National Dog Trainers Federation

Hi there, I finished the NDTF course literally a week before COVID hit Australia. It was the worst course Ive even done! The only positive I can say was that thank god for having [Name Removed] at Dural teach us through the 2 practical blocks. Dont waste your money on this trash course! $3800 down the drain.....Im only giving one star becuase none is not an option!

Completing the Melbourne Online CERTIII. Waste of money and time. The text book is good, the course content is at a good level to teach a brand new dog trainer. The trainers need development. They need to review their CERTIV Training and Assessment materials. The 8 Day in person block training is a joke. No structure or plan. 1 and a half… Read more

days of the block training is online anyway, and the lessons aren't pre-requisites for the following lessons or anything, they could be completed outside of block training before people travel and pay for accommodation, just to sit in their expensive air bnb and listen to a poorly planned lecture that has no learning objectives or clear learning outcomes, and aren't even teaching us the content from our course or textbook. This course very poorly covers behavioural modification. You come out ready to teach an obedience lesson on how to teach "Sit". So If you're looking for more than that, find a good mentor to learn off.

- Trainers need professional development, would go a long way to changing people's review on the course as it has potential. - Course lectures need to be lessons not "Dog training tangents according to their opinions" - Block training can be condensed to 5 days and made more effective with a review of the use of time. - Lectures could be recorded and course could be self paced. - They need to do better. - The amount of bad reviews and feedback I know they have been supplied, and nothing changes.

Very satisfied with the course, Teaching and Management was Awesome the guidance made the course very comfortable to understanding. Would highly recommend

Over the finish line with NDTF Certificate III Dog Training – I found block Vic training very informative with Trainer's presentations well presented. Doing the course by distance education in Victoria sometimes met with challenges. A phone call for encouragement from Poala Stradwick in Sydney was fabulous. Her guidance enabled me to clearly think things through. When I was stuck from time to time, her… Read more

inspiring view would prompt me to go in another direction, which then helped me Successfully complete assessments at my own pace.

Best In Show! – If you want to be a dog trainer this is the course for you.

Disappointing – Woefully unorganised, reached out in regards to completing a training course several times over the span of two years and the only two responses i got were TWO emails six months apart, stating that they weren't taking new students for the foreseeable future. Which obviously isn't true? Wouldn't want to study under this organisation anyway due to… Read more

these terrible experiences, there are better RTO'S out there that actually care about the industry they're in, and the students they are taking money from.

Unprofessional and unhelpful – When I was looking into dog training courses, I enquired via email with NDTF about whether I could complete their course without using aversive tools. The email response not only didn't answer my question, but contained information I knew to be untrue - such as that "legislation defines the handling or training if animals to be fear free". The… Read more

email seemed defensive, saying everyone is entitled to their opinion and they'd "respect my opinion". I hadn't offered an opinion; I'd just asked a question about course requirements. It was unprofessional and entirely unhelpful. Glad I elected not to study with them.

Concerning Reviews and No Response from the NDTF. Why? – I was about to sign up for the Cert III, as Cert III can be a prerequisite for other courses with other educators. It is shocking to see the reviews below. What's even more shocking is that the NDTF is not responding to these reviews, implying acceptance. Time for more certified courses to become available so that people have an option. Right now… Read more

there appears to be a monopoly between two very different options. It's disgraceful and doesn't help anyone.

Useless – NDTF teach out of date methods using cruel and inhumane techniques. The teachers are more concerned about running their own businesses then they are in teaching the students

NDTF and Precise Training – Completed the NDTF course 2023 via Distance Learning QLD, through the Precise Training Portal. Paola from Precise Training, was amazing from start to finish answering any questions I needed help with anytime. Paola was very prompt and professional with all communications via email for the duration of my course. Not that I got to meet Paola in… Read more

person, but her communication in writing via email was always friendly, positive and she seemed to have a great sense of humor. VERY VERY helpful. I didn't need to utilize communication via phone for any further communication as all my question were answered sufficiently via email. The Trainers/ Instructors - QLD on the Sunhine Coast for NDTF for me, were super friendly and helpful while on the 2 placements required for completion of this course - Dave and Ryan they are both very knowledgeable, happy to answer any questions I had, encouraging while preforming tasks and gave good guidance while on the placements face to face. A special mention to Mandy one of the other trainers at the Sunhine Coast facilities, assisting while on my placements, she is absolutely a beautiful lady so helpful, super friendly and very welcoming. I do however recommend highly, if interested in this course via distance learning, you try and team up with others that may be interested and complete the course together, I was able to do this and this definitely help immensely in the completion of this course, keeps the motivation going, not going to lie, it was quite intense learning periods at times, but by having others in same area, we were able to have study groups together, help each other, save in travel coasts, which was a fantastic help for me, also great to find other trainers in your area who are liked minded and who have already completed this course before, as they have great guidance and assist greatly in the learning while not at any face to face placements.

