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Mentoring



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 4th 03, 04:42 PM
Child
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Mentoring


"Suja" wrote in message
news:wMI5b.44919$xf.22554@lakeread06...

It's pretty much going to be email/phone work with someone who wishes
his GSD would act more like his Lab. I know nothing at all about what
specific problems they might be having just yet. Now that I think about
it, this is a serious responsibility - I'm what is standing between this
dog having a home and being homeless (or worse, PTS). I'm not a dog
trainer, nor do I play one on TeeVee, and although I've had fairly
decent success troubleshooting problems, I'm really scared about this.
Has anyone had any experience working on problem solving in this manner?
How exactly did it go?



Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer suggestions.
I think you will do great.


  #2  
Old September 4th 03, 04:42 PM
Child
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Suja" wrote in message
news:wMI5b.44919$xf.22554@lakeread06...

It's pretty much going to be email/phone work with someone who wishes
his GSD would act more like his Lab. I know nothing at all about what
specific problems they might be having just yet. Now that I think about
it, this is a serious responsibility - I'm what is standing between this
dog having a home and being homeless (or worse, PTS). I'm not a dog
trainer, nor do I play one on TeeVee, and although I've had fairly
decent success troubleshooting problems, I'm really scared about this.
Has anyone had any experience working on problem solving in this manner?
How exactly did it go?



Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer suggestions.
I think you will do great.


  #3  
Old September 4th 03, 05:11 PM
Suja
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Child wrote:

Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer suggestions.
I think you will do great.


I think I'm afraid of whether this will turn out to be something that
requires hands-on work with someone. Like if the dog is being
aggressive. I'm pretty sure that people who would consider dumping the
dog wouldn't be open to the idea of paying someone money to work with
them, or putting in a lot of time and effort to solve the problem. If
the dog ends up homeless, I *know* I'll feel responsible. Even if logic
tells me that it isn't my fault.

Suja

  #4  
Old September 4th 03, 05:11 PM
Suja
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Child wrote:

Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer suggestions.
I think you will do great.


I think I'm afraid of whether this will turn out to be something that
requires hands-on work with someone. Like if the dog is being
aggressive. I'm pretty sure that people who would consider dumping the
dog wouldn't be open to the idea of paying someone money to work with
them, or putting in a lot of time and effort to solve the problem. If
the dog ends up homeless, I *know* I'll feel responsible. Even if logic
tells me that it isn't my fault.

Suja

  #5  
Old September 4th 03, 05:16 PM
montana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article wMI5b.44919$xf.22554@lakeread06,
Suja wrote:

I'm not a dog
trainer, nor do I play one on TeeVee, and although I've had fairly
decent success troubleshooting problems, I'm really scared about this.
Has anyone had any experience working on problem solving in this manner?
How exactly did it go?

Suja



What's the difference between that & what you're doing here? Most people
just want to get their dogs to behave and the issues are going to be the
same issues you see repeated here day after day after day. If it's over
your head, you should have some resources for the folks to call to get
more in-depth answers. Since you aren't going to be taking on the
trainer's job, mentoring will pretty much equal hand-holding.

I've mentored people in a couple of areas and, since they weren't paying
me to do it, all I needed to do was offer advice or resources. 80% of
the time, I had enough experience to walk them through things on the
phone, 10% I had to go to them to physically show them stuff & 10% I had
to refer out.

I think you're building this up in your mind too much. The only thing
I'd worry about is how many people you're going to be mentoring because
it can eat up a lot of time. JMO
  #6  
Old September 4th 03, 05:16 PM
montana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article wMI5b.44919$xf.22554@lakeread06,
Suja wrote:

I'm not a dog
trainer, nor do I play one on TeeVee, and although I've had fairly
decent success troubleshooting problems, I'm really scared about this.
Has anyone had any experience working on problem solving in this manner?
How exactly did it go?

Suja



What's the difference between that & what you're doing here? Most people
just want to get their dogs to behave and the issues are going to be the
same issues you see repeated here day after day after day. If it's over
your head, you should have some resources for the folks to call to get
more in-depth answers. Since you aren't going to be taking on the
trainer's job, mentoring will pretty much equal hand-holding.

