I've been hard at work training my dog training clients, but also on my new business, Canine Trade Group. (www.CanineTradeGroup.com)
Canine Trade Group is a vocational school for those who are interested in becoming professional dog trainers. I've received a lot of inquiries from all over the United States and even Canada, and have talked with dozens of aspiring dog trainers.
Often I'm asked about becoming "Certified" as a trainer, or whether I offer a certification. The fact of the matter is that there really is not a universally recognized certifying body for dog trainers, as it's largely an un-regulated, or self-regulated field. A few professional organizations offer certification. The International Association of Canine Professionals is one of them, and The Association of Pet Dog Trainers is another.
I'm a member of both groups, and in one's monthly newsletter, a trainer in Chicago named Ruth Crisler wrote a great article on her experience taking a certification exam, and as a certified trainer. With her permission, I'm going to repost it here:
My Life as a CPDT (Certified Pet Dog Trainer)
I sat for the CPDT exam at Chicago's Midway airport, in the back room of a flight school on the periphery of the tarmac. It was an appropriate venue for an event midway between a milestone and a lark. On the one hand, I was anxious to put my knowledge of dog training to the proverbial test. On the other, the CPDT exam, being merely a 250 question multiple-choice test, seemed unlikely to do so.
Standardized tests don't intimidate me, so I wasn't too worried, despite having passed on the recommended boatload of study material in favor of banking on whatever knowledge I'd managed to naturally accrue over ten years of training dogs professionally. Figuring I'd be okay if I could just keep my Skinnerian quadrants straight, I decided the most critical preparation would be to order an extra-large coffee en route to the testing center.
It turned out the coffee was key, as was remembering my quadrants. And so it came to pass, after three mind-numbing hours answering questions ranging from the identification of parasites to the distinction between operant and classical conditioning, that I became a Certified Pet Dog Trainer. The title has since been modified, somewhat annoyingly, to Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA). Those last two letters were added in anticipation of an as-yet-undeveloped skills test.
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For anyone not obsessed with the history of dog trainer certification programs, the original CPDT exam was created in 2001 by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, but is currently governed by a separate institution, the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers. Its mission statement reads as follows:
The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) serves to establish and maintain recognized standards of competence in dog training by certifying trainers through criteria based on experience, standardized testing, and continuing education, and identifies those individuals to the dog owning public.
I am in favor of establishing and maintaining standards. I would even argue that voluntary certification within an unregulated field plays an important role in promoting sorely-needed standards of knowledge, skill, and professionalism.
That said, the CPDT-KA is pretty far from representing a gold standard of competence in dog training.
Its most obvious deficit, of course, is its failure to test actual skill, of which the ability to answer multiple-choice questions correctly is at best a very poor indicator. I do think there is room for programs that seek merely to verify knowledge in a certain area or of a certain ilk. But such programs need to be honest regarding their mission and scope.
Taking the CPDT exam, I did not feel that the knowledge that distinguishes me as a trainer was put to the test, so much as my familiarity with a specific methodology and the somewhat academic terms used to describe it.
I was also struck by the exam's clear bias in favor of trainers with an academic background in animal behavior (or at least the patience to wade through the recommended study materials). I have a healthy regard for academic achievement and learning generally, but my familiarity with terms like neoteny (this word appeared in two separate questions on the exam) has frankly never informed my approach to training a dog.
It has been three years now since I sat for the CPDT exam, and I have until December 31st to decide whether to renew my certification. I've earned the requisite 36 CEUs, through attending seminars and workshops, submitting original questions for inclusion in future CPDT-KA exams, and volunteering on an exam item review panel. I've in fact filled out the application, which sits in front of me on my desk.
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When I originally became certified, I signed onto the email list exclusive to certificants. For months, I regaled my husband with bemused accounts of the near-religious fervor for "science-based" training that seemed to infect so many of the posts to that forum. I marveled at the degree of unbridled antagonism toward any tool, technique, or principle deemed merely traditional or results-oriented, as if longevity and effectiveness (at least when revealed empirically) were insurmountable stigma.
I began posting with trepidation. And a funny thing happened. I encountered many smart, skilled, and dedicated trainers who were as anxious as I was to lay down politics in favor of an open and collegial discussion of tools, methods, and dog training. I have come to value that opportunity and those relationships enormously, along with the certification that led me to them.
Late last year, the CCPDT issued a controversial policy statement, to which many of us objected. Shortly afterward, the Certification Council banned all discussion of CCPDT policy on the CPDT list.
The new Policy on Training and Behavior Practices is intended to "clarify for dog owners and dog care professionals those practices in which a CCPDT certificant may not engage." It confidently asserts that the practices outlined "can in no way be considered humane or sound by scientific standards," while conveniently citing no actual scientific foundation for such a claim.
Among the outlawed practices are a number of things that I could surely live without doing, like helicoptering a dog and strapping an electronic collar against a dog's genitals. But then we arrive at the following:
- Applying a collar that delivers an electrical stimulation to a dog (with the exception of a vibration collar that does not have an electronic shock component) without first attempting alternative intervention strategies, including, at a minimum, positive reinforcement of alternative behaviors, changes in antecedent stimuli, and either negative punishment, negative reinforcement, or extinction.
- Applying a collar that delivers an electrical stimulation to a dog under the age of one year, with the exception of a vibration collar that does not have an electronic shock component.
In order to apply for recertification, I would need to affirm my understanding of and intent to comply fully with the above. Instead, I will write a letter to the CCPDT objecting to their policy on the basis that no science exists to demonstrate the claim that either of the above practices is in and of itself inhumane. I will include that letter with my application materials, along with an unsigned copy of their Code of Ethics.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the kennel, there is a lovely 6-month-old bully breed pup named Mila. She is enrolled in a board and train program. Her owner is a charming and intelligent woman, with unwavering commitment to Mila's welfare and training. She walked away from a contract with another trainer in search of someone who would take a gentler approach with her young dog, while also achieving solid results.
Mila began electronic collar work two days ago, following several weeks of foundation work. She will train up nicely. I will take pleasure in making it happen. And I will not miss the letters behind my name terribly much.
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A sample question from the CPDT-KA Handbook for Candidates:
5. When an unpleasant stimulus is removed following a response, which of the following is used?
1. Shaping
2. Negative punishment
3. Positive reinforcement
4. Negative reinforcement
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Ruth Crisler, CPDT-KA
Ruth Crisler has been working with dogs and horses in Chicago since 1991 and training dogs professionally in Chicago since 1998. She is the owner of See Spot Run Kennel, which celebrated 10 years in business earlier this year. She believes that the best tools a trainer can possess are experience and an open mind.
My thanks to Ruth for allowing me to repost her great article.
I took pictures one day of my clients and thought I'd share them here.







