Decoding Behavior Certifications - MMBC

hello I'm Dr Sheila serson director of shelter Solutions at mattye funds welcome to Matty's monthly Behavior connection a monthly webcast where we learn about topics of interest to those

of us who are interested in animal behavior whether it's providing support to keeping pets in homes or supporting pets while in shelter or foster care Our

Guest today is Doc basley do basley is the executive director for the International Association of animal behavior Consultants or

iaabc she holds a master degree in animal behavior from tus University is a certified dog behavior consultant certified cat behavior consultant and

certified shelter Behavior specialist that's a lot of initials and why you are so appropriate for today's talk um her career has included work in animal Shel

work with service dogs Consulting with private clients and work in veterinary clinics so really broad experience dot specializes in working with dogs and

cats exhibiting significant behavioral concerns including human directed aggression she also provides consultations to shelters across the country where she has evaluated dogs educated staff and volunteers and

continues to be recognized as a key leader in the animal welfare and shelter Behavior Community where she where she is sought out for her expertise

compassion and skill in leading efforts to change really excited to have her here today where to she will be talking to us about decoding Behavior

certifications welcome dot thank you all right we'll get started I will share my screen can we can everybody see the

presentation yes that looks perfect perfect all right so welcome and thank you for having me I'm really excited this is um a topic I am somewhat

passionate about uh Behavior certifications uh it is you know alphabet soup out there and there's tons and tons of letters so hopefully we

can learn a little bit about what those certifications mean and how to navigate the behavior and training uh field so we'll get started a little bit of

background in this industry right animal behavior and training is an unregulated profession so there is absolutely no

clear educational path I folks approach me all of the time how do I get to where you are how do I do what I what you do and everybody I know in this industry

started out somewhere different and and their educational path has been very very varied um there's also no clear

career path um how do you get from from a novice trainer to a trainer to a behavior consultant and all of those things um there's no way one way to do

that there's no clear um way to do that there's also the available education is extremely inconsistent there is you can learn how

to be a dog trainer in so many different ways with so many different varied um theories and Concepts that it really is

extremely confusing not only to the dog owning public but shelters and rescues and people looking to hire professionals or to work with professionals you don't

really know what to what to look for in a professional there's also extremely minimal business requirements um typically a business requirement is just

the state or the county or the the city that you live in um and there's zero requirements for license or certification to practice as a behavior

professional what that means is is anybody can go into this profession hang up a shingle and call themselves a dog trainer and charge you for their

services and what you're getting charged for may be amazing or it may be actually extremely detrimental to you your animal and the relationship between you and

your animal so um what I want to start with is is thinking about what are some of the commonly used titles that people

will call themselves or call other uh trainers right what is a dog trainer versus a behavior consultant right a dog

trainer may or may not be certified you also see a lot obedience or K9 trainer I always am very cautious whenever I see the

K-9 um because that typically indicates a certain set of philosophies um but again that has no indication of certification right

certified dog trainer May probably means that they do hold some level of some certification but it doesn't tell you what that certification represents means

about their practices their approach or the techniques that they are willing to use a behavior consultant oh sorry um a behavior consultant is what I

refer to myself as because I am a certified Behavior consultant through the iabc um typically Behavior Consultants

work complex cases we're dealing with aggression anxiety those types of issues one of the most common labels

that you hear which makes a lot of us in the industry cringe is behaviorist right uh that is technically somebody who holds a Masters or a PhD uh and is C

certified through um the animal behavior Society uh with a cab or caab that is in this country alone that there's a

different cab certification in the UK um there's also the VTS or the veterinary technician specialist which is a Vette

Tech who is certified specifically in Behavior Uh there's not a lot of them out there but the ones that are out there are pretty amazing um so if you don't know any vtss go find them they're

awesome people and then of course there's also the veterinary behaviorist who is diplomatt a a DVM that is diplomatt um means that they have taken

extra certifications and extra boards to uh have the veterinary behaviorist label they're more than a veterinarian they're specialized

veterinarian um and they're more than a veterinarian with an interest in behavior and there's a lot of those out there as well and they can be some amazing amazing people but they don't

get to use the label of uh the The Diplomatic label of of VB because they haven't passed that board certification yet Shea can tell you all about that at

some point it's a very challenging uh set of tests to pass so there's also a lot of labels out

there not just what we call ourselves by what what is it that we are labeling ourselves as professionally but what are the words that you hear a lot when

people talk about how their they teach or what their approach is to animal training and behavior right so you hear

a lot about Force free or balanced science based positive reinforcement based compulsion and obedience what do

those things mean really right and there's also a spectrum within each one of those labels right for free typically

means that I am going to do everything I can to avoid using any type of aversive stimulus in my training and behavior

interventions uh balanced trainer is somebody who's willing to use some some level of aversive stimuli but also will

use food re uh reinforcers or other types of reinforcement as well play quite often um science based is a really tricky one these days

