Training Requirements
Massachusetts Animal Fund Animal Control Officer Training Institute Program
All ACOs are required to complete 30 education credits (ECs) in their first training year. The Massachusetts Animal Fund Animal Control Institute's Core Competencies Training is mandatory for all ACOs and worth 16 ECs. The next Core Competencies Training sessions will happen in the Fall of 2020. Registration will open in May of 2020.
All animal control officers are eligible for exemption from the remaining fourteen (14) credit hours of continuing education in the first year if they completed a comprehensive course with the Animal Control Officers Association of Massachusetts (ACOAM), the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA), or the New England Animal Control/Humane Academy (NEACHA).
After completing the year one training cycle, Core Training plus an additional 14 ECs, ACOs are required to take eight credit hours of approved continuing education through any combination of in-person or online trainings offered by or approved by the Massachusetts Animal Fund during each calendar year.
Upon completion of any continuing education course, ACOs must submit a certificate of completion and/or a Request for CE Form.
If no certificate is available, fill out the Request for CE Form. It requires the signature of the course organizer and your supervisor. Be sure to bring this form with you to the training. In the case of online courses, only your supervisor’s signature is required.
All completed CE forms should be mailed to Mass Animal Fund, 251 Causeway Street Suite 500, Boston, MA 02114 or to sheri.gustafson@mass.gov
Forms and Reference Guides
Under Massachusetts general laws ACOs need to make, keep, and maintain a system of records or forms which fully and correctly disclose detailed information of all animals taken into ACO custody. In addition, it is important to keep activity, incident, lost/found, and voucher request information. Mass Animal Fund has compiled forms, and resources for ACOs to use for their records.
Download a copy of the Massachusetts Animal Fund ACO Training "Animal Laws and Regulations." This publication includes:
- M.G.L. Chapter 140
- M.G.L. Chapter 272
- M.G.L. Chapter 129
- Additional M.G.L. quick reference
- Acts of 2012
- PAWS II Updates
- Code of Massachusetts Regulations
Click below to find sample forms and documents you may use as an ACO.
Animal control incident report
Massachusetts Animal Fund Request for CE Credit