firstly my apologies for cross posting some of the background in another thread.
i would absolutely love to hear from anyone who has any ideas on places or organisations anywhere in the world who would take in a green recruit like myself who has basic k9 sar/usar experience and is wanting to make a life career out of workin with dogs making a difference in peoples lives but doesnt have documented professional experience to date.
i have a couple of excellent mals and i have been wanting to get out of the technology business and take on a dog handling career where i can work with dogs every day making a difference but alas ive been looking for a number of years and i am no closer to finding that. im starting to get to the point of wondering if im ever going to be able to fulfil my life dream of being an active professional handler.
unfortunately for me it seems in my country there is no way to gain professional experience unless you join the air force and stand in front of a hangar for years and then cross over. thus, there is no way to get a job in police, customs, arson, quarantine etc because the jobs go to those guys who have been standing in front of a hangar with a dog over someone with no experience at all. i think the fact australia is pretty safe and an island contributes to the fact there just arent any new handler recruit positions that open up. there isnt the demand and the churn rate for new handlers found in other countries.
so i am at my wits end and am now looking overseas to build up my people contacts and ideas of places in the world that are looking for handler recruits that would allow me to go there and rapidly build up a wealth of on the job experience (eg israel) and then i can return and get a semi regular job working with a dog in an airport for customs.
the other option also is travelling to the usa and doing some courses to try and put myself ahead of the pack but unless i have a professional role to return to those skills could stagnate. i see courses as complementing existing professional experience and a good way to get an edge if you already have that experience but it cant substitute for said experience.
so if you have any ideas of places in the world that are itching for new k9 handler recruits, i would be forever grateful.
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