Can volunteering at an animal shelter open the door for paid careers such as becoming a dog trainer?

A: Is this a realistic idea?

Yeah it is.You want to be a dog trainer and you are trying to get experience.

B: If so how long would it be before I've acquired enough experience that I should start looking for a paid job?

It all depends on how fast you learn,and how long you do the job.For me it took around 6 months for me to fully be able to train a dog the basic commands because my parents know how to train dogs.

C: How would I go about making the transition, would I need to apply someplace else or can a volunteer get promoted to a paid position.

I'm not really sure i think you might need to apply with enough experience.What i do is do jobs on the side tell your friends if they know anyone in need of training a dog.Little by little you should look into jobs.Petsmart,shelters,petco..etc.

D: What are some positions that I would be qualified for?

With training dogs? Basicaly just dog trainer unless you try groomer or anything else.

E: Any other suggestions?

Just don't give up it can be tough at times.Specially the little dogs they take longer to learn in general but don't give up the result is worth it.

DOg training can go very wrong very quickly, and is never something you should say you do, unless you have some real training and credentials - such as having put obedience titles on some dogs of your own. That's hard work, and very complicated.

Experience handling dogs can be useful just in general in terms of experience, but there are no fabulous careers that await you at a shelter. If you wanted to start there, and once you have the knack, start walking dogs for pay, that would be reasonable - but make sure you have professional business insurance first - thats around $500 per year, and incorporate if you own anything of value. You can be sued for more things than you realize, and accidents do happen.