After completing the LLA course with Susan Friedman, I was hooked on learning more about behaviour. This is an ongoing process as new developments in research continually evolve. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up! The next logical step for me was to become certified as a dog behaviour consultant. I took the exam with IAABC to become an Associate Certified Dog Behavior Consultant.
At the time, IAABC offered two levels — associate certified (ACDBC) and fully certified (CDBC). The main difference between ACDBC and CDBC is the number of hours working with dogs and their owners, and experience working with an aggressive dog that has caused injury to a person.
To qualify to write the exam you had to find a colleague, a past client, and a veterinarian to give you an endorsement. You also needed a certain number of hours in ongoing education from conferences, seminars and workshops. Your experience should cover more than 300 animal behaviour consulting hours working directly with dogs and their owners for the associate level, and more than 500 hours for the fully certified level. The full certification also required experience working with aggression cases where the dog had caused injury to a person. I didn’t have experience handling cases where the dog had actually bitten a person, so I opted for the associate level.
The exam asked questions about your consulting skills, your ability to problem solve, behaviour modification strategies, and management strategies. Thorough knowledge of learning theory was essential. You were also given case study topics and required to write your own real case studies which met the criteria. The exam was written in short answer and essay format and you were given 60 days to complete it. It is scored using a rubrics system. This is how all exams should be structured!
When I met the requirements to apply for the CDBC full certification, I decided to tackle this exam. It was similar to the ACDBC exam, but also had hypothetical scenarios and required more real life case studies. Overall, it was a rigorous exam and I’m proud to have successfully completed it.