Thoughts on becoming a veterinary technician

[carrie_02]

Hi! I'm Carrie! Fairly recently I have learned of positive dog training methods, and I've found learning about them- and now practicing them with my dog- very interesting, fun and rewarding. I'm learning a lot more about dogs than I have before- while I'd always been a dog lover, I'd never really known that much about training them or their behavior (in fact, I believed some outdated training and behavior info).

Now that I'm loving positive training and realizing just how much I love dogs, I want to start a job where I can work with them and hopefully encourage more owners to use positive methods. But I'm definitely not experienced enough yet to become a professional dog trainer (I'm not sure I ever will decide to- but if I do, I'll wait till I have more experience and knowledge). So, I was thinking about becoming a vet tech. The thing is, like I said, I want a job where I will be able to encourage people to use positive, force-free methods on their dogs.

If I was a vet tech, do you think I would have a decent opportunity to speak with dog owners and lovers and encourage them to use positive methods, and to teach them about why they are best? Would I be able to practice training skills somewhat, and become better with animals? Do you think being a vet tech would be a good step before eventually becoming a dog trainer? I am afraid that I might not have much opportunity to teach others about positive reinforcement in the role of a vet tech, and that instead I will just be forced to watch owners correcting and scaring their dogs with no real time or authority to talk to them about other options. I'm also afraid that my coworkers- the vet, other vet techs- might be misinformed about dog behavior as well and handle the dogs in ways that make them uncomfortable- it would be even worse if my coworkers believed in the dominance theory and corrections!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! I look forward to seeing your answers and thoughts. Please share even if you're not sure you have much to say- I'm sure it will be helpful. If you're a vet tech or work in the field- great, but if not, you probably still have something to say!

[Ari_RR]

I wish you luck, and hope you will find a way to influence others.
I would probably ask the vet practice owner if he/she would be OK with a tech suggesting positive training to customers.

Vet techs in the place we go to are pretty busy, I don't see them chatting with customers much.
So, again, if I were you - I would be very open at the interview about the interest in communicating with customers, in particular on the training topic.

[Erica]

I think the way you would be able to influence customers would be more through having R+ trainers recommended - by the vets, when people inevitably ask for their training advice, or with flyers/ads in the waiting room. Our vet techs usually don't have much chat time with us either - but I'm not someone who's asking vets for training advice, so maybe an owner with a training question would ask a tech...

I wouldn't set my heart on this track if my goal was to do dog training. If vet tech seems like a job you'll succeed at, whether you get to spread positive reinforcement training or not, go for it! But if you chose it in order to do R+ outreach sort of stuff, I would suggest reconsidering. I know it's not as glamorous, but I know our local pet store gets plenty of training advice questions asked to the staff, especially things like "how do I stop my dog from pulling?"

[JudyN]

I suspect that for each dog owner you manage to help through educating them about R+, there will be many morel who leave you frustrated and sad because you can see them using negative methods but aren't able to persuade them to change. Even behaviourists can feel very despondent because of all the people they fail to change, losing sight of their successes. Plus, there is always a danger, and an ethical question, when a professional gives advice that isn't within their job description. It's a bit like a doctor's receptionist giving health advice.

If your main desire is to promote R+ methods, follow your heart and work towards being a trainer (maybe volunteer for dog shelters?). If you would still enjoy being a vet tech even if your employers told you that you should avoid giving behavioural advice, then go ahead and be a vet tech.

[Nettle]

I agree with previous advice, especially about not putting yourself in a position where you give advice that is outside your professional remit.

Training dogs is every bit as much about training people. R+ works on people too. You need huge people skills to get your ideas across without alienating your customer. Whatever you choose to do, I really strongly recommend you do some research into communication, teaching and basic psychology, because the people need to be on-side before you can help them train their dogs.You will especially need this when you come across work colleagues giving wrong advice.

[Suzette]

I was a vet tech for many years (and am actually getting back into it after a few years off) and while I had opportunities to educate people, my time to do so was very limited. So I thought of it more as "planting seeds". I would give them just enough info to pique their interest and then encourage them to follow up with research of their own on positive training methods.

I love being a vet tech, it is incredibly rewarding but it is a very demanding job and if your true goal is to be a trainer, then I would be inclined to just head out on that path. Either way, I wish you much luck along your journey.

[carrie_02]

Thank you everybody for your thoughts. Sounds like the general consensus is that this wouldn't be the best starting place for me and my goals.