because everybody claims to be science-based because a lot of people are interpreting the science the way they want to and not

actually understanding what the science really actually says um positive reinforcement typically means somebody who's going to use positive

reinforcement as their first line intervention and then there's probably some room for other things after that

um negative reinforcement and going all the way down until you get into the use of punishment um most positive reinforcement trainers are going to

avoid that Force free trainers are definitely going to avoid that um compulsion uh that is sort of what I refer to as the traditional old school

no food know anything you're just going to force the animal into um doing something um I was actually explaining this to the shelter

staff that I work with the other day about compulsion trainer teaching a down where they put the foot their foot on the leash and then they pull the leash up so the dog is forced to lay down as

the leash comes up there's and then the pressure on the leash is released once the dog is laying down it's a really old technique U but you still see it being used sometimes and then of course

obedience training um you hear that a lot uh and that is very much also a I would say a colored word

something that is um you have to be careful when when you're looking at that most folks who are in the positive reinforcement or Force free uh community

no longer refer to obedience as as a um as a thing so they're just labeles we hear them all the time but those are the things that we really want to start to

pay attention to and understand what that might mean about the trainer or behavior consultant's approach to intervention and behavior

change so let's operationalize those labels a little bit right so traditional training methods U such as compulsion and

obedience um and a lot of the that is suppresses undesired Behavior right so what you do is when the dog is doing something or the animal is doing something that you do not like you

punish that and you talk about reducing that Behavior Uh whereas as balanced trainers are a combination of suppression and

reinforcement where they're um going to use some of the sort of more traditional techniques but then we'll also use um

reinforcements such as food or play to build behaviors that they like um and then positive reinforce ment methods or Force free methods or science-based

methods really focuses on rewarding desired behavior and replacing undesired behaviors so instead of saying no don't do that I want you to do this this is

how you win do this instead and if anybody has any questions about where I lie definitely in the bottom category there I um focus on rewarding desired

behaviors and replacing undesired behaviors so that's my bias just as we walk forward uh behavior and training really

is an art and a science right um it is something that requires a lot of book knowledge um but it also requires the ability

to gather um Hands-On skills and so when we are learning and going through the process of developing those skills

we want to focus on how to implement that Art and Science into uh effective Behavior change

there's a lot of controversy out there over what are Humane ethical and effective methods for training and behavior change um you know a few years

ago there was a a certain Gentleman on TV who definitely espoused what I would refer to as unethical uh and uneffective

methods that were inhumane um so we want to start to really understand what that sorry what

that means and what we're looking for I will mention that right now the joint standards of practice which represents one of the only open

consensuses consensus across organizations within the behavior and training World which represents the uh International Association of animal behavior consultants and the iabc

foundation assistance Dogs International or I uh ADI the American pet dog trainer Association apdt the certification Council for pet dog trainers Gia Stewart

Academy and the Karen prior Academy we are all signatories to the Joint standards of practice which currently represents one of the only consensuses

on standards of practice and approach to to behavior and training but uh again my bias and what I truly truly believe is that the scientific literature is clear the use

of aversive tools and interventions decreases the animals welfare and the Animals well-being um and so we are advocates

for those methods that do not intentionally employ the use of fear intimidation pain or

stress so that brings us into the ethics of behavior and training each level each label sorry will have a variation in the

level of aversive stimuli used um but your certifications your associations your

memberships uh will give some level of indication on how that practitioner makes decisions on how and when to use

tools which tools to use which techniques to use and what other interventions they are to employ um so some

examples the sort of standards of practice or U higher level um intervention processes are the hierarchy of behavior change procedures the

hierarchy of dog needs the evero controversial Lima and uh the more recently Rel uh released public on life I'm going to go through a few of

these not all of them but I want to start with the hierarchy of behavior change procedures which most people commonly refer to as the Humane

hierarchy coined by Susan fredman where we focus first On Wellness nutrition and physical health before we do anything to

intervene intervene in the animals Behavior so then we look at antecedent Arrangements which really means what we're looking to do is control and

manage the environment so that we can control exposed exposure to stressors and um triggers and other types of stimuli so can we address the behavior

through and rearrangement of the animals environment then we focus on the use of positive reinforcement then we move into differential reinforcement of

alternative behaviors which is a lot of fancy words for do this not instead reinforcing all of that um then we get

into Extinction negative reinforcement and negative punishment we only use these if everything else in the hierarchy above that has been fully

exhausted and then we move to positive punishment which means adding a stimuli that is intended to decrease the likelihood of that behavior being

repeated in the future which typically is aversive stimuli to the animal which means that you are adding a stimulus that suppresses or stops or reduces the

behavior you can think of that in the uh the shock collars the choke chains the pinch cers yelling screaming throwing things those are all positive punishment

um so where you fall in the Spectrum as a practitioner I fall in the never ever used positive punishment if

