by Christine Hibbard, Seattle dog trainer and owner of Companion Animal Solutions, which offers animal behavior training
In my previous post about choosing an animal behavior specialist, we discussed the important things to consider and questions to ask of any animal behavior consultant you might be considering hiring. Now that we’ve discussed what you should look for in an animal behavior consultant, let’s try to make some sense out of the alphabet soup of qualifications and credentials.
Veterinary Behaviorist
Board certified Veterinary Behaviorists are required to have a veterinary degree and complete two additional years of coursework. They are also required to complete a hands-on internship with an existing board-certified veterinary behaviorist. There are about 40-45 ACVB certified vets in the United States right now. If you’d like to find one, check out the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists:
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist
The second form of qualification is certification by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS). ABS provides for two levels of certification: Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (ACAAB) which requires a Master’s degree in an appropriate field, several years of practical internship experience, and evidence of professional activity (research or instruction), and full Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB), which is similar but requires a PhD in an appropriate field (generally Biology or Zoology). There are also about 40-45 certified applied animal behaviorists in the US and Canada at this time. Dr. Jim Ha at Companion Animal Solutions is a full Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. If you’d like to find a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist outside of the Seattle, Washington area, you can search the ABS Directory.
Certified Training Counselor
A relatively new program through the San Francisco SPCA is producing some very well-trained and qualified specialists, individuals who are not at the ACVB and CAAB level but who are well-prepared if one of these experts are not available. This is a six-week program on-site in San Francisco, which leads to a Certificate in Training and Counseling (CTC) certification: one well-known behaviorist has referred to this program as the “Harvard University” of dog trainer programs. The graduates of this program are “the next best thing” to ACVB and CAAB-certified professionals. Christine Hibbard at Companion Animal Solutions has earned this certification with honors. If you’d like to search for a dog trainer with a CTC certification outside of the Seattle, Washington area, try the SF SPCA Academy Referral Database: http://www.sfspca.org/academy/referral.shtml.
Animal Behavior Consultants
The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants issues the Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) credential. Greta Kaplan at Companion Animal Solutions in Portland, Oregon has earned this credential. The IAABC also certifies cat (CCBC), horse (CHBC) and parrot (CPBC) consultants; individuals with multiple species certifications are Certified Animal Behavior Consultants (CABC). To earn this credential, consultants must demonstrate a substantial amount of hands-on behavior consulting practice as well as learning in five core competencies. Counseling of owners as well as animal behavior and learning is emphasized. To find a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant outside of the Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon area, visit:
Certified Pet Dog Trainer
Finally, there is a certification program for dog trainers to become a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT). This is a less rigorous program that emphasizes qualifications for basic dog training but does not require extensive knowledge, training or experience in dealing with specific behavior issues. A CPDT qualified trainer can help you with basic obedience issues, or to help provide stimulation through training like fly-ball or agility training.
Hopefully, this review of credentials helps you to choose a qualified professional to help you solve a serious behavior issue with your companion animal, whether it is a dog, a cat, a parrot, or something even more exotic. If you have questions or would like to speak with someone directly, contact me at info@companionanimalsolutions.com or give us a call at 206-953-0703. In future posts, I’ll be discussing how to pick an appropriate dog for your family, tips for training your dog, cat, or bird, and what to look for when choosing a dog training class.
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