CAWC meetings conclusions and outcomes
Many of you may be wondering what the result of the CAWC meetings are (ending in 2010). These were without doubt, one of the most gruelling sets of meetings I have attended. The obstinate behaviour of some representatives of the APBC and ASAB did not add dignity to our professional standing in the public eye. Sir Colin Spedding halted the CAWC meetings having felt that no progress was being made and I sympathised with him.
On the positive side the CAWC meetings did produce positive outcomes for the sensible people who attended and the fact that Sir Colin handed the result and work for codes and ethics to the new organisation, The Registration Council for Dog Training and Behaviour Practitioners is a clear statement of who he thought would take the work forward to success. During the meetings the Pet Education Behaviour & Training council was formed to which Sir Colin complimented me at the the penultimate CAWC meeting.
The PETbc was the first council for training & behaviour standards in the UK in all respects appertaining to the orginal CAWC remit. At the same meeting the APBC representative and others asked me in the presence and hearing of all attendees whether they would be eligible to join the PETbc, I replied if they met the criteria which they do, they could. Unfortunately, they did not apply to join an organisation which Sir Colin was pleased with. They walked away from this positive opportunity - though this was not a surprise to the other attendees, it was simply more of the same we had encountered throughout the meetings. You can see another view on their attitude displayed in their joint letter written to the CAWC council on this site.
The PETbc has since become the leading organisation standing for the rights of Trainers and Behaviour Practitioners in Britain and keeping to the CAWC remit concerning Dog Training & Behaviour (not generic animal behaviour).
The PETbc immediately began work to set standards of training in Britain and with the assistance of Lez Graham MA one of Britain’s foremost talented Canine Behaviour Practitioners. She wrote the definitive PETbc dog training and behaviour roles which has been widely accepted in the UK as the first work of excellence in Dog behaviour & Training disciplines and which is inclusive and does not discriminate against people with vocational learnt knowledge.
At the CAWC meetings we were constantly fighting against elitism wrapped up with spin about concerns for animal welfare and when it was really about protecting an elite and their financial status and control of the industry - for money - not animal welfare. We never allow these people to succeed or to dominate the industry. We have set up a fund for court action at a future date, if people peddle spin dishonestly about standards and skill in this profession. We want the public to have the best people working for them and we will do our best to protect the pet dog owner from gross misinformation.
The top organisations in Britain the CFBA the PETbc the BIPDT the GoDT , CIDBT and the Kennel Club through its schemes wish to embrace our British canine experts and be inclusive, that is the difference whatever spin you may read from the dark-side of our profession and who gave Sir Colin so much difficulty at the CAWC meetings. Sir Colin was fundamentally trying to work to the remit of Dog Behaviour & Dog training. He was trying to be inclusive and modern.
The Dark-side of Elitism and Exclusion
Academic elitism as study is being used by stealth above vocational knowledge (we call experience) and the elitists unjustly promote only those individuals who have engaged in paper study. These are strangely deemed to have the highest standard despite the fact that those teaching these people in animal behaviour have themselves rarely worked in the dog behaviour/training disciplines as a professional for quantitative time – most have never worked in this field. They suggest that individuals who have not engaged in such paper study are less. I enjoy academic study be it dog behaviour or ancient history and value serious scholarship without being an academic elitist. I wish people to study and improve their knowledge base to help dogs which exhibit bad behaviour in society though at the same time I value acquired knowledge and most of all experience of doing the job to a high level of customer satisfaction and in a humane manner. I believe in standards hence why the CFBA was formed nearly 20 years ago - but standards that are inclusive and sensible and most of all help dogs which exhibit problem behaviours.
The academic incompetents then have the audacity and cheek to send their clients dog with its aggressive behaviour to what they term a rehabilitation trainer - the person with the TRUE knowledge (to a person who has the skills to understand solve the most difficult dog behaviours that can be presented). So the person with the acquired knowledge is deemed less and the person with the animal behaviour degree more. It does not take a person long to see the dishonesty of this. The person who takes all the risks in law, the person who has handled hundreds of aggressive dogs the person who is an expert on dog law - is deemed lesser by these same elitists. The person who has no such skills hides behind the misused and rather useless animal behaviour degree. That cannot be right and at some point will be challenged in a court. The public have the right to transparency and be able to assess what a degree contains in module (dog specific) formula in simple plain English so they can choose the expert they wish to employ.
