UPDATE: The CCPDT revised its policy statement on training practices in early August, 2011.
The CCPDT Responds
Below is the CCPDT’s response to the letter that accompanied my recent application to renew CPDT-KA certification. It explained my inability to sign CCPDT’s updated Ethics Code, due to its reference to their 2009 policy statement banning certificants from using electronic collars on any dog under one year of age. The board’s response followed two weeks of deliberation, or, more likely, a two week period within which my concerns were at some point very briefly deliberated.
It is by now safe to assume my arguments did not inspire the CCPDT to revisit the language within their 2009 policy statement on dog training practices. But even if it did, their taking the present opportunity to remove me from their ranks is hardly a shocker.
At any rate, here is what landed in my virtual mailbox yesterday afternoon.
Good afternoon Ruth:
Last evening the Board of Directors of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) discussed the reasons you submitted for which you believe you cannot sign and adhere strictly to the CCPDT Code of Ethics. We appreciate your integrity and honesty. However, insofar as the Code of Ethics is an integral part of our recertification process, your refusal to sign means you have not fulfilled the recertification requirements. Regrettably, we must allow your CPDT-KA credential to lapse.
Signed,
CCPDT Board of Directors
A Haiku Version
The more I contemplate the above four sentences, the more I regret the CCPDT did not think to craft their verdict into a pithy haiku for my digestion. That would have been inspired. Below is an example of the form, featuring a 5-7-5 syllable structure:
Concerns unwelcome
Integrity regretful
You are not worthy
I’m sure someone out there can do better, but you get the idea.
© Ruth Crisler and Spot Check, 2011.
21 comments
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January 15, 2011 at 9:12 am
auntfaye
They don’t want to confuse themselves with facts.
January 15, 2011 at 1:29 pm
ruthcrisler
Facts can be really stressful if you’re not accustomed to them.
I recommend a lengthy course of desensitization and counter-conditioning, prior to expecting their full acceptance.
January 15, 2011 at 10:28 am
Linda Kaim
Nor do they want to be bothered with questioning their own integrity, or lack thereof. A failed system perpetuated by a failed sense of superiority.Gawd.
January 15, 2011 at 9:48 pm
ruthcrisler
Isn’t that the definition of small minded, to resist challenge to one’s beliefs?
January 16, 2011 at 5:17 am
ruthcrisler
Actually I just checked, and it is “having narrow interests, sympathies, or outlook.” But that works, too.
January 15, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Janeen
Considering the rather impressive amount of skill their adherents show in cherry-picking scientific facts to suit popular dogma, I expect to see something come out in print soon about the horrors of shocking puppies.
They’ll use Schecker Teletakt collars, punish four week old puppies randomly (giving them no directions whatsoever on how to avoid or escape the pain) then smugly pimp the study as ‘proof’ of the true and noble love they have for all dogs.
January 15, 2011 at 9:21 pm
ruthcrisler
Innocent puppies
Shocked in the name of science
Conclusions foretold
January 15, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Viatecio
You forgot “Shock them at the highest levels the collars can attain.”
A study ain’t a study if it don’t use the most extreme aversive.
I can’t find it verbatim, but I remember someone saying something to the effect of “How come shocks can be used to attain high-level degrees, but any use of electrical stimulation in the real world is strictly frowned upon”?
January 15, 2011 at 10:00 pm
ruthcrisler
That was me, I believe. From Remote Control:
January 15, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Viatecio
I’m more disappointed to learn that it was simply your refusal to follow meekly along with their CoE that caused you to be booted from the organization, rather than, you know, the critical thinking to which you alluded in your letter regarding actual real-life situations in e-collar use rather than from pseudoscienfitic papers pushing one outcome only.
Perhaps you should leave
Your opinion not welcome
We love our own “facts”
January 15, 2011 at 9:45 pm
ruthcrisler
Nice use of haiku, and thanks for playing along, by the way.
January 15, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Janeen
What a bunch of tools
Smug, small, greedy, self-righteous
Fuck the lot of them
January 15, 2011 at 9:54 pm
ruthcrisler
Oh, I think you win the prize with that one. Don’t know what the prize should be– maybe a shock collar!
Keep em’ coming!
January 16, 2011 at 8:40 am
Robin Katherine Rubin
My mind was made up
But the response proves the point
CCDT not worth the time
Ruth, you totally crack me up. I wish I could write with as much humor as you do about the absurdity of it all!
I am sorry that you spent time, money et on this, only to have this happen. Thank you for sharing with them your feelings and concerns. More their loss than yours, as their pool of qualified and talented trainers ebbs and dwindles. They are not doing themselves any favors.
January 16, 2011 at 10:32 am
ruthcrisler
Well, I probably would not have attended so many seminars over the past year, had I recognized the unlikelihood of re-certification a little sooner.
But since I did, stay tuned for upcoming posts on Pat Miller, CAT, and Sue Sternberg.
January 16, 2011 at 8:53 am
Cynthia Eliason
This reinforces my belief that the title “CDT” designates someone who knows how to parrot the propaganda they’ve been fed, rather than someone who knows how to train a dog. I know there are some real dog trainers who have this certification but I don’t understand why they bother.
January 16, 2011 at 10:14 am
Viatecio
I know one trainer who paid for the APDT membership, he claims, only for the insurance coverage.
I sometimes wonder at the number of people who call him and are surprised when he pulls out an e-collar, or heaven forbid, a prong collar to teach them how to use it correctly to train their dogs!
January 17, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Eleanor Herrick
Naive dog trainer
Dogma trumps actual dogs
No recert get out
January 17, 2011 at 5:30 pm
ruthcrisler
Hahaha. Very nice.
I does seem as if adherence to their own preconceptions tends to trump the real-life experience of individual dogs. Very unfortunate.
January 18, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Viatecio
Who needs life experience
Dogma better than thinking
We don’t need you, natch
January 18, 2011 at 8:10 pm
H. Houlahan
Trainettes write a test
Right guesses annoint, but for
The loyalty oath