A dog walker/boarder I know has apparently told someone I've just met that they have a degree in dog/animal behaviour and are a nutritionist.

I know for a fact that neither of these things are true (they know F-all about behaviour quite frankly, and are the reason I have Raine thanks to zero knowledge and bad training methods; and nutritional knowledge extends to 'feed Burns because your dog is fat/thin/scurfy/badly behaved/insert reason here'), but the online ads do not state this.

Is there anything that can be done?  I worked with them a lot last year, and they lie about all aspects of their work and knowledge.  Vey pushy too - the person I spoke to today found them incredibly patronising and was quite annoyed with them after the chat - this is normal!

If it is in writing and used as part of their advertising then you could challenge it.................. BUT

You need to be very careful.

Eg does the individual say WHAT degree they have in WHAT and from WHERE?  If they do not, then you can BUY degrees over the net, so from a legal point of view she is not being untruthful as after all any reader can INFER what they like from an ad/post/etc.

The same could be said of the term nutritionist.  The term is not actually a protected one, there are no qualifications required to call oneself a nutritionist unlike dietician which IS a protected term and DOES require qualifications.

ANYONE can call themselves a "behaviourist" or a "nutritionist" neither term means diddly squat. They are not definitions of "legal competency"

The terms in and of themselves have no VALUE apart from to the person selling their services.

Of course if you have the RELEVANT degree then that deserves the relevant respect from all.

Bum.  Had a feeling that might be the case :-(

It's so frustrating, I know exactly what they know about dogs (as I said, F-all) and I know they lie through their teeth about pretty much everything - I also know the damage their 'knowledge' can do and has done to dogs, and yet there seems to be nothing I can do.

Thankfully I could dissuade the person this morning from using their services but there are plenty more who get pulled in by the sales pitch :-(

Well as Jane Austen once said

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the skills, knowledge, ability, training and experience of a person is in direct inverse ratio to the sophistication of their website.

(I am sure you remember Elizabeth saying these very words to Mr Darcy)!