intentionally um so that is one representation the Humane hierarchy the hierarchy of Behavioral change procedures as Susan would prefer

me to call it um would is one approach in methodology um that a lot of the more

force-free and re reinforcement based science-based practitioners will will refer to and and employ as they address Behavior

another one is the least intrusive minimally aversive Lima which is um

a label and approach that uh iabc and the joint standards of practice have been reli for a very long period of time

it was originally written by Stephen R Lindsay um I believe in 2002 um where it is it is competence

based which means that to be a true Lima practitioner you have to be um extremely confident in a bunch of different areas

uh of behavior and change this original version had no consideration for learner Choice which means allowing the animal

to engage or make decisions or show the trainer um what they prefer to do it also uh overtly said that aversive procedures are

necessary um um definitely disagree with that but that's what it says it defines training as a pathway to humans and dog

relationship and dogs quality of life um it has this really interesting name

called cais which are cacticalmain [Music] Le amount of force possible to get the

the needed result so that is how what limo was originally published as back in 2002

about a decade later the iabc came along and said this is a really cool concept can we um make it a little bit better or a lot bit better so we stuck with the

confidence base Competency Based U approach uh but it really focuses on the use of positive reinforcement and understanding the learner you hear this

from me every single time any people hear this from me all the time some my staff sometimes rolls their eyes at me training and behavior is an N of one

you need to know your learner right so you have to understand what is repetitive or what that animal likes and what is aversive or what that animal

likes to avoid right so you have to understand your learner it is a system atic problem solving and Str uh and provid strategies with the help of the

hierarchy to behavioral change procedures that is the systematic approach that a Lima based trainer should use it prevents

abuse um by the avoidance of um negative reinforcement posit or positive punishment and um negative punishment

and it really focuses on providing choice and control for the learner um so

that is uh up until this year U how iabc has defined our practices and what we expect out of our practitioners especially our certified

practitioners um Dr Eddie Fernandez um published a paper called

life and pointed out the multiple interpretations of Lima and so he is a proponent for

um uh the least inhibitive functionally effective approach to training uh which increases meaningful choices for the

learner um all of those choices lead to uh through positive reinforcement right and identifying behavioral functions why

is the animal doing this Behavior how do what what is the function for the animal if I identify that and I can incorporate different plans and approaches to get

the animal to behave differently to meet the same function right so if I am afraid of that person and I want them to go away and i bark and bark and bark and

bark at them then as a practitioner I can step in identify that that person is scary so how do I teach the dog other behaviors to increase that

distance from that person and learn how to build trust with novel or unfamiliar humans that goes through a lot of collecting a data based on observations

and changing your plan and making sure that you're identifying what is functional um and then it maximizing

training success which maximizes the animals welfare so Effectiveness is only one component of success impact of the training on welfare is also important uh

we also want to consider other welfare impacts such as uh the context of the behavior and the animal human interactions uh and training success

includes positive welfare during and after training sessions so he published that

2023 and sort of put a revolution into the dog training world so that means that there are coming changes in a lot

of the um larger associations and certifying bodies um where we are updating the joint standards of practice

or the jop which is those organizations with the consensus on what is Humane and effective training methods so you will

see sometime in 2025 hopefully fairly soon a release of an update on the standards of practice you'll also see new standards of practice being released

by The International Association of animal behavior Consultants or the iabc who is also a member of The Joint standards of practice but we will take

the standard and elevate it for ourselves and this is going to focus on welfare and well-being of the animal and again uh really focus on the

intervention is as important as the outcome which means the end in no way justifies the means when it comes to

training and behavior change so why do certifications matter we take all of that background information and we look at that gobbly G

and we say okay what does that mean who do I look to what do I look for what as a as a practitioner who do I

associate with um who do I join who do I support who do I not support So certifications really do give the consumer or hiring manager a glimpse

into the practitioners methods and methodologies but each organization has its own standards of practice which includes ethics for most of those organizations what is their ethical

approach it is still important to investigate the individual uh the trainer or if it's somebody that you're looking to Mentor with or if it's somebody you're looking

to hire or if it's somebody for yourself what are you what are you putting out as a practitioner on in your social media on your websites all of that kind of information because people will take a

glance at a certification and make some assumptions right and it but it also shows a level of commitment to standards right higher standards in the industry

which is desperately needed in an unregulated profession and it helps build the Public's trust so they understand because there's so much

conflicting information out there about how to address Behavior Uh problems challenges and training in your dogs cats

horses uh and birds and any other companion an animal you may have and help the certifications actually are something that will hopefully help the

industry build towards regulation and uh and lure at some point in the distant not hopefully not too too distant future

future so there are multiple types of certifications um these are sort of some quick labels that we want to think about memberships really aren't a

certification but you will look at people's websites and they will uh tout their memberships as as a certification um so you have to be

careful when you're looking at that kind of information or presenting that information to the public that you're not representing your your memberships as a

