American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB): How to Become Board-Certified

ACVB certifies veterinarians in veterinary behavior.

The credential comes with interchangeable wording: a Diplomate may use Board-certified Veterinary Behaviorist, Veterinary Behavior Specialist, or Veterinary Behaviorist to describe their credentials, so a referral under any of those terms points back to the same certification.

AVMA's specialty list attaches no separately named specialties to the college — behavior is the field itself.

What AVMA does publish is the field's size: 99 active ACVB diplomates as of December 31, 2025.

That count is worth holding onto while reading the requirements: the college defines entry through supervision stages, a publication and a two-day examination, and the board-certified tier within the field is compact.

ACVB's stated general requirements are to graduate from an accredited veterinary school, attain veterinary licensure, and complete the equivalency of a rotating internship — an equivalency, which frames the threshold as something comparable experience can satisfy rather than one specific internship year.

The residency then runs one of two ways: a Behavior Residency Program, or an Individual Behavior Residency Training Program mentored and approved by ACVB.

The individual route puts a concrete search on the candidate: finding an ACVB Diplomate willing to serve as their mentor.

ACVB's certification page lists the currently approved programs and points individual candidates to the Diplomate Directory to network with potential mentors.

It states no residency length and sends candidates to its detailed program documents — the Residency Policy and the Applicant Packet among them — to confirm one, so near-term planning anchors on the caseload and publication requirements it states directly.

The caseload is specified in supervision stages: the first 25 clinical cases are seen with the mentor present, 25 of the next 50 cases are seen under the mentor's direct supervision, and close supervision is required for all 400 cases.

Alongside it sits a publication — candidates author a scientific paper published in a peer reviewed journal based on their own research.

With that training work in place, the candidate makes application for the examination; a successful application allows the candidate to sit a comprehensive two-day certifying examination.

When that examination has been successfully completed, the individual may become an ACVB Diplomate.

Recertification of Diplomates is required at ten-year intervals, commencing January 1 of the first calendar year after initial board certification, with the certificate expiring December 31 ten years later.

Certification is therefore time-limited rather than one-and-done: the expiry date is set as soon as certification begins, and the cycle repeats across a career for diplomates certified under ACVB's current framework.

ACVB's recertification document spells out that interval and obligates newly certified diplomates to it — earlier ones are encouraged rather than obligated — so a veterinarian drawn to the behavior title should read the ten-year clock as part of holding the credential.