Hello

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of these behaviour courses, or alternative distance learning courses.

Many thanks

Anyone - please?

Thank you.

Hi,

I can't comment on the think dog courses, there are so many online courses about now and it really depends wht it is you want it for.  Do you just want to further your knowledge as a dog owner, is it something you are interested in as a career?  If it's the latter then you really need something with practical hands on experience as well - though you could do one of the online ones and volunteer at rescue centres to get experience of working with lots of different types of dogs and see if you could help at classes.

I can recommned the Bishop Burton course but it is a degree and is 3 years and there are four block sessions at college a year that are compulsory but the rest is done by distance learning if you can't make it to college.  You also need to do work experience for this course, it's is very involved and a lot of work but worth it in my opinion.

Sorry I can't help more.

Karen

I agree that it depends on what you want to do it for. I believe they came out of John Fisher's courses, one of which I did some years ago now which was my first, and called "The Canine/Human Interface". It was very good for what it was, but it doesn't make a person a behaviourist :)

I do rate Sarah Whitehead and also COAPE, which she used to be with. They also do some courses and if you want to do behaviour work then you might be better off going for them and doing the advanced course. There is also the Compass diploma, again rated well by  those who do it, and this might get  you into the UKRCB. These are really for if you cannot do a science degree in animal behaviour.

If you can do a degree, that is the best option for getting into somewhere like the APBC which requires hands on and theory. I did Bishop Burton foundation in canine behaviour and training, and am now doing a degree in Applied Animal Behaviour which is a part time top up.

However, if you simply want a dog course for your own information, I'd say Think Dog, or COAPE would be good, however that's JMO and I recommend asking further :)

Thanks, everyone.  I'd be doing it primarily for my own interest but with a strong possibility of making a career of it too. The Think Dog courses appealed to me because they run practical courses as well - I have some practical knowledge from my previous job as a vet nurse, although obviously that's different to working in behaviour.

I had looked at the Bishop Burton course but assumed that wouldn't start until next academic year (am going to call on Monday to check) and wanted something else to do in the meantime.

Thanks, all.