Why Training Certifications Matter
This week I have a very exciting announcement. If you follow me closely online, you may already know this. I am not a Certified Professional Bird Trainer through a knowledge assessed test (CPBT-KA) through the International Avian Trainers Certification Board. This certification is held through The International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators. For those who do not know, this is one of the best and most highly respected certifications you can get as an avian trainer. This is just the first of many certifications I have planned.
I want to talk more about the importance of certifications and continuing your education as a professional trainer. I am sure you have heard me talk about how animal training is an unregulated field. This means any of you can create a flashy website and say you are a professional animal trainer. This is where a lot of misinformation is spread and validated because clients see professionals as very experienced people in their field. They will listen and regurgitate what they say to others, continuing to spread misinformation that may be harmful. It can also create new undesirable behaviors in your anima, or worsen the current behaviors.
I push heavily that if you want to train animals professionally that you need at least a bachelors in behavior science. I have my bachelors in behavior science, and I am working on my masters in applied behavior analysis. The reason I highly suggest everyone to have a degree if you want to start a business is because behavioral modification is a science. All the fundamentals translate from species to species, meaning that if you do not know how behavior is modified, methodologies, and the impact of the methods you choose, then you are missing vital information for success. Remember that just because you have trained your one animal, or 10 animals, or 100 animals, it does not mean that the methods you used on one will work for all. You may be successful with a small crowd, but you would be helping the masses, meaning a lot of different breeds/species, backgrounds, environments, behaviors, history, etc. that will be challenging to correctly diagnose and modify behavior without understanding how behavior is modified.
I have seen a lot of trick trainers, or small flocked individuals online, that have success and want to start working on modifying behaviors. That is great! Downside is, they start a business and offer “help” and then a few months later myself or another qualified professional gets the same case with a lot of undo. Even big names on the YouTube or Instagram training community do not have any college education in behavior, no certifications, no continuing education… Just a following. I have received recordings of different sessions with different trainers in the past when they met online, or a copy of email threads, and I end up asking the caretaker “did they explain to you how they came to his conclusion?” They can never answer.
It is a huge injustice that this industry is not regulated because people end up wasting a lot of money, misinformation is being spread, and animals and caretakers suffering or even be put in danger. If someone goes to a trainer and do not see results, there are more likely to not seek out another trainer, and they believe that their animal is the problem and cannot ever be fixed. This results in neglect or rehoming. When rehoming, they relinquish with a long list of labels and describe how they tried and nothing worked. This negatively impacts the temperament test (mostly with dogs) where the animal is more likely to be behaviorally euthanized because it cannot past the temperament test, the staff heard the owners tried and it failed, and now they are seeing the behavior. None of this is realistically the original caretaker or the shelter’s fault. The shelter cannot adopt out an animal with severe behavioral problems because they will be held liable and can be sued if something bad happens, like the animal attacks a human. They also do not have the time or resources to work on the behaviors, especially severe behaviors. It is not the caretaker’s fault because they tried to help their animal. It all boils down to the professional trainer in this situation for not properly educating, not giving the right plan of action, not being realistic with the caretakers, etc. Some of you may disagree, and depending on the situation I might as well, like if the caretakers never took the training seriously, and shelter temperament tests are not designed well. But, at the end of the day, the professional trainer was the last hope, and they let the family and the animal down.
Understanding that side of it helps you understand the pressure that professional animal trainers have. Majority of my clients come to me with the ultimatum of the behavior needs to be addressed or we are rehoming the animal. I have talked about this previously, but when an animal gets rehomed and goes into that system with a behavioral problem, they are harder to adopt and more likely to be bounced from home to home. A lot of people have great hearts and adopt a challenging animal that is far out of their education or comfortability because they feel bad and want to help. Once when the honeymoon is over, they get overwhelmed quickly and return the animal. Other people will then ask for help, and let a professional mentor them and guide them to learn to bring their skill level up to the level the bird needs, and learn how to modify and manage behaviors so the overwhelming feeling goes away. Both animal and caretaker gain confidence!
This continues to put pressure on professionals to provide the best education and plan. If I give a training plan that puts my clients in danger, then not only can I be sued, but if the animal does attack, it sets behavior back, decreases confidence, and that may just be the last straw for an animal to be rehomed or behaviorally euthanized.
With all this pressure and outcomes stacked up on a professional trainer’s plate, it should be taken more seriously than a lot of “trainers” take it. I think I am more passionate about this because of my experience working everyday full time at a parrot rescue for 6 years, as well as the countless rescues I work with today. I saw first hand the reasons why birds got relinquished. I worked with the birds with the behavioral problems every day. I still do with my own flock of misfits. I have also found perfect, amazing parrots being relinquished because the caretaker had misinformation. That was how Alfie’s previous caretakers were. They were going to behaviorally euthanize him because they did not have the correct care and knowledge for his species and cockatoos’ unique behaviors. When I got Alfie, we only did some easy training before he was a model citizen. Three months later Alfie and I ran into his previous caretakers at a parrot event. They got to hold him and interact with him again. They asked for him back, shocked that it was the same bird. I did try to educate them at the vets and offer my services if they promised to take him home and not euthanize him, but they did not think it was possible due to what they have been taught. I showed them it was possible, and now I have a beautiful loud mouth in my house!
