Trust
The Methodology Review Board
We invite credentialed experts to pressure-test how we evaluate courses. They review the method, never the verdicts.
Our authority is analytical. We do not claim to have personally completed every course with a dog, and we do not invent anecdotes to suggest we did. What we can do, and what this page is about, is hold our evaluation rubric to the standard of the people who actually study how dogs learn and how welfare is measured. So we are assembling a small board of credentialed experts to review the rubric itself.
What the board does, and does not, do
Board members review our methodology: whether our Method and Welfare axis correctly reflects the science of learning and welfare, whether our Teachability and Design axis reflects how adults actually learn, and where our framework is wrong or thin. Their job is to make the rubric better and to tell us when it is mistaken.
They do not see, influence, score, or endorse individual course verdicts, and they have no role in our affiliate decisions. This separation is deliberate and permanent. It is what lets a reviewer who runs their own courses help us without any conflict, and it protects the promise the whole site rests on: the rubric decides the verdict, and the affiliate link follows the verdict, never the other way around. We say this here so you can hold us to it.
How it works
- A bounded, paid review. We ask for a specific, time-boxed review of the published rubric, and we pay an honorarium for it. We do not ask reviewers to work for exposure.
- Verified credentials, shown. Before we list anyone, we verify their credential through the relevant public registry (for example CCPDT, IAABC, the Animal Behavior Society, or the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists), and we show the verified credential beside their name.
- Disclosed conflicts. Many of the best people in this field also sell their own courses or teach at their own academies. Where that is true, we say so plainly next to their listing, and the methodology-only rule above is why it does not bias our reviews.
- No strings on links. We credit each reviewer with a link to their professional work because it is the honest thing to do and because readers should be able to check them. We never make an honorarium conditional on a reviewer linking back to us.
Status
Founding seats are open
We are building this board now, and we would rather show you an empty, honest page than a list of names we have not earned. We are inviting experts across veterinary behavior, applied animal behavior, canine science, and certified, science-based training. As reviewers join, their verified profiles and the scope of what they reviewed will appear here.
If you are a credentialed professional whose values match ours and you would consider reviewing our rubric, we would be glad to hear from you. Write to hello@markermethod.com.
Why this matters to you as a reader
A review desk is only as trustworthy as the standard behind its verdicts. Publishing that standard, inviting experts to attack it, and keeping those experts walled off from the commercial verdicts is how we earn the right to tell you, with a straight face, when not to buy a course. For the standard itself, read how we grade every course. For who we are and how we make money, read about us and our affiliate disclosure.