Becoming A Dog Trainer/pyschologist

[Nessie]

Hi there

I'd really love to do some sort of dog training or psychology course but I don't know where to start.

Mainly I want to do it for my interest but who knows what the future might bring.

I'm sure there are many different types of training but I've looked on the net and can't really find much even as far as online courses go - and how do I know what is a good course or not? I guess I'm not really sure what I'm looking at and how good they are

And are their actually any dog psychology courses or is it just training? or do they combine the two?

Ness

[Kavik]

NDTF and Delta are the two main dog training courses available.

http://www.ndtf.net.au/

http://www.deltasocietyaustralia.com.au/

They are quite different, so it would be worth looking at both and talking to people who have done each so you get what you are after.

[Lhok]

I know of Zoology degrees that deal with animal behaviour and some Psychology degrees do too

It really is about what you are looking at getting out of it

Having said that I myself am looking at doing a Psychology and zoology degree when I finish with my animal tech degree

Good luck with it

--Lhok

[Aidan]

Some universities offer "Bachelor of Behavioural Science" degrees, which are very broad but you can major in animal behaviour.

[Dragon Whisperer]

Some universities offer "Bachelor of Behavioural Science" degrees, which are very broad but you can major in animal behaviour.

Having done one animal behaviour subject at uni (I did a biology course), I must say it was one of my favourite subjects - just really interesting. Though, I don't think it's best to do a uni course if you want to focus specifically on dog training/psychology?

[corvus]

I did a few animal behaviour topics at uni under my zoology degree, and did my honours in animal behaviour. I think there's a fairly big difference between science and psychology faculty courses. I was taught behavioural ecology, which is the evolutionary basis of behaviour and how to understand it. Psych often teaches more of the Behaviourism stuff, which covers how animals learn. Behaviourism has had a bad rap in recent times due to an infuriating obsession with avoiding "the black box", that being anything that goes on inside the body. Hard-nosed Behaviourists relegate all behaviour to learning/conditioning from environmental and social effects. Behavioural ecologists look for the evolutionary benefits of behaviour, which is not to say learning theory doesn't come into it, it just rarely does because most of the time animals behave the way they do because of the action of natural selection, which encompasses learning theory, genetics, phylogeny, and most importantly, evolution.

If you wanted to do a degree in animal behaviour with the view to eventually do something with dogs, I'd do one of those general Behavioural Sciences ones. Having said that, I'm about to start a PhD on dog behaviour and I just did a traditional zoology degree. It depends on where your interests lie. If it's just dogs and you want a dog job, I'd not bother with a tertiary degree at all. It's a bit of overkill. The only reason I'm doing a PhD is because I want to do research.

That's my biased opinion on it all.

[Formal Dogs]

Not sure if you have checked these sites out but try

www.caninecommunicators.com.au

and

www.leadtheway.com.au

Might help you on your search.. Enjoy, good luck!!

[haven]

This question has been asked heaps of times, if you do a forum search you will hopefully get lots more responses if they haven't been deleted because they are old.

If you are after a paper qualification, ensure that any course you do is run by or in conjunction with an RTO and will result in a nationally recognised qualification.

Unless you want to go to uni and do a degree, your only options to specifically study dog behavior and training are the Certificate III in Dog Behaviour and Training run by the NDTF and the Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services run by Delta. You should find opinions on both, including my own, if you do a search

[Nessie]

That's really helpful - thanks everyone

[perfect partners]

Not sure if you have checked these sites out but try

www.caninecommunicators.com.au

and

www.leadtheway.com.au

Might help you on your search.. Enjoy, good luck!!

I did the canine communicators course but wouldn't recommend it. You have to use head halters and are not allowed to use any food. I did learn a few useful things but they only teach their own methods and put down other methods. It's cheaper but you basically 'work' for them and don't learn a lot. I saw quite a few 'shut down' dogs there and my dog is much happier since we left. The second link person is a trainer at canine communicators.

[Prydenjoy]

Good info but what about the Dogs NSW instructor course? I'm curious as to whether anyone has done that one and if it is any good.

Nessie, ontop of doing a course there are a lot of good books out there. Positive Perspectives 2 by Pat Miller is fantastic, as is Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnel. Working my way through the second one now so I can get onto the next book!