Dog trainer qualifications?

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Echo24

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I currently work for an assistance dogs charity and am considering working for myself in the future. I don't have formal qualifications but wondered if anyone was a dog trainer and what training did you do and what was good or bad about it? I've seen the APDT one and also KCAI. I also understand there are lots of competition too so I need to really decide if it's the road I want to go down and invest so much money into!
 
Mostly, experience, and that is best learned by keeping an open mind, learning from our mistakes, and understanding that just as humans are all different, so are dogs, and we tailor our approaches to enable us to achieve our own ends. Experience is generally best gained by observing the effect that our actions have, and then learning from the dog as an animal, and accepting that what works for one, may very well not for another. Books and learned treaties are all very well, but the best advice is that; Those who can do, and those who can't write a book! A sweeping statement I agree, but there's an element of truth attached to it.

Alec.
 
Echo, while agreeing with Alec that there is no substitute for experience, if you want to set up as a Dog Trainer people look for word of mouth recommendations, good results helping dogs and owners BUT do like registered qualifications.
I have a friend who runs her own Dog Training Business and as well as years of experience has done all sorts of qualifications. I have alerted her to this post and she will respond this evening, she is on a training course today!!
 
Thanks for the replies. I certainly agree about experience but do feel that someone who is looking for some kind of trainer will also want someone with some qualifications. Plus any accreditation will hopefully back up the experience I already have. When I was looking into some of the courses, I do a lot of it on a day to day basis in my job anyway but it's forking out £1k to get the certificate!
 
This was many years ago when there were fewer formal training opportunities, but I did a six month course on clicker training through my local dog club. It did involve theoretical sessions on both operant conditioning and on teaching humans how to train their dogs but was also hands on and we worked with advanced and beginner dogs. This course allowed me to volunteer as an assistant dog trainer for my club which was great experience as there was always a senior dog trainer present in the class to oversee and deal with the more challenging problems.
 
Echo. It is certainly worth attending formal training to gain recognised accreditation in dog training. The industry is currently unregulated and anyone can set up without any experience or qualifications and call themselves a dog trainer. Whilst I agree that experience is a very important element I also believe that clients will prefer to find someone with accreditation as this should demonstrate you have learned the theory but also that you are current on training trends.
Finding the right course can be difficult and it can depend on time and finances available to you. I would recommend you look into COAPE http://www.capbt.org APDT http://www.apdt.co.uk or the IMDT (Institute of Modern Dog Trainers)who are fairly new and offer a number of short courses http://www.imdt.uk.com
 
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