Certification Requirements
ADB Certified Canine behavior counselor (CCBC)
- Final Exam - this has three parts - multiple choice, essay questions and two "consultations", for which you will write your recommendations.
- There is also a Final Project: Work with a dog - your own or a client's or friends - to solve a behavior problem which you will have identified.
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- When you send information on this, please put ADB FINAL PROJECT in the subject line, so that it can be differentiated from other emails.
- The project must be received, approved and completed. After that, you can be certified as a "CCBC" - Certified Canine Behavior Counselor."
- It’s important to remember that you do not have to do what I would do – goals can be reached in many ways. Your methodology should be well thought out, humane and as successful as possible, given that you are working with a sentient being (or two) and they are not always predictable.
You need to work with a specific dog. This can be a client dog, a shelter dog or your own dog.
1) Define the goal behavior or behaviors. You can have a training goal – for instance, you might be working with a client’s dog, and have the goal of teaching all the basic behaviors (sit/come/down/stay/heel (or polite walking), wait, and leave it). If you’re working on a behavior problem, you should be able to define the baseline behavior and the goal behavior. Video is not mandatory, but at the least you should describe what you are seeing.
2) Describe the process you intend to take, and then do progress reports – video and written
3) When you’ve reached the goal behavior, submit your progress reports and the result.
4) If the goal cannot be reached for some reason, please submit the progress you had made and the reason for the aborted goal.
If you need help during this, that is just fine! You can email me or make an appointment (free, unless it’s abused) and we can discuss what you might need to do.
Here’s a format you can use to note your progress (both in word and spreadsheet format)
