Washington Post - Friday, June 22, 2007; D02
Polite Paws
Career going to the dogs? That's the way it is for Janet Sidebottom and other dog trainers, who work with pets and their owners to teach good manners and how to hang out in a coffee shop or crowded downtown street.
Sidebottom, owner of the Potomac Dog School, has dogs with her every day, not just on Take Your Dog to Work Day, which is today. She said she sees about eight dogs a day (plus her two pooches, Keeper and Romeo). She trains 150 dogs a year in one-on-one sessions.
She's been training them full-time since 2001; before that she ran a kennel and also did breeding and grooming.
"The real world is a training room," she said, and clients choose where to meet for lessons. Popular places are downtown Bethesda on a Saturday morning or along the C&O Canal, so dogs learn to handle lots of people and wildlife. Often they start at a java joint to teach the pet how to wait patiently during a coffee chat.
"There's so much of my job that I love," she said, especially watching the dog "develop and grow. . . . I get them ready for the real world."
She can think of only one thing she doesn't like about her work -- the dirty job of "scoop and poop."
-- Vickie Elmer |
