Creative Acres Natural Training | Creative Acres Animal Sanctuary

Creative Acres Natural Training (C.A.N.T)

Creative Acres Natural Training is a program to learn how to become an animal trainer, behaviorist, and/or evaluator. One lesson you learn at C.A.N.T. is how to train family pets with non-abusive methods that involve little or no devices.

This means that we do not use chokers, pinch or shock collars, gentle leaders, clickers, or the use of food to get an animal to respond. We rely on the natural bond that humans and animals have. You will learn how to evaluate a situation to make a loving, respectful, and smooth relationship between two different species. This includes learning the animals’ language, movements, and behaviors in various situations. This also includes learning how to evaluate human behaviors when interacting with animals. It will be your job to mold the personalities and surroundings and suggest alternatives that promote a comfortable, loving, safe environment.

In the State of Colorado, anyone can be a trainer by just paying a fee to the state. To become a behaviorist, you can be certified online. Some behaviorists become certified by reading books in a structured surrounding but having little to no interaction with live animals. Even if someone writes a book, makes a video, or produces a website or magazine, they may have little or no knowledge of what they’ve published. They just got the financial backing to publish their opinions.

Be careful of trainers who are abusive or use abusive devices, and also be wary of trainers who use devices such as food and clickers.

Remember that pet stores, small and large, are businesses. Their job is to sell you products, not to educate you. Most employees are people who love animals but, unfortunately, have limited education on animal welfare. Also, notice that a part of their training is to walk you through their business to entice you to purchase items. If you have any animal health issues, we suggest that you go to your veterinarian.

The animal business is a billion-dollar industry with clients who cannot speak for themselves if things go wrong. The public assumes that animal professionals are being regulated. Assuming this, they take for granted the license or certification that comes with professional education. Unfortunately, this is simply not true.

It is impossible to have knowledge without experience. If you do not have knowledge, you will not be able to train animals correctly. That is why so many trainers use devices, abuse, or tell stories to make themselves look better. They do not know how to form a natural bond with an animal.

At Creative Acres Animal Sanctuary, we feel a change must be made in the animal industry for the animals and public safety. Many in the animal industry, including professionals, need to be properly educated. And now, you can be a part of that change!

We believe that you need to interact with different animals in various situations for many hours to be an educated professional. Even if your desire is to only work with dogs, more experience and observations on animal behavior enable you to make more educated evaluations and ultimately become a better teacher. You also need a foundation in animal health. 

For example:

Did you know that if a cat urinates outside of the litter box, it is probably due to a medical problem and not a behavioral one?

We believe you need to visit and learn about different animal organizations. Even if you do not agree with their philosophy, it will give you a perspective about what you do not want to do and what needs to be changed. Watching a person have negative interactions with an animal is also a learning experience. Unfortunately, this is the case all too often. Debating is also a great skill to gain. By completing this course, you will build confidence in yourself by acquiring valuable knowledge. This will enable you to change situations by example and with facts.
You will learn how to teach your clients simple things like the important role that toys play in animal training. You will learn how to teach your clients the most important lesson for training — focus or "getting an animal's attention when you want it." Have you noticed that most training websites, videos, or books do not discuss focus? They will first try to teach you how to get your dog to sit or stay. This is wrong.
By taking the C.A.N.T. course, you will learn all the methods and share the experiences mentioned above and so much more.

By being one of our trained professionals, you will be able to train or suggest positive alternatives for animals. This is critical for people who can't live comfortably with their animals. Sometimes, these people will bring their animal to a shelter and, usually, that animal is destroyed.
You might then decide to further your education with us and become an evaluator to save animals in shelters. After completing our course, you will learn how to truly determine if an animal is aggressive. You will also be able to aid private citizens' concerns for animals that are being too easily destroyed in shelters.

