For the last several years, Delta Society has been engaged in a major initiative aimed at developing a comprehensive curriculum for people who want to become service dog trainers. This curriculum - the Service Dog Education System (SDES) - will increase the supply of well-trained service dogs to meet the demands of people with disabilities.
During the early stages of research and development of SDES, Delta called upon leading experts on dog training, service dogs, disability, animal behavior, veterinary science, and other professional disciplines to help design the content of the curriculum. It has been Delta's practice and guiding philosophy to design training programs by this approach. There was, however, one condition that Delta imposed on the experts as they did their work: Delta would only support training techniques based on humane treatment of dogs.
This condition brought to the forefront a need for standards to define humane training. Using a grant from the Engelhard Foundation, Delta contracted with the American Humane Association to convene experts to produce a set of standards for dog trainers that would be considered humane. After several years of work, this book is now complete. It is hoped that Professional Standards for Dog Trainers: Effective, Humane Principles will have a far-reaching influence, particularly in the area of pet dog training. Delta Society will use it as a touchstone for its SDES curriculum as well as for the other courses it sponsors that address animal behavior and training.
Delta Society takes this opportunity to thank the many experts who worked diligently on the project. We also thank the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for a grant to complete the final editing, and we are honored that they have endorsed the Standards. We are grateful to Pedigree Food for Dogs for a grant to publish the Standards and to present them at an international conference, the September 2001 International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations. Our shared passion for the welfare of dogs has produced a book that will serve as a guide for professional trainers for many years to come.
Linda M. Hines
President and CEO
Delta Society
