In My Search For Help....

[shelly]

While looking for behaviorists/trainers to help us with Tori's barking craze when visitors come, someone gave me a friend's card.  After the woman's name it said "ABCDT" .  Does anyone know if these initials truly mean something?  I get a bit guarded with all the people out there who claim to be trainers.... it just seemed funny to me that the letters happen to be the first four of the alphabet followed by a "T".  sorry if I am being too skeptical!  .

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Association for Behavorial and Cognitive Therapies, so says Google. dh

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That's the "human" certification, DH.

[Adina P]

The others are correct about what ABCDT stands for. However, (and this is just my opinion) to me, training certification is not very meaningful because there is no gold standard of trainer programs. There are a myriad of styles, methods, philosophies and tools used in various combination, some done well and some done poorly. Some people have a natural gift for working with dogs and others have developed incredible skill through experience. Some amazing trainers have NO credentials ... which is, by me, not an issue at all, because there is no Big Credentialing School that has all the answers.

Here's what would matter to me most if I had to choose a trainer:
1) How much experience has the trainer had? How many years, dogs, breeds?

2) What has he/she actually accomplished with his/her own dogs? Do any of them have real obedience titles (CD? CDX? UD? UDX? Tracking titles?)? The reason obedience titles matter is because it is an objective measure of the trainer's ability to meet excellent criteria. If a trainer can't train a dog to respond reliably, off-leash, in a controlled environment ... how can they train a person to train their dog to respond reliably in the real world? A trainer should be skilled to a level far beyond what the students want to accomplish. I would not be satisfied with a trainer whose dogs have only passed the CGC.

3) If you have an actual 'issue' you need help with for your dog (which you've said you do) then I'd want to know a trainer has experienced successful results working with such a dog and helping their owners find a reasonable solution. Has the trainer actually successfully helped owners 'fix' problems issues like Tori's?

4) Do you buy into the trainer's training philosophy?

I couldn't care less if they had ABCDEFG, PhD, MD, OMD or XYZ behind their name. I want to know: can the trainer get the job done?

[shelly]

WoW, Adina you are RIGHT on...THANK YOU! I have not heard back yet from either that i called, but you definitely have added to my list of questions! Thanks SO much!!!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh my doodle--I did get one right. I did ask CAN YOU HELP ALL OF US?? Why/how can you say you can. What can you do for us?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

P.S. Shelly we go tonight!! I am actually excited. I so much did not want to do this all over again. Not again--but this time I think we can all learn / relearn something.

Good Luck to you.

You know this is near and dear to my heart right now. Please keep me posted

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Adina--You are awesome :)