certification there are also first party certifications second party and thirdparty certifications and we are going to go

through each one of those now starting with memberships I'm sorry I always have to slip in a photo of my dogs in every presentation I do so you get to stare at

pork chop and Angus being ever so lovely cute membership really means that you belong to an an organization or an association right and so some associations such as apdt the

association of pet dog trainers they do not offer any level of certification they do have different levels of membership but that is not a

certification they focus on education uh and providing education to uh the dog training Community

iabc my organization has both supporting and certified members so we have members that are not certified through iabc so if somebody is a member they have signed

on to our code of ethics and our standards of practice but they haven't been tested um to to show their level of um

knowledge and skill yet uh they may have other certifications and still be a supporting member uh the International Association of K9 professionals the iacp

also has supporting and certified members I've spent a bit of time looking trying to figure out how they

have certified members and I can't quite figure out what their certification process is um so I'm going to say that they probably have um probably first or

second party certifications for their certified members um and then there's the N National Association of dog obedience

instru structors are NY uh which also has supporting and certified members and again I couldn't quite um and I asked um

some pre uh previous members what their certification process is and wasn't able to really narrow that down too well so

you just want to make sure the point here is just making sure that we don't equate membership in an organization with a credential or a certification

so then we we want to look at first party certifications which really means that it's a completion of a seminar course or other learning opportunity and you get a certificate at the end saying

that you learned this information there's no testing of your skills in knowledge um they're not very common but

I do see quite often folks on their websites or in their social media say oh I achieved a certification this weekend

by attending this webinar and it's not actually a certification it is attendance and um a certificate of completion really not very common but

you do see it then there are second party certifications these are probably the most um prolific within the industry and

this is where we get into the really deep alphabet soup right because we have multiple schools uh that

will teach you how to become a dog trainer or behavior consultant and so you have the Karen prior Academy when you finish the Karen

prior Academy they test you on what they've taught you and then you come become a CTP or a certified training

partner uh you can also do the family dog mediation through um Kim brophy's PR program legs so the program itself has

initials and then you're an lfdm which is a licensed family dog mediator so you go through their program and at the end they test you on the knowledge that they

have provided to you you also have the animal behavior college and ABCD which is animal behavior College's

certified dog trainer catch which is another uh C DT so if you finish the catch program you get those initials

after your name the Victoria Stillwell the academy for dog training uh which I believe is the Jean Donaldson U typically referred to as the Jean

Donaldson Academy Pat Miller school and then of course the International Association of K9 professionals which is also a CDT um the quality depends not

only on the knowledge acquired but the Hands-On skill honed typically through mentorship and I can tell you that mentorship is really the important part

um of all of these programs I think I've had staff and or mentees that went through most of them except for the iacp

the International Association of K9 professionals I have had a volunteer who um was on their staff actually at one

point um and what I would consider some of the lower level uh knowledge one of my greatest staff

members ever went through one of what what I would consider to be one of the lower level schools and she's amazing but that really is because she locked out on a really great mentor through

that program and her Mentor taught her a lot and then she came to me and she continued to learn right that is the important part to understand is is that

we are always learning even after we're certified so then there's also a bunch of specialized topics certifications

which most often are also second party certifications so if you can um join a gisha Stewart Academy and learn how to

do the behavioral adjustment training or B through her program and at the end you get tested and you become a CB A-

Ka um which is a certified bat um instructor knowledge assessed so you'll see a lot of folks with that out there another one which is

an amazing program Molina D de martinis um cessat which is a certified separation anxiety trainer um that's

actually one I haven't achieved yet but I I plan to as soon as I have a moment in my life um because I do work with a lot of separation anxiety cases

particularly in cats um so I do want to get that c that is the one certification I don't have that I want there's also the certified control

Unleashed instructor the ccui um that's another one that's some really great stuff um they're the bucket

games and La lat lattes and there's all of these really great creative approach es to behavior change that you can learn

through the control Unleashed program um and they're the pretty pretty awesome actually uh and you can apply

them across species they're not just for dogs um I've seen uh control Unleashed instructors working with cats and horses and all of that stuff so um really really really powerful

stuff uh then there's the National Association of obedience instructors you can get an ad certification um if you look at their

website the first thing that is on their website is is that they do not restrict the use of any tools or techniques or approaches um

so and the word obedience indicates to us that they're looking for compliance from the animal so that is one that I would be very cautious of myself um and

then there's also the fear-free animal trainer or the C sorry the ffcp which is fear-free certified professional they have multiple types of certifications but they do have

certifications specifically for dog trainers um then there's the low low stress handling which is something that I I um work a lot with and they

have multiple certifications available depending on your spe your approach are you the trainer the medical staff that kind of stuff um so low stress handling

is designed to work for animals in a medical setting um but has different applications as well and then you can get the cgc or the K9 good citizen

evaluator through the AKC um and then there's the K9 newswork instructors um fun stuff lot love that

stuff so much fun um and then you also can be a AKC um certified agility trainer as well

so all sorts of letters around very specific um techniques approaches and or

um methodologies right there so that th that wraps up on second party certifications we'll move to third party certifications which is

independent testing of Knowledge and Skills what this means is is that they do not provide the education to the

professional similar to other Industries like vetex or veterinarians Andor lawyers or doctors right when you finish your schooling you go to an independent

body that then tests your skills and knowledge and that you are then um certified in that uh particular area of the

profession so there are uh the two most common um available dog trainer and behavior consultant certifications out there are the

