Dog schools and trainers
There is an obligation to obtain permission for anyone who commercially trains dogs for third parties or instructs the training of dogs by the animal owner. This applies to dog schools and activities such as offering behavioral therapy for dogs or training hunting, guide or guard dogs for others.
Anyone applying for an activity must designate a person responsible for animal welfare. This person may, but need not, be the same as the applicant. The responsible person bears the responsibility for the animals and must therefore be present to a large extent in terms of location and time during the activity.
The responsible person must prove the required professional knowledge and skills. For this purpose, documents are to be submitted with which a corresponding professional training or a professional or other long-standing contact with dogs can be proven. In addition, the municipal veterinary office examines the expertise in a professional interview.
Proof of professional handling includes, for example, many years of work in an institution with dog training, as a service dog handler or dog trainer for the police, the German armed forces or customs.
For the proof of other handling, for example, many years of successful work comes into question. For this you need proof of tests with your own dogs, such as companion dog tests, hunting dog tests, rescue dog tests, sport dog tests, written proof by qualified third parties.
The veterinary office interview consists of a theoretical and a practical examination:
- First, a specialist question test on a PC (D.O.Q.-Test PRO) is used to check whether the required theoretical knowledge is available. Passing this single-choice test is a prerequisite for taking part in the oral and practical parts of the examination. For organizational reasons, the online test and the other two parts (oral, practical) do not take place on the same day. To pass the online test, you must answer more than 75 percent of all questions correctly.
- Afterwards, individual specialist topics will be discussed in more detail in an oral interview. In addition to an official veterinarian from the municipal veterinary office, an external expert also takes part.
- Finally, the practical skills are assessed in a practical examination. For this, you need dog-owner teams, which you must bring yourself and for which you assume liability. The oral interview and the practical examination together will take about two hours.