I've mentored people in a couple of areas and, since they weren't paying
me to do it, all I needed to do was offer advice or resources. 80% of
the time, I had enough experience to walk them through things on the
phone, 10% I had to go to them to physically show them stuff & 10% I had
to refer out.

I think you're building this up in your mind too much. The only thing
I'd worry about is how many people you're going to be mentoring because
it can eat up a lot of time. JMO
  #7  
Old September 4th 03, 11:45 PM
Child
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Suja wrote in
news:5xJ5b.45048$xf.17125@lakeread06:

Child wrote:

Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer
suggestions. I think you will do great.


I think I'm afraid of whether this will turn out to be something that
requires hands-on work with someone. Like if the dog is being
aggressive. I'm pretty sure that people who would consider dumping
the dog wouldn't be open to the idea of paying someone money to work
with them, or putting in a lot of time and effort to solve the
problem. If the dog ends up homeless, I *know* I'll feel responsible.
Even if logic tells me that it isn't my fault.



If the dog has serious problems your mentoring job will be to help them
find a good trainer who helps with those sorts of things. Mentoring
doesnt' mean "solely responsible for".

--
BethF, Anchorage, AK

It's YOUR God.
They are YOUR rules.
YOU burn in hell.
  #8  
Old September 4th 03, 11:45 PM
Child
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Suja wrote in
news:5xJ5b.45048$xf.17125@lakeread06:

Child wrote:

Troubleshooting is exactly the right word. You have excellent problem
solving skills and a bunch of online buddies willing to offer
suggestions. I think you will do great.


I think I'm afraid of whether this will turn out to be something that
requires hands-on work with someone. Like if the dog is being
aggressive. I'm pretty sure that people who would consider dumping
the dog wouldn't be open to the idea of paying someone money to work
with them, or putting in a lot of time and effort to solve the
problem. If the dog ends up homeless, I *know* I'll feel responsible.
Even if logic tells me that it isn't my fault.



If the dog has serious problems your mentoring job will be to help them
find a good trainer who helps with those sorts of things. Mentoring
doesnt' mean "solely responsible for".

--
BethF, Anchorage, AK

It's YOUR God.
They are YOUR rules.
YOU burn in hell.
  #9  
Old September 5th 03, 03:05 AM
Tara O.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Keep one thing in mind *all the time* and that is the simple fact that you
can't make people follow your advice. You can give it, they can say they'll
follow it, they can say they understand and so on but whether they do or not
is something else entirely. Sometimes people have already made up their
minds that its not going to work and they only consult someone else to ease
their own conscience before getting rid of the dog.

I've had dogs come back from adoption for absolutely STUPID reasons. I told
the adopters what to do, I told them how to do it and for how long. I told
them what to look for in terms of progress and what to watch for in terms of
red flags. They *said* they'd try "because we really want this to work" but
the simple truth is that they never did. They only wanted to make
themselves feel better for when they call me 1-2 weeks later at 10pm and
tell me the dog needs to go back to rescue in the morning. I'm talking
things like whining in the crate (in a new adoptive home), being a tad bit
mouthy when excited, having accidents in the house when no one is home yet
the people won't utilize a crate, etc. Nothing major, nothing that can't
easily be fixed, no reason to give a dog away for yet its done and with
relative ease.

--
Tara


  #10  
Old September 5th 03, 03:05 AM
Tara O.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Keep one thing in mind *all the time* and that is the simple fact that you
can't make people follow your advice. You can give it, they can say they'll
follow it, they can say they understand and so on but whether they do or not
is something else entirely. Sometimes people have already made up their
minds that its not going to work and they only consult someone else to ease
their own conscience before getting rid of the dog.

I've had dogs come back from adoption for absolutely STUPID reasons. I told
the adopters what to do, I told them how to do it and for how long. I told
them what to look for in terms of progress and what to watch for in terms of
red flags. They *said* they'd try "because we really want this to work" but
the simple truth is that they never did. They only wanted to make
themselves feel better for when they call me 1-2 weeks later at 10pm and
tell me the dog needs to go back to rescue in the morning. I'm talking
things like whining in the crate (in a new adoptive home), being a tad bit
mouthy when excited, having accidents in the house when no one is home yet
the people won't utilize a crate, etc. Nothing major, nothing that can't
easily be fixed, no reason to give a dog away for yet its done and with
relative ease.

--
Tara


 




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