International Association of animal behavior consultants and the certification Council for pet dog trainers both of which have dog trainer and dog behavior consultant

certifications so that brings us to what is the difference between a dog trainer and a behavior consultant trainers focus on developing new skills so Foundation

skills what is maybe traditionally called obedience but we now refer to as cues sit down stay Touch look all of those good the excessively important

things quite often they also are sports trainers so you get the the nose work the scent work the agility the flyball

the um there's no end to the Dog Sports out there and I personally use Dog Sports in my aggression treatment plans all the time

and I don't teach Sports so I quite often am referring my clients out to a good agility instructor or a good NOS workk instructor or something else

depending on the dog's needs and they're also focus on socialization of younger animals which is critical I am one for always saying you

do not give the puppy kind kitten kindergartens to the brand new trainer the trainers who've been around doing this for a long time who know understand body language who can identify Behavior

concerns before they blow up those are the talented people who need to be working with your puppies and kittens and and fos I guess and horses the

babies um not not not a horse consultant um and then Behavior Consultants focus on changing emotional responses right so we're getting into the behavior

modification and really addressing things like aggression fear anxiety and phobias so getting into the the the

complicated more higher level risky stuff sometimes as well um I am famous for being saying every animal

needs enrichment some animals need training all training is enrichment but not all enrichment is training uh and some fewer animals need behavior

modification all behavior modification is training but not all training is behavior modification so as a really good behavior consultant you need to understand the difference between those

three things and how to employ them in your intervention plans so we'll start with the ccpdt and their um certifications that they have

available they have um a certification that was the first certification I ever achieved in this um industry which is this cpdt Ka or certified pet dog

trainer knowledge assessed I got that certification well before they offered any other certifications they now have the KSA which is Knowledge and Skills

assessed uh and then they also have the certified Behavior consultant K9 knowledge assessed available so those are three different certifications that

you can get through the certification Council for pet dog trainers um and which are one of the few third-party um

certifications so they do not provide you with uh any of the education they provide you with the assessment of your

skills and or your knowledge and in one case skills as well um so their exams T are all multiple choice exams the KSA or

this Knowledge and Skills assessed exam also includes video submission so that's how they assess your skill is by watching you train animals in

videos um their tests are um completed through testing centers and there's typically I believe two testing Windows

per year where you can sit for their exam uh and um achieve one of those three um certifications another the other third

party credential that we're going to talk about today is the those offered by the International Association of animal behavior Consultants or iabc the iabc is international it's in

the name um which means that our exams are available anywhere in the world if you have the internet you can take our exams and some of our exams are also

multilingual and available in uh English and Spanish we are also one of the few um organizations that represents other

species outside of dog so you can work with dog cat horse and parrot and we are the only available shelter Behavior certifications uh in on the market and

we have multiple membership types we have student membership we have supporting membership we have certified and organizational memberships available

as well so what does it take to become certified through the iabc first is you have to get to know our core

competencies which means you have to understand assessment skill what is you have to be very good at assessing an animals behavior um one of the things I

added here uh is the critical thinking part of this um how do you critically think through a problem and help an

animal and its caregivers achieve better um you also have to have knowledge and applic uh ability to apply learning theory um so a lot of those words that

we threw around earlier positive reinforcement positive punishment that's all learning theory right you also have to have specific knowledge about your

species understand the development the growth and um developmental stages of your species you also have to be very good at Consulting skills what is what

what are Consulting skills really that is a adult education you have to be able to teach other humans how to intervene with their animals and then of course

you have to have a deep knowledge of animal behavior um that's a lot of the the like applied behavior um analysis ab

and other types of psychology and things that apply to animal behavior there's also the biological sciences as that pertains to animal behavior and then of

course our ethics which is um available on our website um long and deep read for you but these are the core

competencies that we look for and test for in our certifications so if you if you don't have all of these skills and

sets then you you may not be ready for the certification process yet so when it comes to experience we

suggest certain levels of experience so for our trainer certification we expect suggest two years of experience training

dogs and about a hundred hours of Education uh for the behavior consultant is four years and 500 hours of experience and 400 hours of Education

which includes Hands-On mentorships um again this is suggest we don't check for that so if you pass and you don't have that good for you um our

testing is available at any time anywhere across the world you open an exam you have 60 days to write that exam uh we are very very sticklers for um the

