Pass a multiple choice test, start seminars (not too choosey and will give credit), write articles, then write a book. It's a time tested formula, and the reason that many great dog trainers have left the APDT for something a bit more real and ethical.
When my wife started as a trainer, she felt this would be a non-political career LOL. Early on, it was realized that dog training is a career in marketing and politics. I give APDT kudos for coming through with a great marketing strategy, and a way to double speak while maintaining a goal and extremism consistently.
When someone who
blogs that they don't understand how dog training or didn't understand how dog training is part of the behavior modification puzzle, and they have give out seminars approved for APDT CEU's, that tells you the quality of those given the nod by the APDT. Who on one hand rails about tools and certain training methods as aversive, but then
suddenly understands what trainers who use the tools supposedly don't----that training is the ability to decrease either reward or correction in the ability to perform a command with distance, duration, and distraction.
No kidding? Why I never realized that....sigh. It's one thing to trap one's own dog into a state of fear. It's another to talk "professionally" and tell others that methods won't work for them. In that light, we will be thanking this particularly trainer for their contributions to Mannerly Mutts favorite charities in a few months. It's frightening however how this very misunderstood information has been doled out to others under the umbrella of certification, especially of this organization, just my honest opinion here.
Someday it is our hope that results in standardized performance tests will be required to be a licensed dog trainer. Hopefully the organizations that we value (IACP and NADOI) will also support such legislation when the day comes. My wife will be submitting her case study certification soon to the IACP, and agrees it has only been her fault that it has not been done. However, we value the time and referrals that the IACP requires before certification can even be taken. A panel of judges scores not the multiple choice questions, but the results of the case studies documented in both material presented to the clients, but also what the actual clients have to say:) These are exciting times coming up.
Maine and New Hampshire Dog Trainers
Mannerly Mutts Blog
