Dog Training Has a Qualifications Problem — And It’s Not the Trainers

Today, being labeled a “qualified” dog trainer often has less to do with experience or outcomes and more to do with ideological alignment.

That should concern everyone.

🐾Courses and Certificates Do NOT Equal Competence

This needs to be said clearly:

👉 Taking courses does not equal experience.

👉 Stacking certificates does not make someone a professional dog trainer.

Anyone can:

• Take multiple online or in-person courses
• Pass written exams
• Collect certifications
• Repeat approved terminology

All without ever:

• Handling serious aggression
• Managing high-drive or unstable dogs
• Working under real-world risk
• Producing consistent, long-term behavioral outcomes

A certificate proves only one thing:

✔️ The course was completed.

It does not prove:

• Decision-making under pressure
• Skill in unpredictable environments
• Judgment when safety is on the line

Without real-world application, that certification isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

🚨 Experience Can’t Be Downloaded

Real dog training doesn’t happen in theory.

It happens where:

• Dogs bite
• Dogs escalate
• Dogs shut down
• Families are scared
• Mistakes have consequences

These skills are earned through years of hands-on experience, not ideological checklists.

Yet today, trainers with:

• Over a decade of real-world experience
• Hundreds of dogs successfully trained or rehabilitated
• Measurable, repeatable results

…can still be labeled “unqualified” — simply because they didn’t join the right belief system.

That’s not education.

That’s credential gatekeeping.

📜 This Isn’t Education — It’s an Ideological Filter

Many modern “recognized” qualifications operate within:

• RSPCA-aligned frameworks
• Force-Free / Fear-Free guilds
• Trainer collectives that ban tools, language, and dissent

They don’t teach comprehensive dog training.

They teach how to train dogs within a narrow ideology.

That ideology removes:

• Corrections
• Consequences
• Accountability
• Large portions of the training toolbox

Not because those tools don’t work —

but because they don’t fit the narrative.

That’s not science.

That’s dogma with a certificate.

🎓 AKC Instructor or Evaluator ≠ Professional Dog Trainer

This is another uncomfortable truth for dog owners:

👉 Being an AKC instructor or evaluator does not make someone a professional dog trainer.

The American Kennel Club:

• Is a registry and event organization
• Focuses on titles, sports, and evaluations
• Does not require behavioral rehabilitation experience

Anyone can earn AKC instructor or evaluator credentials:

• Without fixing aggression
• Without managing dangerous dogs
• Without working outside structured environments
• Without producing real-world behavior change

Evaluating a test is not the same as training a dog.

Promoting AKC credentials as proof of professional training expertise is misleading, even if unintentional.

🧠 Force-Free Is Not Neutral — It’s a Position

Force-free is often framed as “just kindness,” but in practice it operates as an ideological stance:

• Question it → you’re abusive
• Deviate → you’re unethical
• Show success outside the framework → you’re dangerous

When dogs fail under force-free-only systems, blame is shifted:

• The handler
• The environment
• Genetics
• Stress

Anything — except the limitations of the approach itself.

Science demands questioning and adaptation — not blind adherence.

⚖️ So What Actually Makes a Trainer Competent?

Ask yourself honestly:

👉 Years of handling real dogs, real problems, real risk — with proven outcomes

OR

👉 A piece of paper issued by an ideologically aligned organization

If the answer is the second one, dog training is no longer a profession.

It’s a belief club.

And dogs pay the price.

🐕The Alan’s K9 Academy Standard

At Alan’s K9 Academy, we believe in both education AND experience.

✔️ Our trainers do hold certifications

✔️ We value continuing education and professional development

✔️ But certifications are only the starting point — not the qualification

What truly sets our trainers apart is:

• Years of hands-on, real-world experience
• Work with complex behavior cases, including aggression and reactivity
• Proven, repeatable results across hundreds of dogs
• Accountability for outcomes — not excuses

We don’t rely on ideology.

We rely on results, safety, and ethical responsibility.

Because dogs don’t need belief systems.

They need competent trainers.

Final Thought

Dog training should be judged by:

• What works
• What’s safe
• What lasts

Not by who signs the right code of ethics or repeats the right slogans.

Experience saves dogs.

Paperwork doesn’t.

Your Turn

What do you believe makes a dog trainer truly qualified?

Experience — or certificates?

One changes lives.

The other just looks good online.

‍