plagiarism policy which also includes AI if you plagiarize or use artificial intelligence to write your exam you will not pass our exams the exams include endorsements so you have to get three

endorsements from other folks depending on the the certification itself will dictate what those endorsements are definitions is a section

scenarios we give you this animal is presenting with this problem what would you do and then case studies you you have to submit um case studies that you have worked through

completion to success and successful outcome once you finish your exam it then goes through a scoring process C you have to

score 80% or above in all sections in order to pass if you get a 75 in one section and a 90 and another it doesn't average out you have to get 80% in all

sections it is blind scoring by at least two scorers per application and we also check for adherence to our ethics and standards of practice if you don't meet

our ethics and standards of practice then you don't pass our exams um and then maintaining their certifications once you are certified

every three years you required 36 continuing education units to show that you are continuing your education in the behavior and training

field so the certifications that are available through iabc are trainer certification or accredited dog trainer iabc dadt also available in Spanish and then

we have our certified Consultants um certification dog cat heret and ecoin um so you see all those letters there more letters to throw into the

game um then every once in a while you'll see somebody who has a CABC which represents passing at least three if not

four of those other exams dog cat parrot nequin and then we also have certified shelter dog and certified shelter cat certifications

so shelter specific certifications is the shelter Behavior associate um which is a great uh entrylevel shelter certification for anybody looking to be certified in

Sheltering this certified shelter Behavior specialist dog CS b-d um or certified specialist cat and

for those of those few of us out there in this world who are csbs is which means that we are certified Behavior specialist for dog and cat so you've taken both of

those exams and passed them with a score of 80% or more in every section then you get to be a csbs and there's we're we're getting

more but there's lots out there so how do shelters benefit from certified Behavior professionals Behavior touches all aspects of shelter care right at intake

with the volunteers staff on onboarding and training the veterinary care every part of an animal stay in a shelter is the behavior program the behavior

professional has some level of skill and knowledge to add to to their stay to improve their outcomes and to get them to a positive outcome um positive reinforcement works

with people too Behavior change and interactions with humans I do lots and lots and lots of trainings for shelters on how do you use positive reinforcement with your people

uh it's important because they don't pay us a lot so they got to find other ways to keep us around um and iabc uh certified

professionals have demonstrated skill knowledge and skill in all aspects of an animal shelter stay so if you have a csb d or a csbc that is somebody who has

demonstrated the skills and knowledge to not only work in a shelter as a a behavior professional but to really lead a behavior program from soup to knots

intake to post adoption support so the take homes for today is that practitioners will all have a very

varied educational background there's no requirements to be certified to practice in the behavior and training field qualified professionals have a variety

of backgrounds and focuses so you have to as a hire hiring manager or a dog owner understand the ethics of your

practitioner look into it understand what they are willing to to use or what they're are going to use as tools techniques and interventions for you

your animal or the animals in your care um finding the right certification for you where you are in your career how do you navigate that if you want to be or

you are a practicing Behavior professional and um find the right Professionals for you or your organization and as that I will show you pork chop

who always wants to know if you have any questions all right thank you so much dot this was just an absolutely amazing presentation I know I'm going to be

sharing it so often and pork chop is just the cutest dog ever yes she is so we have a number of questions and

we'll get started with the first one excuse me and that is can you expand on specific research regarding the scientific literature and

aversives there's a lot out there um the the the what I typically ask of folks when they're they're referencing um

scientific literature is is to say okay what what is the focus of the the research what are they looking at right um if they're not looking at the animals

welfare in the research they're not looking at the animals wellbeing um there is a somewhat sort of famous study that was recently published that said that you know um shot cers

were more effective than positive reinforcement in this methodology if you go through that at what are they focus are they looking at the welfare of the

animal and then in the training intervention they're not at all um there there's also a lot to be said for their scientific method and the representation

of actual positive reinforcement they didn't apply positive reinforcement um so when you get deep into the literature you look at the literature that actually

looks at what is supporting an animal's welfare what is supporting an animal's well-being um the when using punishment

when using anything that causes fear stress or anxiety that has Fallout it may effectively change the behavior but it does not support the animals

well-being and help them become more confident trust in humans trust in their environment um and you will end up with

poisoned cues you'll end up with all sorts of things I mean I have a dog in the shelter right now you tell him down he growls at you my best guess is he

learned down in a very not positive way um and that may contribute to his inability to be

adopted thank you uh very good answer to that question I did add a list of references to the chat um

so uh next question is does understanding the learner and I feel like you answered this somewhat but does oh and Denise raised her hand so it

sounds like she wants to ask that question live Denise we will unmute you

so you can ask that question live just a second while we do that okay Denise you should be allowed

you should be able to talk are you there Denise we cannot hear you well we going we're going to I'll I guess I'll ask that question you can start asking it and maybe Denise you can

clarify in chat or if you can start talking great um and so this question is does understanding the learner include understanding the animals emotional state

