Can you show your training decisions, not only the final behavior?
Tromplo Certificate of Demonstrated Competence in Evidence-Led Animal Training Practice
Completing a course gives you material to study. Demonstrated competence asks what you notice in a real session, what you measure, what changes your plan, and when continuing would be the wrong decision for the learner. This assessment-based certificate is built around that difference.
Applications are not open yet. The founding cohort will be limited to eight candidates. Dates, entry requirements and candidate terms will be published here before applications begin.
A certificate with clear evidence and clear edges
The award records the competences and species actually assessed. It gives trainers a precise way to describe what they demonstrated without stretching one assessment into a claim about every case, species or professional role.
The certificate scope: This certificate confirms that the holder demonstrated Tromplo’s defined competences in observing behavior, planning and implementing reinforcement-based skill acquisition, measuring change, revising training from evidence, teaching a human learner, and protecting animal welfare and agency with the species recorded in the assessment. The certificate does not establish competence in veterinary practice, diagnosis or treatment of clinical behavior conditions, unrestricted behavior consulting, or species and professional roles that were not assessed.
Demonstrated competence
What the holder will have demonstrated
- Observe and define behavior so another person can recognize and measure it.
- Plan reinforcement-based skill acquisition and arrange the whole training loop deliberately.
- Collect useful data, compare evidence with interpretation and revise one relevant variable.
- Construct a new behavior through error-minimizing shaping and build duration as a separate skill.
- Test cue control, fluency, maintenance and generalization rather than assuming them.
- Teach one observable skill to a human learner while protecting animal welfare and agency.
Deliberate boundary
What stays outside this award
- Veterinary diagnosis, treatment or regulated clinical work.
- Unrestricted competence with every behavior case or professional setting.
- Competence across species that were not assessed.
- A license, accreditation or independent occupational certification.
- A guarantee of a particular outcome with every learner.
The credential names the exact certificate, assessed species, issue date and standard version. It does not authorize the broader title “Tromplo-certified dog trainer.”
Study builds the repertoire. Assessment asks you to use it.
Eight Tromplo courses and two certificate-pathway modules teach the analytic and practical system. Assessment then uses new evidence to ask whether a candidate can apply that system without being guided through each decision.
Study and practise
The curriculum connects observation, behavior processes, reinforcement, shaping, duration, stimulus control, generalization, troubleshooting, agency, welfare, human teaching and professional scope.
Demonstrate and explain
Candidates submit continuous training video, raw data and five evidence bundles, then work through an unseen case and an oral discussion. Course ownership or lesson completion alone does not produce the award.
Six stages, from seeing behavior to defending a decision
Every stage has a distinct job. Together they move from careful observation to practical teaching, measurement, revision and decisions that stay inside the evidence.
See behavior clearly
Replace labels with observable definitions, identify relevant contingencies, separate evidence from inference and establish a baseline that answers a real question.
Design consequences and participation
Examine reinforcer function, placement, delivery, transitions, motivating variables, access to outcomes, opt-in and opt-out arrangements.
Construct behavior
Define terminal performance, map prerequisites and modules, arrange the environment, obtain the first movement and revise criteria from learner behavior.
Build robust performance
Separate duration, distance and repetition; develop cue control, fluency, maintenance, generalization, prompt removal and clear training loops.
Review evidence and revise
Locate the first observable divergence, compare close explanations, identify missing information and choose the smallest useful next test.
Apply within scope
Integrate welfare, agency, safety, consent, documentation, privacy, referral and human teaching before summative evidence begins.
Shape Me Up! and Duration by Design are separate requirements. Shaping constructs behavior; duration asks a defined behavior to continue in time. The certificate assesses them as different competences.
Five bundles that show the decisions behind the training
Final behavior matters, but it is only one part of the record. The portfolio follows observation, setup, delivery, data, welfare, revision and the limits of what the evidence can support.
Error-minimizing shaping
Construct a genuinely new behavior or component. Show prerequisites, approximations, environmental arrangement, criteria changes, continuous sessions and at least one reasoned revision.
Duration
Define what begins, continues, ends and happens next. Use time-based data, protect relevant form and separate duration from distance and repetition.
Stimulus control and generalization
Test intended and accidental cues, latency, prompt fading, no-cue conditions and one deliberate context change rather than assuming the behavior transferred.
Troubleshooting and first divergence
Use a naturally imperfect session, locate the earliest observable change, compare bounded explanations, change one variable and evaluate the result.
Teaching a human learner
Teach one observable skill with permission, guided practice, specific feedback and an understanding check. Adapt from the person’s behavior without taking over.
Independent evidence, then a reasoned decision
The assessment design uses two trained assessors who score independently before discussion, follow the same published rubric and involve a third reviewer when a pass-level disagreement or critical concern cannot be resolved.
