Raising standards in UK animal training and behavior services

In contrast to many professions, from plumbing to teaching, where rigorous training and assessment are required before becoming qualified to practice, those working with animals have few such stipulations. As anyone operating in this sector can currently call themselves a ‘professional’ with little or no formal training or assessment, how can we ensure the highest standards are met in the field of animal training and behavioral services?

Challenges faced by pet parents

When an animal guardian is looking for training support or behavioral therapy, it can be a minefield to find someone with the knowledge, understanding and practical skills to help them. There are many people who make claims regarding their expertise, yet being sure these individuals know what they are doing and the possible consequences of their methods can be another matter.

Few who share their lives with animals would argue against their pets having the best services available, and a word that is frequently used to describe the people delivering those services is ‘professional’.

To be a professional, it stands to reason there should be a governing body with authority over that profession. However, in the UK, this currently does not exist for those delivering training and behavior services. Several groups claim that role, yet none have any authority, and some even promote unethical techniques in their approaches to behavior modification.

Defining ‘profession’ and ‘professional’

A profession is any type of work that needs specialist training or a particular skill and is often respected because it involves a high level of education. If you were to ask anyone working in the animal training and behavior sector, aside from volunteers, the majority would likely say that this was their profession. That makes sense until you start looking closer at what it means to be a professional.

Firstly, defining exactly what is meant by special training, particular skills and a high level of education needs to be established. A governing body typically decides this, and those standards must be published so everyone knows what they should aim to achieve to become qualified. The fact is that most people doing this work have not met the high standards that the public should reasonably demand and often use outdated and questionable methods without understanding the potential negative results.

The need for standards and qualifications