We have been observing the increase in requests for obedience courses and one of the main reasons would be certification.
We would like to take this chance to answer some questions and clear up misconceptions that owners may have in regards to obedience certification.
In terms of issuing certifications, please note that anybody is allowed to issue them. Even a freelancer can decide to be a trainer today and print out a certificate for you, but whether or not it is recognized would be an entirely different matter. If you are looking at certifying your dog for HDB/AVS approval, it will be safe to get it from a trainer/behaviourist that is certified by a recognized institute. Otherwise, your dog may end up being rejected and requiring additional work, which includes appeals and applying for a separate course.
While most companies issues certifications on completion, our trainers/behaviourists don’t. There is a set of criteria in which we follow the code of ethnics and guideline set by relevant institutions and authorities. Depending on the course chosen, owners will be required do to the work with their dogs and pass the tests respectively. The difference in the way we do things however is; there is no timeline set, we want to reduce as much pressure as possible and help owners and their dogs learn. As much as we want the best for owners and their dogs, we wish to make it clear that we are not ‘selling’ certifications, we prefer owners to learn, bond and work with their dogs. We keep tests simple and the challenges may be tweaked according to the individual dog and family’s situation.
If you did not pass the test(s), we will feedback on what can be done to improve, you may then arrange for follow up session(s) to work on improvements, tests are free and conducted during the follow up session(s). You may, but is not required to request for tests to be conducted; they are automatically conducted even if you don’t actually feel like you are doing them. This is our aim as we do not wish for owners to feel stressed or act differently in those situations. Please feel free though, to ask about your results and how you may improve on them. If you pass, we will automatically send you the certification when it is ready in due time, unless it is urgent, it can take weeks to months to process, feel free to let us know in the event you face issues. Please note that certifications are in digital format. The process will include reading/studying your notes, observing the rate of improvements and work done based on the individual dog’s learning ability, as well as discussions with the team.
Though our trainers/behaviourists are eligible to conduct tests for certifications, they are done towards the aim of helping dogs improve and continue living with their intended families. Hence we do not prioritize on obedience, our priority is still on dogs that needs help as well as owners that are keen to learn.
If you have completed any of our courses and like to contribute to helping us continue to be eligible in helping dogs in years to come, please contact us to fill up a survey form, this form will be submitted to the relevant departments for extensions.
Thank you once again for the years of support!
ATP Team
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