NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Behavior College (ABC) celebrates its sixth year of increasing adoption rates at animal shelters through its Students Saving Lives program.  

"Since 2004, ABC students have proudly donated approximately 60,000 hours of volunteer training time at animal shelters throughout North America, and have helped countless dogs find loving, forever homes," says Debbie Kendrick, Vice President of ABC.

Students Saving Lives is a required portion of ABC's Certified Dog Obedience Training Instructor Program.  Each dog training student must volunteer a minimum of 10 hours working with dogs at a local animal shelter in order to hone their training skills while helping homeless dogs become better candidates for adoption.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, 50 percent of all dogs in U.S. shelters will be euthanized.  "My biggest success story is saving the life of a Pit Bull named, Max, basically from the 'jaws' of being euthanized," says ABC graduate, Deborah Missell, ABCDT, about her Students Saving Lives experience.

In addition to Students Saving Lives, Animal Behavior College encourages all animal lovers to help make a difference through their new Training Shelter Dogs Continuing Education Program. This course focuses exclusively on the complex training issues unique to dogs living in shelter environments and offers a proactive solution to euthanizing dogs simply because of behavioral issues. The program, written by Teoti Anderson, former president of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, with contributions from Kelly Gorman-Dunbar and numerous members of the ABC staff, provides students with the necessary skills to handle shelter-specific challenges.

Both of these ABC programs help to instill the importance of giving back to the shelter community in students by encouraging them to utilize their professional dog training skills. "Once I started volunteering, I knew I'd never stop," said Missell.

Animal Behavior College plans on continuing its mission to help shelter dogs through the active involvement and commitment from its staff, students and graduates.

Animal Behavior College (ABC) is a vocational school that specializes in animal-related career training.  ABC currently offers three programs – a Certified Dog Obedience Instructor training program, a Certified Veterinary Assistant program and a Certified Grooming Instruction program.  ABC has training locations nationwide as well as in Canada and is the premier school for animal lovers who wish to pursue animal-related careers.  

SOURCE Animal Behavior College

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