Discussion about training split from e collar thread

I would suggest that some of the best dog trainers I have ever worked with have no paper "qualifications". That doesn't stop them being the best trainers I have ever worked with.

I have also been on courses where people are "qualified" and to be honest, it hasn't helped them much, either with their understanding of dogs, people, or learning teaching/techniques.

But hey ho.

Those people who run courses etc have generally made a name for themselves in some form of dog activity or another and have 'proved' themselves in that way.

I have met people who I have thought were great but who have turned out to be great only with dogs who are of a certain type and background. Put them outside their comfort zone and they are lost.

rune

Of course, as with any proffesion or activity, there are good and bad, but I dont think that that is necessarily dependant on qualifications. Everyone has an experince set and of course within it, they are more liekly to achieve than outside of it.

in probably the same way or reason, be it directly or indirectly, all the other trainers may do on here?

if you are going to take the commercial interests line, its pretty much discredited as objective analysis.
after all, denis and lou castle preach that one about APDT and/or positive trainers to the cows come home.
so you would just be copying them.

Krusewalker said:

"thats why *recognised qualifications* (of which their arent in the dpg world) can be so useless"

There are. The last time I looked, a BSc was considered a recognised qualification and there is one in canine behaviour and training that incorporate both theory and practical elements.

And it's by no means easy!

ah. but what do you mean by recognised?

Recognised by whom?

One of my team is doing a degree in dog behaviour. And no it is not easy, she has a lot of reading and writing and training of her dog to do for it. But if you ask her which is the most beneficial in terms of being able to teach people, her degree studies or her actual experience at our work, she will tell you her actual experience at our work.

I find it odd that people on forums are so "caught up" with paper qualifications. Of the 12,000 or so people who have made enquiries about my training in the time I have been teaching, I can only recall three asking about qualifications. I don't recall whether or not they subsequently attended training. ie. Whether it actually made any difference. And yet forum users are commonly so hung up about it. Odd.

too true

mind you, in general, dog forum members arent so represenatative of dog owners anyway.
so like most forum members of any topic forum, we are more accurately described as representative of just dog forum members.

What do you mean by recognised?

I take 'recognised' as a qualification that is easily recognisable by the general public and you can't really get much more recognised than a BSc