yes it is understanding their emotional state their responses it reading their body language and interpreting what that body language indicates as to what is

repetitive or what is aversive to that individual thank you hopefully that answers that question hopefully so Denise and if um sorry we can't hear you

but if you have um anything else on that please enter in the chat um and Denise also asked there was a lot of appreciation for your comments about the

when you started talking about all animals need enrichment um it sounds like it's something that you say very um of so you went a little quickly through it can you say that again a little more

slowly oh yeah sorry I uh wasn't intending to actually put that into this talk but it's just something that falls out of my mouth whenever I'm talking all animals need

enrichment some animals need training most animals need training right all training is enriching and enrichment but

not all enrichment is training right a few animals need behavior modification not less animals need behavior

modification right all behavior modification is training but not all training is behavior modification right so if I'm teaching a new skill like sit

or look or touch that's training that's not behavior modification but when I use that look or I use that touch to help

refocus the animal during an event that is somewhat stressful then I'm applying it to a behavior modification technique right if I'm using it during my

desensitization protocols um then it that training now becomes behavior modification great thank you I I just love how you describe that that's

wonderful all right next is a more practical question and that is are there practice exams for iabc certifications not

yet um we are working on that we're thinking about it uh how to implement that but um how do and how to score it

right um because we do not offer a multiple choice exam uh so therefore um what we ask is a lot of written word and

a lot of um your experience which really does demonstrate your skills um so how to do that in practice without giving

away exactly what's on our exam um is a process that we're looking into currently all right uh next question I think is one

that um Everybody strugg well not everybody a lot of us struggle with and um it is this how do we get this message out to the public I work for a rescue

and we only use R plus certified trainers but our Fosters are always asking for people that are popular but use aversives on all dogs or recommending them to each other I explain one-on-one why we don't partner

with them but I guess I'm looking for a nice way to promote fear-free training without bad mouthing specific trainers or the people that use

them I and and iabc um and uh Melinda who's in the chat I can see her talking as my director of strategy we focus on the the the same

approach with humans as we do with animals what do do I want you to do what can I reinforce in you what can I tell you is the right way um so we talk about

uh a lot of the what does Fear do what does stress do right if you've ever lived through a

heavily stressful or heavily traumatic event what was the result on your body your your your your emotional state all of that um if you can understand it from

a personal level then you don't really need to focus on the like the the the negatives right you can just say this is why we do what we do and this is why we

believe what we believe and what we know to be true um and then somebody comes along and says oh do you use Jerome down

the street right and I say no I don't but this is what I do right so I don't focus on what he does wrong I focus on

what I want out of my trainers um and I I live uh now I recently moved to Maryland and I live in an area where I do not see a whole lot of positive

reinforcement trainers and my neighbors all have their dogs on shot collar prong collar you like all the the equipment that I just um don't

want um to see in my world and so instead of saying oh you shouldn't do that with your dog I just walk my dogs with trees and I have a leash

reactive mini pit and she walks down the street staring at Mommy where the cookies where's the cookies right past that dog on the shop collar right so I just demonstrate the the power of

positive reinforcement through my dogs and not focusing on how everybody's doing it wrong so hopefully so much that answers that question a little yeah I I

just think that's so so important and there's so much negativity between different methods and it's so important to practice what we preach and so thank you for that

answer we are at the top of the hour already and I just want to be uh thankful to everybody who um needs to leave thank you for joining us we are going to try to get to all of the

questions so if you do want to hang on please do otherwise you can listen to the recording for the rest of them all

right next one is do the shelter slides and certifications also Al apply to Fosters I've been fostering for a year and might be interested in some basic

certifications to help the the diverse needs of the different learner but I also work full-time in an unrelated

job um so our uh csbd and C certifications demonstrate skill and knowledge throughout the

entirety of an animal stay in a shelter so say as a foster probably not the the right certification what I would look

for maybe as this SBA which is the shelter Behavior affiliate or uh the dog trainer the ADT um because really being

in a foster home that's a little bit closer to um working with owned dogs and it doesn't necessarily address how do

you do an intake exam for an animal who's coming in who has an aggression history uh or how do you work with defensive handling for animals that are

aggressing at you in a shelter environment and other things that are involved in those those certifications great thank you uh next

question is whether there are scholarships for iabc for shelter volunteers um we have our

membership um does uh we have some we have Equitable pricing for certain areas of the world we have membership

assistance funds we have student memberships which is a discounted membership but we don't um have any type of scholarship at this point because scholarships really more are towards

education right so we leave that to the folks over at the iabc foundation which is our sister organization that provides

education great thank you I think this might be the last question unless we get any more and this question is a really good one is there a mentor

to help a dog trainer choose the certification course for them a mentor

um they I I I think that unfortunately it is it really is uh so unregulated and so just

almost a free-for-all that like you have to find the the folks in this industry the organizations the memberships and

the mentors that you um align with and can learn with um it it is it can be a challenge I mean this when I started [Music]

