For starters the ABC college provides trainers for Petco...and if the way many of those trainers handle dogs is any indication of how good their training is....run far away. Are there some good trainers at pet stores?
Of course, I'm sure there are some out there, I've even herd of them from fellow dog people, but if all of them go through this course and at least the majority of them are NOT coming out knowing what they're doing, then something is wrong.
It also seems very stuck on clicker trainer and purely positive training. Which is something I hate to see in anyone that is teaching a potential trainer. This is just a personal opinion of mine of course since I have plenty of tools in my tools box and plenty of ways to approach a problem and I think that other trainers should as well. I have nothing AGAINST clicker training, I use it often, but it's not the end all be all. I don't believe in being stuck in one way of doing things. Again, just me.
The course on aggression is only 7 days long. Seriously, 7 days? Not nearly enough. Even if every tidbit of information known to man on aggression is in that course seven days is not even close to long enough for someone to truly get a grasp on how to handle an aggressive dog. That takes hands on experience and TIME.
Book learning can only take you so far and that's true for all aspects of dog training. Learning it in theory is great, doing it and helping others do it is something else all together.
It also seems to focus very much on the extreme basics. Sit, stay, down, loose leash walking. Which I suppose is fine if all someone ever wants to do is teach basic group classes. But if you want to handle behavior problems, aggression and advanced obedience then apparently you're out of luck. They offer small sections for it, but again, that's not something you can effectivly learn how to deal with by simply reading about it for 28 days or so.
From their page:
During this portion, you will work with an ABC Mentor Trainer, observing and participating in the instruction of basic obedience cues, such as, sit, stay, come, down, heel, and loose leash walking. You will have a chance to work with individual dogs under the guidance and supervision of the Mentor Trainer.
Quite frankly someone can learn how to teach that by training thier own dogs and taking some extra classes. It's not rocket science to teach a dog how to sit and lie down. I don't see the need to pay a training school to learn it when there are so many other resources. Basically you're paying to sit in on classes and help the trainer out. At least that's what it sounds like.
ABC doesn't seem to offer ANYTHING that one cannot learn without it.
Seriously, I'm not sure how anyone can say that a course like that can even compare to a year or more of working under an experience trainer and learning the ins and outs of dog training, handling clients, behavior problems and doing it all hands on for a good long time. I don't see how there can even be a question.
How many of the schools/certifications that I posted are you familiar with?
Be aware silverpawz, both of the ones that I mentioned REQUIRE resuce work and EXPERIENCE before certification is granted.
Replying to this now since I didn't notice it before. I'm familiar with them.
ABC only requires a min. of 10 hours working with shelter dogs. Not enough, period.
Not to mention it's an average of $3000 tuition which seems very over priced for what they offer. That's money that would be better spent toward building a business than throwing it down the drain for 'education' that you can get elsewhere without the high cost.