You will also be able to make a huge difference in the animal world by protecting their rights. So many shelters say that they put animals down because of bad behavior. Some shelters claim to have evaluators or trainers on staff, but none of these professionals seem to be able to handle the animals that are a little harder to place. These are people who have not been educated positively. With C.A.N.T., more animals will have a chance for survival.
There is also the opportunity to become a C.A.N.T. investigator. The investigator inspects animal organizations and professionals for the needless abuse and euthanasia of healthy, correctable animals.

Training Tips

Training starts from the day you interact with your animal. A good start will ensure a long, happy relationship. Here are a few tips to find a good trainer or start on your own. Training is not hard if you know what to do.
Training starts in your home. A good trainer will come to you and teach you how to handle your animal. This happens when the trainer gets to know you and your environment. I always tell my clients, "I am training you on how to train the animal because I want you to have that bond with the animal, not me."
Multiple weeks of training is a waste of precious time. Basic training methods should have been taught to you right from the beginning. Only when you want to do specialty training should the process with you and a trainer stretch over a period of time. There are also special cases with elderly and special needs people that may take longer.

Socialization starts with you. Do not worry if the animal interacts with an assortment of animals at the beginning. Let it bond with you. Socialization should come after an animal is trained. With your guidance, a trained animal that trusts and respects you will handle themselves correctly in most situations. Some animals just may not like other animals or may just naturally be nervous to be in the outside world. However, if trained correctly, they will tolerate the situation. Be aware of your animal’s needs.
Some animals will change with age. Spaying or neutering is helpful and healthier for an animal in most cases.
Never use choker chains or pinch collars, as they could be considered abusive. It is unnecessary to cause pain to an animal that you are trying to teach, particularly one that is not aggressive.
A gentle leader is another form of lead (collar). Most people look at the name and think this lead is a good product. Our opinion is that gentle leaders are great advertisements. Just because the company came up with the word gentle does not mean it is true. The gentle leader handles like a muzzle and pulls the animal in an unnatural position. Once again, your best tool for training is a regular nylon collar.
Trainers that use these methods just want to use a quick fix. Usually, they are uneducated or scared of the animal. Think about it: if you feel pain, would you think of the command or the area that hurts? You truly do not get the full focus of the animal.
If a trainer uses “sit” as a first command, be careful. The first lesson you must teach an animal is to focus. This can be done in different ways depending on the animal.

Do not train with food. This may get an animal to bite. They always want food, so they might get frustrated. Also, if you use food and someone, such as a child, has food, they may want it. The animal may become food-aggressive. If trainers train with food, once again, it is a quick fix with a bad end result. What happens if you need that animal to obey you and you do not have any food? There are much better ways to train with the end result that won’t make you look like a menu and where you will receive respect, trust, and love instead. You will want the animal to listen to you without devices. This leads us to the next subject: clickers. Don’t use them! You will need to get rid of the clicker eventually, so why not train correctly from the beginning? Also, what happens if you lose your clicker, or — the worst nightmare — someone else has a clicker? The right toys at the beginning are very important. Do not use material toys (such as cloth, rope, socks, etc.) It is hard for the animal to tell the difference between a couch and a toy. Let the animal get to know your home better. Squeaky toys sound like little children. We do not want to promote this. When an animal hears a sound like this, it associates the sound with the toy and can possibly harm the child. Good toys are balls. They promote a bond and teach them commands. Bones are good, except rawhide. If your animal will not chew on anything else, use a compressed rawhide (not a soft rawhide). Big pieces can get stuck in their throat, and rawhide swells in the belly. Tug toys are not suggested if an animal tends to bite. Let it know its boundaries before you play with tug toys. The same suggestion applies to playing with animals with your body parts, such as your hands, feet, hair, etc.

Training an animal takes patience. You must make the time to come out of all training sessions on a positive note.
We hope these few suggestions will help you in your training and decision-making.
We have been established since 1987, living and working with hundreds of animals at one time, many of which are of different species and breeds. Our experience in working with these animals has given us a great deal of practical knowledge that has made us a leader in our field of animal care, education, and support.