20 more than 20 years ago you know like I happened to luck out because the shelter I worked at hired a Ary

behaviorist right and I also had a really really messed up dog right he was a medical and behavioral nightmare so I teamed up with

the veterinary behaviorists to address my own dog's concerns and then learned a lot I just happened to look into that uh

and finding that can be a huge challenge um and that wasn't my first I mean that was my first Mentor but then

through that I then met another Mentor who I refer to as the one who taught me how to be a good dog trainer because she

taught me how to work with humans uh and how to be a compassionate person and empathetic person when

working with humans um and then you know I mean I I went through probably six different mentors before I became a

mentor myself so it can be um the yeah it could be hard but that's go ahead that's why mhip

in some organizations especially iabc you get that Community you build that community and then you have access to more people who can um who can help

Mentor you and help build your skills thanks and yeah that's what I was going to add is that I'd recommend you just reach out to people who seem like

people you'd like to ask what should I do I have people reaching out to me all the time do I'm sure you you do as well um and um find out what because

everybody is different and has different needs so talking to people and it may be someone you've never met before still reach out to them um because those of us

who love Behavior love to talk about it and don't reach out to just one person because you might reach out to me and I happen to be someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about at all and I'm

recommending horrible things so make sure you're reaching out to multiple people yeah and I mean even where I am now like I'm new to the area so I

straight up C called anybody on the internet that was a dog trainer that indicated that they are positive reinforcement and I was like let's be friends let's hang out how do we build

community how do you like I I am not taking a lot of cases so who do I refer to who do I send shelter adoptees to

that kind of stuff so um it can be daunting but you know you have to you have to be a people person to be successful in this

industry for sure all right um I think this oh gosh we might have um okay is in the certification

process is there any teaching on genetics biology and how the K9 evolved from the wolf and also H do you identify ancient

breeds um so there in the certification process there is uh some um questions around uh you know developmental stages

and addressing you know those kinds of things uh but as far as like the stuff that I like to really dark out on

because I have a degree in evolutionary biology um I I you know I just go back and read Raymond Ray Center's book once every three

years and like listen to anything that Catherine Laura has to say you know hang out with those people and listen and and learn that kind of stuff but is it

heavily involved in the certification process no all right thank you and we do we were almost done but then we had a couple um

one's coming at the last minute um what was the IAB uh C shelter cat certification what was that one called oh that's a CS

b-c thank you um where would the best education come from to pass the exam so where

should people go to study um one of the better courses out there is offered uh by our sister organization the principles and practice it's

it's uh principles and practice course is it's a deep dive into um some really really really good stuff um the again

the education is unregulated um there's it is very jumbled so you know um meet trainers get to know trainers understand

um learn where they received their education um and if it was good quality or not um and go from there

because there are plenty of I mean I I like to refer to my education um at least starting out was trial by fire you know it was like I'm in the

shelter and I gotta learn this stuff right quick um you know so I mean that was yeah there are and to to Kim's point

there there are more books on dog training out there than you can imagine um so and not all of them are good um but the iabc does have a reading list that I share quite recommended reading

list yes yeah recommended reading list which is a lot of books um there's a ton we've updated it recently so there's even more books on it now um and they

have what I requested of my team when we were comp compiling that list is is to look at each one of our core competencies so consult ing skills what

books are out there that are quality that we have reviewed that we have read that fit that core competency I hate to say it in the Consulting skills area

there ain't a whole lot of books out there but respa fleet's book is top not thank you all right finally the last question thank you dot for staying so

long and thank you everyone for hanging with us um is there a respected certification course or TI tile in the industry amongst trainers respected by

the quality of knowledge provided there's so many it's been hard to choose and put the funds and invest in the right one right uh there's I mean for

for a you know Force free positive reinforcement based um program there are a few out there um

there some are better than others um what you really really need to do is your research right um where are you starting number one uh if you're

starting out from scratch then catch or ABC or some of those online courses are a great place to start right um uh and I

mean I've like my my last shelter uh my coordinator went through one of the those online

schools and I was her mentor and she is amazing she's great amazing trainer now um but I mean I think I was her second

Mentor now she's on to her third so I think that really goes to the the fact that there's so much to

know and so much to do to become uh a really qualified um Behavior consultant that it is a long journey so you have to

find ways to to to build those building blocks along the way right so you don't say okay I'm going to become a Veterinary behaviorist

first I gotta get an undergraduate degree then I gotta go to a vet school then I got to do ex internships internships then I got to pass my boards right so but you're working all of that

way and developing those skills and that so uh I know plenty of amazing dog trainers who were like I was going to go to vet school and I stopped here because this is my sweet spot and this is where

I'm happy right so it's a part of just sort of Discovery and it is a a a process and can be a long

process wonderful uh great answer to end things thank you so much dot thank you and thanks to everyone for watching today's webcast