Through the Distance Learning Programmes, we offer a unique experience – it’s the complete skill set you need to create your own consulting business

• All the easy to learn, scientific knowledge to diagnose & fix animal behaviour issues
• Persuasion skills to ‘sell’ your animal behaviour solutions to clients
• Life changing personal development
• Support to set up your own Animal Behaviour Consulting Business.

You’ll be consulting as an Animal Behaviourist after Stage I earning a living from what you love to do.  With the Distance Learning you can go at your own pace – there is no limit on how long you have to complete the programme, but equally the record to qualify currently stands at 2 months!! Submit and pass the Case Studies & you are ready to go out and consult having completed Stage I.

If you want we can make you more efficient in Stage II, give you fantastic depth in Stage III and cover animal consciousness in Stage IV, but that’s all optional.

The secret of why we are different to universities is simple – we are here to make animals’ lives better … we have the passion which drives our mission statement:   ‘positively influencing the well being of animals worldwide‘

We want you out there consulting, because that’s the best way we can utilise our skills to help animals – making you to be part of our mission statement.

By the time you leave us you will have both the technical knowledge & the persuasive skills, because animals only benefit from your advice if the owner implements your advice.

Overview of the modules

• Evolution, domestication & the impact on our cats – understanding just how much pressure domestication has placed on domestic animals & how short that timescale is (compared to evolution), puts everything into context. We only teach what counts so it’s low on detail & big on the practical implications – we’re not after making you a feline evolutionary specialist, we teach what has practical relevance to your objective of becoming a great behaviourist. With cats, this context is especially important as they are considered to be only partially domesticated & the implications for you as a Feline Behaviourist are crucial to your ability to understand what motivates them.
• Ethology – understanding natural behaviour is the prerequisite for gaining perspective on aberrant behaviours (the ones that clients need changed). And knowing the original source of unwanted behaviour is the scientific foundation for developing effective behaviour modification programmes.
• Learning theory – enables you to uncover the cause of the behaviour, understand how it developed & hence how & what it will take to remedy it. Real historical case studies entrench your knowledge & understanding of how learning theory effects behaviour in a practical sense. By the time you’re finished, learning theory will become one of the tools you apply to your everyday life; not just feline behaviour.
• Physiology – all behaviours are driven from within the body, so to truly understand a behaviour you need a little specialist knowledge of what’s driving it from the inside. This is a tightly focused journey into the workings of the endocrine system, neurology & memory, but only as it relates to behaviour. Once again our objective is not to make you an expert in endocrinology, but rather to be comfortable holding your own in a conversation with a vet on areas such as stress; the internal mechanisms & their impact on behaviour & welfare, measurement & health implications. Once you have completed this module you will never view behaviour in the same way.
• Welfare Assessment – provides you with the understanding of how cats deal with stress & the negative impact it has on the whole animal. Diagnosing welfare issues is key to resolving most behavioural issues as, in most cases, it is the correcting of welfare issues that makes behaviour modification possible. This is one trainers typically struggle with; if the welfare problems continue the cat is unable to change its behaviour so their next resort is often force, fear & intimidation. With cats this is especially cruel as avoidance of threats is a core part of their ethogram (the repertoire of normal behaviours).
• Abnormal behaviours – fears, anxieties, phobias, suppression & stereotypical behaviours and how to modify them.
• Aggression – this covered specifically as you need specialist knowledge to treat aggression without needing to resorting to force or intimidation. We have a proven approach called the Jigsaw of Aggression© which we’ll share with you. It takes skill & understanding to approach aggression in a compassionate way – we’ll equip you to do this, keeping you, your client & the cat(s) safe.
• Consulting – how to run a consultation, applying the NAC Behavioural Triangle© to assess the animal’s needs & which are not being satisfied, acting as a coach for your client, applying counselling skills to achieve jointly shared action plans. Providing the theory is only half of what you need. We know you’ll analyse the problem correctly & of course, come up with the right advice, but in addition, we need to teach you how to persuade your client to implement it. It takes all of … applied knowledge, succinct advice and the client’s motivation for the animal to get the benefit. We’ll get to so you’re great at the whole process.

So if this appeals the advice stands … spend the intervening time on gaining one of our other qualifications. The learning will stand you in good stead for when you come to begin the Feline course.