. We worked with a number of animal behavioral specialists (including university veterinary behavioral practices), all of whom concluded it was just her default personality. Much of our success in keeping her with our family was building environments that minimized her fear drive impulses. Still a great dog in many situations. She passed after a pretty healthy 15 1/2 years and I'm currently on a break from pets.

awillen 6y ago

Or alternatively color commentator for the NFL or NBA. I'd really like to be just like Jeff Van Gundy... dude just goes off on wildly entertaining rants that are sometimes barely related to the actual game while getting to watch basketball games from the best seat in the house. And makes a boatload. I don't think I'd need to learn any additional skills - my wife will vouch that I'm well practiced at long, tangential rants.

tom_b 6y ago

I think much training for dog aggressiveness is more about helping people to understand drives and managing "triggers" than training them out of the animal . . . it seems underappreciated by many normal dog owners. My last dog had super high-prey drive and was also a fear biter. Both drives were incredible. You could play train her to do almost anything in a very short period of time with classic behavior shaping. It was unfortunate that her fear drive was higher. But this mostly meant proper space management and patience were required along with never assuming that a situation was "ok" by default. We worked with a number of animal behavioral specialists (including university veterinary behavioral practices), all of whom concluded it was just her default personality. Much of our success in keeping her with our family was building environments that minimized her fear drive impulses. Still a great dog in many situations. She passed after a pretty healthy 15 1/2 years and I'm currently on a break from pets.