Great course and team! – The best dog training course in Australia, supported by a great team of professionals

Terrible – Collective review for NDTF and in particular Precise Training. Glad I’ve seen the reviews. Confirmed my first thoughts about this organisation. 1 star can be for early communication albeit very vague. Other than that communication poor. Pre enrolled and nearly a year later no course, which is ok if not kept in the dark. No true notification about… Read more

any of it, had to keep contacting and contacting without much luck. They were very secretive and gave nothing. Terribly run organisation. Don’t leave potential customers/ students in the dark. Poor from a ‘nationally recognised’ organisation. I would expect much much much better.

If they weren’t the only ones to supply this certificate they’d for sure be out of business.

Wondering anyone here asking for refund? – I haven't received any communication from the organization regarding the course that was supposed to commence this July. Despite reaching out to them this morning, they informed me that they were unable to provide a confirmed date at this time. In frustration, I have requested a refund via email, but I have yet to receive a response from them. If… Read more

I do not receive any further communication from them by the end of this week, I plan to contact ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority).

For those who may require it, here is the link to ASQA's website, where you can find information about filing complaints regarding training providers: ASQA Complaints Page(https://www.asqa.gov.au/about/complaints/complaints-about-training-providers).

Poor Communication – Have been waiting for almost a year. Paid full fee but never received anything back and they couldn't even confirm if the course can be delivered or not.

Great course – Knowledgable trainers/teachers and admin staff were very helpful and prompt with replying.

Great course ! Quality learning now I've done the NDTF course aswell as the full course at TASK-9 – The best course n instructors. Owe my life to them

Wouldn't recommend to ANYONE – They will change dates, plans, assignments and give no warning, if you can't meet their new timing that's tough on you and you fail, they refuse to work with you unless you pay them more money, though literally they were the ones who constantly changed dates. Who cares if you have a job and can't take a week off in two days notice, tough.

Extremely unprofessional – This is a very unprofessional course. I have recently concluded this course and have been baffled by the unprofessionalism and the unsafe learning environment. Do not waste your money on this course, it does not deserve its accreditation. (btw, there are more accredited courses to become a dog trainer in Australia, the information on the website… Read more

is false).

The teachers of this course are extremely unproffessional. There was a very clear outline of subjects the students received at the start of the course however the teachers generally had no clue what subject they were teaching that day and would just make up anything they think of to talk about. This made the course extremely unstructured and it meant that several subjects were never addressed and that some subjects have been addressed several times.

Besides this, in general the teachers were not really invested in their role in general. For example, one teacher used her classroom time to e-mail her clients (external from the NDTF course) and would discuss with the students how she should phrase her e-mails. She would also use us to help herparticpate as distractions for her dogs in clips she would use to get her dogs roles in films. This has nothing to do with training a dog whatsoever and was just used to benefit her own career.

Perhaps the only teacher who had some actuall knowledge on dog training was an ex-military man who was incredibly emotional/aggressive. This man would yell at students several times for asking, what he perceived to be, dumb questions. And would even yell at students for making small mistakes, like flicking lightswitchwes the "wrong" way.

Besides teacher being unprofessional, the NDTF was also unsafe. During a demonstration one of the students almost got bitten in the face by an extremely dangerous special forces dog. None of the staff took any safety measures whilst demonstrating this dog, even though they k new its potential.

All in all, I can't say that I learned much, and I regret ever paying money for this course.

Lodge your complaint with ASQA – It seems everyone has same complaint... I just had a phone conversation with the national manager ...she was defensive and rude before the conversation from the get go. I ended the conversation when she wouldn't let me speak ...I told her I was looking for an amicable solution...I told her I was lodging my complaint with ASQA… Read more

(https://www.asqa.gov.au/about/complaints/complaints-about-training-providers) and she wasn't at all worried. I told her if she wanted a fight she would get one... Please lodge your official complaint otherwise nothing will change

Waste your money – Your can't cusualy ask questions to your teacher. You can't get back your assessment about 3 months. If you made 2 times mistakes you have to pay. If you need teachers help, you need to pay. It's hard to study if you don't purchase $80 book. All about money. I think that they don't want us to pass so they can get more money. Almost every… Read more

students have so much stress and anxiety before the course finish.

They don't care about you. They care about your money. I was in the Victoria class.

Waste of time and money – Complete waste of time and money. The hands on training provided is brief and not much one on one time is spent honing your skills towards completing your assessment. Would highly recommend people avoid this course as you will learn more from doing your own research and YouTube.