If the public wish to employ a person whose doctorate is in snakes, jelly fish or blackbirds they can, but at least they should be told before paying for their services for a Canine Behaviourist. My feeling is they may just want a person who is experienced and accredited to a good organisation and if academic university modules are relevant then on canis lupus familiars (dogs) not swallows flying west. A degree in dogs should be dogs, jelly fish however wonderful do not pose a threat in public parks and do not attack dogs. Snakes are a favourite of mine but generally don't pull on lead nor exhibit separation anxiety. I have kept live marine reef systems for 31 years but it does not qualify me to work with dogs.
My colleagues and I with the partnership of Middlesex University have recognised this trait and many years ago implemented a way of assessing an individual knowledge base in many vocationally learnt occupations - canines being one of them. I am all for academic learning, but I wish to include all those who wish to learn from basics and to embrace those who already have a wealth of canine behaviour training knowledge. We are inclusive see the website for more information.
Colin Tennat MA Professional Practice Canine Behaviour & Psychology.
Chairman of the CFBA
To all concerned,
I’m writing in response to a number of emails I’ve received in relation to a new organisation that has been set up as the self-styled regulator of animal behaviour and training. They’ve made a splash in the press along with unsubstantiated and untrue claims on their website and I thought I’d write to alleviate any concerns, let you have a bit of history and update you of the facts.
The Companion Animal and Welfare Council (CAWC) was tasked in 2008 to set up, maintain and be responsible for a code of practice in relation to dog training as well as to maintain a register of the organisations that were committed to abiding by that code.
A number of groups attended these meetings, including the CFBA as you can read on our web site, however a handful of animal behaviour groups kept trying to take over and dictate how they wanted the dog trainers to work; I must highlight that these were animal behaviourists trying to tell dog trainers how to do their jobs.
At the May CAWC meeting The Pet Education, Training and Behaviour Council (PETbc), which was formed last year, was discussed. Sir Colin Spedding (chairman) noted that the PETbc were addressing the same issues that CAWC were and proposed “a solution to CAWC would be to handover to the PETbc”.The solution however was declined due to the fact that anyone can sign up to CAWC’s code of practice whereas the PETbc is for organisations only and so CAWC continued.
The PETbc, went on to produce the only definitive document on roles within the Dog Training and Behaviour Profession and is being acknowledged by those within the industry as the standards trainers should be using. http://petbc.org.uk/roles-list.html.
Following on from a meeting earlier this year, where it was emphatically stated that the people who do the work are the people who should be setting the standards etc; a breakaway group was formed... you guessed it the Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC).
So that’s the history, what about the present and the future?
Well a number of questions really should be getting asked: Have they, the ABTC, got any authority in the business? No. Were they handed the mantle by CAWC to continue with the work started and be guardians for codes of practice and regulating standards? No. Do they have any clout with government bodies? No. Is the CFBA involved with this group? No.
The mantle was actually handed over to The Registration Council for Dog Training and Behaviour Practitioners as is noted on the CAWC website http://www.cawc.org.uk/node/81
What about The Registration Council for Dog Training and Behaviour Practitioners?
Have they got any authority in the business? Oh Yes. Were they handed the mantle by CAWC to continue with the work started and be guardians for codes of practice and regulating standards? Yes. Do they have any clout with government bodies? Yes. Is the CFBA involved with group? Yes. We are members of the council and also on the management committee. Is the Kennel Club, the largest dog training and behaviour representative body in Britain on board? YES.
The next meeting of The Registration Council for Dog Training and Behaviour Practitioners takes place on the 1st October and no doubt the ABTC will be discussed again – they’ve already been taken to task once for misleading the public on their website in relation to their self importance and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again in the near future.
Written by Lez Graham MA
and used from the GoDT with permission.