At the end of the day, we need to be sure that who we are hiring is qualified, especially in an industry that is not regulated. That goes for any profession. When I hired a contractor to build the bird room on my house, I did not do enough research and ended up being scammed out of a lot of money. I have gone to doctors that I did not research into enough that did not have the experience to work with my medical needs, resulting in having to find other providers and wasting time in between appointments. It happens. Consult with the professional animal trainer you wish to hire and ask them some of these questions to better understand if they are experienced and knowledgeable enough to hire:
· How long have you been a professional?
o This does not always mean experienced or knowledgeable. A good business person can be a “professional” and be in business for a long time without having a lot of behavior knowledge.
· Would you consider yourself more a behavioralist or trainer?
o This is a great question because these things are totally different. A behavioralist is someone who dives deeper into behavior by understanding the fundamentals of the science of behavior, being able to accurately diagnose behavior, and comes up with a plan of action on how to modify and manage the behaviors (I am more of a behavioralist in my business, like when you have zoom calls with me, I am considered a behavioralist consultant). A trainer is someone who teaches the basic obedience and skills (in my business, I educate my clients to be the trainer). Anyone can be a trainer. If you have taught your dog to sit, you are a trainer.
· How do you diagnose behavior?
o SO IMPORTANT! The best method scientifically speaking is functional assessment. This is where the behavioralist gets information by observing the animal, asking questions, and understanding the animal’s history if known, though not always needed. They find the functional relations between the behavior and its consequence (what drives the behavior) to best diagnose it and come up with a plan of action. This is a lengthy process. I send out an 8-page questionnaire form to my clients, as well as usually request videos of the behavior. This is after I have a consult with the client to ask even more questions about the behavior. If you are just showing up to a facility or hoping on a paid video call without doing any type of assessment, then they are not able to accurately diagnose behaviors. In different environments the animal will act differently. One zoom call cannot accurately diagnose behavior and come up with the plan, education, and management of the behavior. In humans, when being behaviorally assessed, you have tons of questionnaires, usually you are observed for 8 hours or more, multiple visits, and then you get the plan of action. Behavior is behavior, so it should be treated the same way.
· Do you supply a written training plan? What is included in it?
o You should always get a written training plan, and even better with video demonstration accompanied by it. I always give a written training plan, and I will record videos with commentary for clients who ask! In a standard written training plan, it includes education the client needs to be successful, diagnosis of the behavior and why it is, modifications needed to be done in the environment, modifications needed to be done in the animal’s care (like diet, exercise, cage design, etc.), management practices for the behaviors (sometimes not applicable but most of the time is), and the structured training section which is the new skills you are teaching your animal. This should be broken down into small approximations along with when to move onto the next step not by duration of time (rare) but by the behaviors you are seeing. Every animal progress on a different timeline; therefore, it should be addressed by the behaviors you are seeing.
· What degrees or certifications do you have? Have you been, or presented, at any conferences?
o You want to see that they are continuing their education, as well as their background. Research their certifications! You can easily type mine into google and learn all about it! Look into the conferences they have attended and what they focused on that year. Organizations always archive that stuff!
· Ask what they specialize in!
o Does your animal’s behaviors fit those specifications? I specialize in avian (though I work with all species). I specialize in more intense behaviors in all animals, but with birds I specialize in aggression, extreme fear, and older birds. I can do much more than that, but this is where I shine and offer a more unique service. Every trainer has a species/breed, or a specific set of behaviors that they specialize in. If you feel your animal have extreme behaviors, it is best to find someone who specializes in it.
· Do your training methods utilize positive punishers or negative reinforcement?
o Negative reinforcement is not always bad, but it can easily be when not done properly. I have advised MANY clients to use negative reinforcement, especially with desensitization, but I stopped saying it was negative reinforcement because people felt uncomfortable with the word. Every time after I explained the methods and the science behind them, clients were put at ease and were surprised it was technically negative reinforcement. Positive punishers should always be avoided. I have a blog post all about them found here. If they say they earthquake a bird, hit an animal, spray a spray bottle, put them in a closet in the dark, use e-collars, prong collars, choke collars (even the martingale collars), halters for dogs, utilizing front clip harnesses, etc. RUN! There is no need to use positive punishers in training.
A qualified trainer will have no issues understanding these requests and answering them for you. It is your job to decide who you trust with your animal, your money, and your future success. Hopefully the industry can become standardized so people do not have to do so much research and guess work. If your animal is having behavioral concerns, you can always reach to me!