Do You Think Professional Trainers Should Offer Their Services To Rescues For Free?

[Whiteshepherds]

If trainers want to volunteer their time to help out rescue organizations that's really nice, but I wouldn't think any less of the ones who don't.

[Smithie86]

We do a couple of different things.

As a trainer, Gabor will discounted training for rescue dogs from a valid 501c3 rescue org.

As a SCH club, we have the fosters from the valid 501c3 rescue orgs that we work with come out for socializing and a little work in basic OB in group training for free with the people that are fostering them. We focus on 1 or 2 rescues; mostly just 1. And if adopted in the area, the new owners can come out to the basic group OB for a reduced rate.

[GSDElsa]

Absolutley not. Great if they do, but it's appauling to me that anyone, including a rescue, thinks they "should" get something for free. If they've developed a good relationship with a local kennel or trainer and get some benefits out of that relationship, that is awesome. If not, too bad, so sad. One of the rescues I volunteer with gets very discounted boarding from a kennel/doggie day care in the city they operate out of when they don't have a foster home to place a dog in. I think that is AWESOME that they do that. But the director of the rescue has spent years nuturing the relationship. I think a rescue needs to appropriately pair up fosters with dogs. Some fosters are great at providing a stable, loving home and not much else. And some are great at working through tough problem dogs. It's not always easy to pair each dog and foster up, I think....there are only so many fosters and so many that have space...and many issues you don't know about unitl the initial 2-3 week "settling in" period is over.

[Stosh]

Our obedience club offers a 50% discount if the dog is a rescue, adopted from a shelter or a service dog.

[arycrest]

Originally Posted by Whiteshepherds

If trainers want to volunteer their time to help out rescue organizations that's really nice, but I wouldn't think any less of the ones who don't.

This is also the way I feel!!!

[Glacier]

If they have the extra time and resources to do it more power to 'em. But they are running a business and their time spent at a shelter and away from their base clientele is money out of their pocket. Of course they could use the volunteering as an advertising.

[DJEtzel]

Originally Posted by Olivers mama

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I wouldn't want basic obedience training. But I'm talking about basic behavioral issues. Issues the Rescue is darn aware of, if they've had the dog more than 24 hours. Offer help to the adopter - don't give them nothing after cashing the check. This rescue organization is darn lucky my hubby fell in love with this dog. And I'm lucky he didn't divorce me when it came to spending lots of money on recc trainers & the like. Or, is it just easier & more economical for the rescue to just PTS? I don't know - we'll never know, for they wouldn't get back to us. Not all Rescue groups are Lollipop factories - some are quite devious.

You misunderstood the question entirely. This is not about the rescue giving adopters anything, it's about personal buisness trainers giving rescues training for free.

[bocron]

Funnily enough, I just started a thread on pro dog trainers list I'm a member of. In the thread I was lamenting how we have volunteered with a couple of local churches over that past 15 years. We have helped out with the training and organization of their "Pet Ministries", where they take dogs to shut-ins and senior centers, that type of thing. I told my husband the other day that this was our last time and I am sending them a letter resigning as their trainers. In the past 15 years we haven't been offered so much as a drink when we get there. They have tshirts that the group wears and I kept thinking they'd give us one as a thanks, or even offer to cover our gas. The 2 churches we worked with are not really in our vicinity so we have never gotten even one client out of it, and I've never heard the people in charge say something along the lines of contacting us for training help, etc.
I'm sure I sound uncharitable, but sheesh you would think they would give us a Starbucks card at Christmas or something. When we have judges here to do a trial, or have someone come in for a seminar, our nonprofit club manages to give a gift card. It's not a fortune, but at least they know we appreciate the time they are spending away from their home. At our most recent trial I gave all the track layers and the helpers a small gift card. Not hard to do and it didn't break the bank and they are all so shocked that we did that.

[Gharrissc]

You don't sound uncharitable at all. Since you guys have been doing this for so many years, I feel that you should at least get a verbal thank you or some sort of sign that they really appreciate what you are doing. The problem that I see with a lot of the local shelters or rescues around here is that they have a sense of entitlement that trainers should help their dogs for free. I am working with another rescue now that is run by an older woman. We don't foster for her,but have sent one of our trainers over to the kennel that her dogs are being boarded at. This woman always pulls dogs who have really extreme behavioral issues,and then she doesn't have anyone to help her rehab the dogs. She has two dogs who are so afraid to go outside,they will literally do back flips to stay inside,biting,peeing,pooping,the whole gamut. These dogs have been like this for years. Anyway my point is that she expects a trainer to work with these dogs for free,when she knows that it won't be an easy fix. This would take months to get these dogs adoptable.I probably need to make another thread about that,but I get what you are saying.

Originally Posted by bocron

I'm sure I sound uncharitable, but sheesh you would think they would give us a Starbucks card at Christmas or something.

[selzer]

Oliversmom brought up a good point, though. It costs about $85 around here for 6 hour-long sessions (weekly) for basic manners classes. So many times the reason a dog-owner situation fails is lack of simple training/bond. I am not talking about having a trainer on staff, but I think that when a shelter sells a dog, they should up the price by $85 (or the going rate in the area) and give the people a voucher for the classes. The classes are paid for, the people pay for them, meaning that if the dog would have costed $125 to "adopt" now it costs $210 but you not only get a fully vetted, altered, dog, you get six obedience classes at a local trainer. It would be listed on the break down for the dog. People will know what they cost, and if they choose to just eat the cost and not sign up, then that is up to them. But people will be more likely to go if they pay for it.

Take it a step farther and sell life-time dog licenses instead of yearly license. The cost of a lifetime license would be much higher. $10/year for average 9 years, + voucher for spay/neuter $100, + voucher for a set of dog classes $100. So your lifetime license would cost $290 and you could get $100 off if you have evidence that the dog is already spayed or neutered. This would encourage spay/neuter but not demand it, those who want to keep a dog intact would pay an extra fee once -- for the lifetime of the dog, not forever. And if even half the people take the dog to classes, well, it would probably knock down the incidents of people dumping their dogs by maybe 25 - 30%.