A Career as a Conservation Canine Handler: Part 2, Do You Have What it Takes?

March 9, 2016Posted inAll articles, Career options, Experts & interviews, Featured articles2 Comments

Dog in field - Interview with Jennifer Hartman of Conservation Canines CK9 dog handler

By Paula Fitzsimmons with Jennifer Hartman

Conservation canines and their handlers are playing a vital role in wildlife protection. Dogs have an unrivaled ability to detect scat from dozens of species – scientists use these samples to learn more about a wild population’s behaviors, movements, and feeding patterns.  This data is valuable not only in fighting wildlife crimes, but it can aid in forming effective and humane wildlife management policies.

The dogs, who primarily come from rescues, have to possess certain characteristics to make the cut – namely, a playful spirit, boundless energy, and the ability to work in the field for hours at a time.

Wildlife Defenders: A Career as a Conservation Canine Handler (Part 1)

March 2, 2016Posted inAll articles, Career options, Experts & interviews, Featured articles

Wildlife defenders - career as conservation canine CK9 handler

By Paula Fitzsimmons with Jennifer Hartman

With wildlife poaching at epidemic levels and time the enemy, fighting these crimes has never been as critical. Conservationists fortunately have effective tools at their disposable, most of them technological in nature – DNA analyses, acoustic traps, and radio collars, to name a few. But one tool, which some conservationists claim is even more effective, turns out to be our four-legged canine friends.

Want to Start a Solo Dog Walking Business? First Ask Yourself These 9 Questions

December 26, 2015Posted inAll articles, Career options, Featured articles1 Comment

Dog DogwalkingBy Paula Fitzsimmons

Find a few clients, offer to walk their dogs, get some exercise, then get paid. If only starting and running a dog walking business were that simple. And that’s what we’re talking about here: a business. An enjoyable and important business perhaps, but still a business – one in which you have to be as concerned with customer service, accounting, marketing, and local ordinances, as you are with providing excellent care to dogs.

That said, even though dog walking is a business, the welfare of the animal should always come before profit.

When starting any new venture, it’s easy to get swept away with the possibilities, that you may overlook the finer details. That’s what I’m here for – to tell you about those important factors that you shouldn’t overlook.