Guides to dog trainer certification hours
Plain answers to the questions trainers ask most about the 300 hour training log: what counts, hands-on versus assisting, how to write the rows, and the behavior consultant log, each with the date it was last reviewed.
The 300 dog training hours, explained
The CPDT-KA exam asks for 300 dog training hours in the last 3 years: at least 225 hands-on and at most 75 assisting, logged by client and month.
Hands-on versus assisting dog training hours
Hands-on hours are teaching clients or training dogs yourself; assisting is related work such as shelter volunteering. An assistant who instructs is hands-on.
One client per month: how to write training log rows
Each training log row is one client or facility for one month, with hands-on and assisting on separate rows and no acronyms. How to roll sessions into rows.
Dog training hours that do not count
Hours with your own dog, assisting hours above 75, rows older than three years and group hours from basic obedience classes do not count toward the 300.
Behavior consultant hours: 300 in 3 years
The CBCC-KA behavior log asks for 300 hours in 3 years: at least 225 individual behavior consulting and at most 75 from specialized group classes.
Log your own hours
The log keeps one row per client per month with the role and the hours, flags rows that will not be accepted, and the progress page totals hands-on and assisting hours inside the three year window. Everything stays in this browser.