The Multiplier Credential
An Instructor Certified is a Handler Certified who has spent additional documented time teaching other handlers — under the eye of a Master Instructor — and who has produced a specified number of successful Handler Certified graduates.
Handlers are made one at a time. Instructors are forged by PSSK9™ time in the work. The industry has decoy schools, dog schools, and marketing courses. It has no widely-accepted, standard-setting instructor certification for real protection dog work. PSSK9™ Instructor Certified is that credential.
“A program that cannot certify its own instructors is a program that will never scale past one person. That is fine for a family shop. It is not fine for a standard.”
Who Should Pursue This Credential
- Handler Certified holders with at least two years of continuous handler work.
- Existing trainers at protection-dog programs who want to align their practice with the PSSK9™ standard.
- Corrections and government K9 trainers whose institutional experience translates directly to the private sector.
- Master Decoys who want the second credential required to teach handlers formally.
What the Credential Requires
Prerequisites
- Handler Certified in good standing for a minimum of 24 months.
- Written application, phone interview, and in-person assessment with a Master Instructor.
- Documented teaching hours — a minimum of 200 hours as an assistant instructor at an Authorized or Certified Facility.
Coursework (16 weeks minimum, live in-person)
- Adult learning theory applied to protection-dog handlers.
- Curriculum design — how to sequence the 12-week Handler Certified course for different dog types.
- Assessment design — how to run a fair, witnessed, defensible handler assessment.
- Legal framework for the instructor — liability, documentation, waivers, incident recording.
- Program administration — scheduling, facility use, decoy coordination, medical response.
- Instructor-to-instructor communication — the small-team standard for the PSSK9™ ecosystem.
— Confidential · Enrolled Candidates Only —
The full coursework outline is released after application acceptance.
Enrolled candidates receive the complete curriculum, module-by-module, upon written acceptance. It is not released publicly.
Apply to Begin →
Practical Requirement
The Instructor Certified credential is awarded only after the candidate has personally taught two Handler Certified candidates through the 12-week course, and both have passed their Handler Certified assessment. The credential is not awarded on the classroom work alone.
What the Credential Confers
- Authority to run Handler Certified courses at an Authorized or Certified Facility.
- Authority to sit as an assistant on Instructor Certified assessments under a Master Instructor.
- Public listing (opt-in) as an Instructor Certified operator.
- Eligibility to pursue Master Instructor after 3 years and specified graduate counts.
Maintenance
Instructor Certified requires annual refresher work, and every three years the credential is reviewed against the graduate record. An instructor whose Handler Certified graduates fail at rates above the published standard is placed under audit and may lose the credential.
— Before You Apply —
Every applicant to any PSSK9
™ credential is required to read
THE BUYER’S GUIDE · READ FIRST. It is the public document the entire standard is built around. Applications that reference it are read first. Applications that do not reference it are read last.
— The First Step —
Apply to Begin the Instructor Certified Path
Every credential path begins with a written application, a phone interview, and an in-person assessment. There is no online-only path. There is no fast-track.
Open the Enquiry Form →
