The Certificate of Training and Counseling (CTC) is the Academy for Dog Trainers’ flagship course for those wishing to become a professional dog trainer. The course is renowned for its scientific rigor and precision application and is widely acknowledged within the field to be the best of its kind. Nothing in The Academy is outsourced. You are taught by – and your post-graduate supervision is done by – Jean and The Academy staff. For this reason, we have avoided the quality control issues some programs are increasingly known for.
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds who are smart and hardworking and want to make a difference in the lives of dogs while simultaneously building a rewarding career.
Jean founded the Academy in 1999 to address the need for a dedicated program for pet dog training and behavior counseling. At the time, you could find university degrees with theoretical information on animal learning and behavior, and you could find sporadic seminars and conferences with information on training. But the quality was uneven, the information not always evidence-based, and the training philosophy too often violent. The profession needed something that was granular and step-by-step so graduates would be fully prepared to do this job. The result was the Academy, which over the years has become the gold standard in the field of pet dog training.
The Academy course material progresses through four levels. Students must successfully complete each level in order to advance through the program
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