In my opinion, if you wish to be a good dog behaviourist, you have to be a good dog trainer. Similarly, if you want to be a good dog trainer, you have to be a good dog behaviourist. The two go hand-in-hand, and without one, the other one is likely to suffer.

There is an inordinate amount of courses designed to teach you how to become a behaviourist. The vast majority of these are academic courses, with little if any, practical hands-on work. In my opinion, many of these courses are simply not worth the paper they’re written on, but often the unfortunate students only find this out once they’ve paid for and completed it. They then try and use this course to persuade somebody more experienced that they are credible, and it’s only then that they find that they’ve wasted their money and their time.

For anyone interested in behaviour, to be taken seriously. You really need to be pitching yourself a level 5 course or higher. Certainly, if you want to join one of the reputable behaviour organisations such as the UKRCB, this will be the minimum level of academic qualification. To join the UKRCB, we have found that the courses run by compass Education offer a very good grounding. Courses cover from a very basic introduction to behaviour right up to degree level. Organisations like the APBC insist on their members having a minimum degree level qualification. Those that pass these courses will have an academic background that should enable them to understand the theory behind most of the modern theories and techniques in dog behaviour. But this is not enough. It is essential to have a good practical hands-on experience and knowledge in order to be able to put this theory into practice. This is an area where many academic behaviourists come unstuck. The reason for this is that while lots of things may work in theory they are totally useless and inappropriate to try and use in practice with the average pet dog owner. I have seen many, many clients who have had some theoretical behaviourist give advice that they found completely useless and simply will not try because in practice it’s too impractical or too embarrassing, etc.

For practical experience, there are less people running courses that will benefit people who are just starting out. Perhaps the best of them at the moment are run by John Rogerson at the Northern Centre for Canine Behaviour in Durham, and Sheila Bailey at The Derbyshire Canine Centre. It can also be very useful to attend or join local dog training classes and ask if they can help teach you how to instruct. This will give you experience in how to teach other people how to teach their dogs. It’s also very useful to go and look at lots of other local dog training classes and see if you can find out what’s right and wrong about them. They can give you a very valuable insight into why you may want to do or not do a particular exercise in a particular way. Things like helping out at local rescue centres and charities can also be a very useful way to gain experience. But remember, just training dogs doesn’t make you a behaviourist, or certainly not a good one. You have to be able to work with people as well. So just helping to rehabilitate problem dogs at a rescue centre doesn’t necessarily teach you how to be a good behaviourist, as behaviourists work primarily with people not dogs. But my best advice is to look at everything. Go to as many seminars as you can look at as many classes you can shadow of many behaviourists, as you can and then try and formulate your own style. Don’t just blindly copy somebody else’s formula. Make your own.

Good Luck.

Rob