Apprentice-contract

My wife has been in pet care for about 5 years now, she bathes dogs, trims nails, things of this nature, and really enjoys it. She has worked for a couple different outfits now, the first one being a mom and pops shop that she enjoyed, then a corporate out fit where management was ignorant. Now she is concentrating on earning her GED so she can start grooming school. A woman at a local shop offered her a job the other day, told her she would teach her to groom but will not pay her for her time learning cause she would have to pay for grooming school anyhow, that I can somewhat understand. Then she told her that she would not train her competition so she would have to sign a contract that states she will not groom dogs within 25 miles of her shop if she trains her, ever! What my wife thought was an opportunity has probably already gone sour. Here is my question, if this lady teaches my wife to groom can she really make sure she can't ever groom around here again if they have a falling out? Then she tells her she will be paying her as a sub contractor so she has to worry about her own books and accounting. The lady sounds like she is a little nuts to me. By the way, we are in central Illinois.