- Complete the required learning and a formative readiness check.
- Pass a scenario-based knowledge and reasoning assessment.
- Submit continuous video, raw data, planning and decision records.
- Discuss assessor-selected evidence and one unseen case in a 40–45-minute oral assessment.
- Receive a written decision, the evidence supporting it and any next steps.
A dog-focused first cohort, with a wider animal-training standard built carefully
This pathway may fit you if you want to…
- move from describing a method to showing how you make decisions;
- work through a substantial science-and-practice curriculum;
- share continuous sessions, raw data and imperfect evidence;
- explain what changed your mind and where your evidence stops;
- have welfare, agency and scope assessed alongside technique.
Eligibility
- completion of approved current or bridged versions of the eight required courses;
- access to suitable animal learners and one consenting adult human learner;
- continuous video, raw data and written analysis;
- permission, privacy and welfare safeguards for every case;
- work within a low-risk skill-acquisition scope.
The candidate handbook will state the full evidence and learner requirements before applications open.
Pricing that protects the assessment work
Tuition covers the complete education-and-assessment pathway: required study, independent scoring, continuous evidence review, oral assessment, decision reporting, privacy safeguards and fair review routes.
Maximum eight candidates
US$4,200Includes required Tromplo courses not already owned, two certificate-pathway modules, structured preparation, knowledge assessment, two-assessor portfolio review, oral assessment, decision report, verification record and one scoped resubmission.
After the founding cohort
US$5,500The regular tuition follows the founding cohort and retains the same evidence-led, non-compensatory competence standard.
Existing-course tuition credit: up to US$902. Eligible paid, non-refunded ownership is verified privately. Course ownership and completion of an approved current version—or its required bridge—are checked separately.
Why the founding price is lower: the first cohort helps Tromplo measure workload, clarity, assessor consistency and candidate support. The competence standard is not reduced.
Payment never purchases a Pass. The decision depends on whether the evidence meets every published competence requirement, including the non-compensatory welfare, agency, integrity, safety and scope rules.
Applications and payment are not open. Tax treatment, payment dates and candidate terms will be stated in the application materials.
Build the repertoire before you ask assessment to measure it
The certificate does not replace learning. It connects Tromplo’s core courses into one professional pathway and asks you to use those skills in new, continuous training evidence.
- See behavior clearly — Behavior Geek and Trainer’s Toolbox Part 1.
- Design consequences and participation — Strategic Reinforcement Delivery and Let Me Want It!
- Construct behavior — Shape Me Up!
- Build robust performance — Duration by Design and Trainer’s Toolbox Part 2.
- Review evidence and revise — What Changed First?
Frequently asked questions
Are applications open?
No. The founding cohort will be capped at eight candidates. Dates, entry requirements and candidate terms will be published on this page before applications begin.
Can I pay or reserve a founding-cohort place now?
No. This page takes no payment and reserves no place. Applications will check eligibility, course ownership, learner access, conflicts and available assessment capacity.
What will tuition cost?
Tuition is US$4,200 for the founding cohort and US$5,500 for the regular pathway. Verified eligible required-course ownership can reduce tuition by up to US$902. Payment terms will be stated before applications open.
Will my existing Tromplo courses count?
Eligible paid, non-refunded ownership can qualify for tuition credit up to US$902. Completion of an approved current version—or the required bridge for an older version—determines whether a prerequisite is met. Ownership alone does not replace completion or readiness.
Is this the same as a course certificate of attendance or completion?
No. A course document records attendance or completion of that course. This pathway requires new continuous training evidence, raw data and analysis, a knowledge assessment and an oral discussion, followed by a competence decision against the published standard.
Why are both Shape Me Up! and Duration by Design required?
They answer different training questions. Shaping constructs behavior through planned approximations. Duration defines and teaches what should continue in time, how it ends and what follows. The portfolio assesses them separately.
Will the founding cohort include species other than dogs?
No. The founding cohort assesses dog portfolios. A future species route requires appropriate tasks, welfare indicators, assessor competence and scored examples for that species.
Does this make someone a Tromplo-certified dog trainer?
No. A successful candidate may state that they hold the full named certificate and identify the species assessed. The award does not authorize the broader title “Tromplo-certified dog trainer.”
How is the assessment decision made?
The assessment design uses two trained assessors who score independently against the same rubric. The decision uses continuous portfolio evidence, raw data, an unseen case and an oral discussion. Every competence domain must reach the published standard; welfare, consent, honesty, safety and scope are non-compensatory.
When will the founding cohort start?
No start date has been announced. Dates and the full application timetable will be published here.
The pathway begins before the application.
Use Start Here to choose the training problem you want to solve now, or explore the full course catalogue. The assessment comes later; the quality of your observation, planning and revision can start changing in your next session.