Do your homework, don’t waste your time – Poor correspondence from Victoria office. NSW seems to be more across it. Only interested in taking your money. It’s a shame the NDTF is associated with Precise Training. Either they have people in the business closely related to government or they are getting kickbacks. Would not recommend due to lack of correspondence and failure to deliver goods in a timely manner. Presentation of key content is poor, my 10 year old does a better job!

Horrible Representatives – The majority of the staff seem horribly incompetent. The lectures have very little value. One woman in particular drones on for the whole 8 hours everyday. Her dogs smelt foul and were misbehaved and seemed to lack basic training. I had her for multiple days and she couldnt answer questions and it seemed like she was high and kept drifting off.… Read more

The office staff were rude and not accommodating at all for any issues, but wanted to charge extensively for extension fees. The price is overcharging for what you get and nobody seems to answer any questions. They say you get assessments back within 3 weeks but sometimes it takes MONTHS! If I could have my time over I’d never have done the course.

Horrible/ – Terrible and saddened that Precise training takes your money. No support and no correspondence. This course needs to be reported to Fair Trading. The only correspondence is the outstanding amount owning.

Waste of money and time – After check all the other reviews I could clearly see that the problem wasn’t me and looks like everyone is going through the same issues. They don’t care about students, they don’t care if you are learning, they just care about your money. I could learn more with friends, colleagues and YouTube. They take ages to answer back and you will fee… Read more

lost the majority of the time.

The administration staff are rude and incompetent. Course content is outdated. Information is withheld in order for you to have to pay to extend the course as they set you up to fail. Avoid this course or you will get the worst experience ever.

In the end you will have to find legal advice.

Terrible, old fashioned , focus on punitive methods,rude – The course wasn't as bad as some have written, but the content was inconsistent, the instructors contradicted each other, the teaching was in the main outdated and focused in punishment( pushing chokers to the extent you fail if you don't use one ) and when my certificate didn't arrive the co ordinator wasn't inclined to supply it again. I… Read more

learned a lot more from other up to date trainers elsewhere. I recently contacted the coordinator to ask her to share or send email an address to try to get authorities to get military dogs abandoned in Afghanistan evacuated ,because it's a dog training course, so you would think they might care, and her exact words were, "get screwed". Very nice , [Name Removed]! Seems they only care about dogs when they are charging thousands to qualify people as trainers.

Terrible experience wasted money – This course was a scam. The administration staff are rude and incompetent. The trainers aren’t knowledgeable or helpful. Course content is outdated. Nothing taught about leash pressure or spatial pressure. Information is withheld in order for you to have to pay to extend the course as they set you up to fail. Avoid this course it’s a rip off.

Cert III- my experience was terrible – Read reviews before enrolling! I do not recommend this course, I had a terrible experince getting certified. The information is outdated and basics, administration is hard to communicate with and very disorganised you have to keep calling them over and over to get some responses to enquiries. No support, expectations in the assessments are impossible to meet no matter how much you try. Spend your money elsewhere! Show details

$5000 wasted – All of the reviews here are exactly what I have experienced. They take your money and offer no support or communication thereafter. I am Now seeking legal advice . Do not waste your money, And don’t fall for the “nationally recognised “ course . It means nothing in an unregulated industry . Show details

Basics in Dog Training and Behaviour – I took this course and while it did give me a good basics into dog training and behaviour, it is an extremely expensive way to do this. I could've easily learnt all that NDTF taught me through reading or free online courses. Difficult to fail but they will squeeze whatever money they can out of you. Trainers aren't eager to help, course materials are basic and outdated. Show details

NDTF Certificate III Dog Training – Would not recommend this course, staff at Precise training who deliver the training for the NDTF are only interested in taking your money and offer little to no support or quality teaching to students. Such a large investment for a course that you would expect a certain level of quality training and customer service from the business, but there is… Read more

little to none. NDTF are not contactable if issues arise with the training, they promote the course but won't have anything to do with you from then on. Course is a rip-off.

Poor Quality and Outdated Course – This course is quite expensive and a complete waste of time and money. You would be far better off studying dog training through a US based organisation or simply mentor under a reputable trainer. There are several organisations involved in the delivery of this course, all whom are mostly interested in dominating the industry in Australia and… Read more

ensuring their own training methodologies, businesses and products are used during the course and beyond. The course content and assessment criteria are very outdated. The RTO (Precise Training) who delivers theory part of the course are disorganised and unprofessional and not at all interested in helping students to successfully pass the course. The issues you will face trying to navigate through this course can quickly erode any passion and confidence for dog training that you went into the course with.