Reading recent comments, I see that further background will be helpful.

First, a specific example.  In January of this year, I took my dog for a procedure at a specialist practice.  A veterinary technician tried to start the procedure before a sedative required by the doctor had taken effect.  The vet tech clearly could not read some basic signals in the dog's behavior, even after I told her that she needed to wait a bit longer for the sedative to kick in.  The vet tech then reported that the dog bit her, the practice cancelled the dog's treatment, and the dog died three weeks later.

After this experience, I contacted the American Veterinary Medical Association and Virginia Veterinary Medical Association for advice on how to prevent situations like this from happening in the future - how to prevent veterinary technicians from being hurt, and ensure that animals would have better access to life-saving care.  Both associations referred me to the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine.  I spoke at length with a representative of the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine office, who told me that there is no regulatory requirement for veterinary technicians practicing in Virginia to receive training in animal behavior. 

Some of those commenting here have argued that there is a requirement for Virginia veterinary technicians to receive animal behavior training.  If there is, then the mechanism for enforcing this requirement should not be a secret to veterinary clients, and certainly should not be a secret to the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine's own personnel.  The two major veterinary technician programs in our state do offer some training in animal behavior - a full course at Blue Ridge Community College, and part of one course at Northern Virginia Community College.  Neither institution clearly states that the course is required.  And what of the smaller veterinary technician training programs, some of which seem to come and go every few years?  What about veterinary technicians who are trained outside of Virginia, who come into Virginia to practice?

If there is already a requirement that veterinary technicians receive training in animal behavior, experiences like mine indicate that such training is not sufficiently applied.  This is why my petition calls specifically for behavioral training to be conducted by a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. CAABs are full-time professionally educated animal behaviorists.  Some are veterinarians who have completed a residency in animal behavior.  Others are veterinary technicians, or have consulted extensively with veterinary professionals.  

Having worked with rescue animals for over 20 years, having spent hundreds of hours accompanying animals to veterinary practices and well over a hundred thousand dollars on veterinary care, I believe veterinary technicians should be given the tools necessary to do their jobs safely, and that all animals should be given access to life-saving treatment.   Training in applied animal behavior is absolutely fundamental.