Log in

May 2020: Issue 53



Pet Dog Ambassador Adapts to COVID-19 Restrictions


During lockdown, video submission of exercises should be offered by all Pet Dog Ambassador assessors only if it is possible to do so. The program does allow for modification of exercises under certain conditions. However, some exercises cannot meet the criteria because of current legal restrictions. To this end, PDA has made modifications to Levels One and Two and requests that assessors do not undertake Levels Three, Four and Five until restrictions are lifted. PDA welcomes suggestions as to how exercises can be modified so they are legal but still meet the required standard. Please email Debra Millikan with any possible modifications you deem to meet the program requirements. Click here for more details.



BARKS from the Guild: May Issue Now Online


The May issue of BARKS has now been released online. In this issue:

  • Cover Feature: Niki Tudge examines harassment in the workplace and encourages pet industry professionals to speak up about harassment of any kind, providing a range of guidelines to help enable them to do so.
  • Competition: #PPGValentine photo favorites.
  • Events: Report from PPG’s February certification workshop on pet loss and grief companioning.
  • Training: Identifying what clients' mean when they label behavior / Troubleshooting the hand-delivered retrieve / Triage for ‘laundry list’ dogs / Teaching recall: A new standard / Creating positive workspaces for dogs.
  • Canine: Activity and enrichment for aging dogs / Strategies for managing canine stress.
  • Rescue: Setting criteria and the importance of a written training plan.
  • Feline: Educating clients on the need for environmental enrichment.
  • Business: Dressing appropriately for the job.
  • Education: Courses for animal training and behavior professionals from PPG corporate partner Animal Courses Direct.

Sign up for your free lifetime digital subscription to gain access. Already signed up? Click here to read and download the May issue and/or individual articles.



Print and Back Issues Now Available for BARKS Members


PPG has added a print-on-demand option for all back issues of BARKS in the member area of the BARKS from the Guild website. We have also added a new page featuring all the 2018 editions and another new page featuring every issue from 2014-2017 so you can now download any issue or read it online, as well as order your print copy. The same options are already available for the 2019 and 2020 issues of BARKS to date. To access all these features, make sure you become a member by registering for your free lifetime digital subscription. You will need to create a new account as it is a separate platform from PPG and your PPG login details will not work. If you have already registered, you can access all back and current issues in your BARKS Digital Membership area.



PPG Announces Summit Writers’ Competition Winner and Runners-Up


Congratulations to Kim Geisert of Dynamite Dog Training in Deerfield Beach, Florida, who is the winner of our PPG Blog Competition, and has been awarded a free entry ticket to PPG Summit 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona on September 18-22, 2020. Congratulations too to Heddie Leger of Hero's Hope Pet Assist in Waverly, Tennessee and Metis Riley of Positive Effects Training in Fritz Creek, Alaska who are the runners-up and have both won a free recording of PPG’s Virtual Summit which took place last month. All three articles have been published on the BARKS Blog and will also be featured in the July issue of BARKS from the Guild. There were so many more great entries and we will soon be featuring some of our favorites on the BARKS Blog and in upcoming issues of BARKS. A big thank you to everyone who entered and for sharing their inspiring stories about their work and experiences with shelter and rescue pets. Read the winning and runner-up entries:

Note: You can still register for your Virtual Summit recordings, featuring eight exceptional educational experiences with 12 hours of recordings + Q&A sessions. Photo: © Can Stock Photo/damedeeso




Cat Committee Launches Call-In Lounge


The PPG Cat Committee launched its PPG Cat Group Call-In Lounge last month, with great success. The next Lounge will take place on Tuesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. ET and the discussion topic will be Working with Veterinarians. The event will start with a 30-minute discussion among a smaller group of people ("the fishbowl") and everyone else on mute. During that time, the participants who are on mute can make comments and ask written questions via the Chat function, then it will be opened up for 30 minutes of wider discussion among the whole group. The Lounge will be held on the Free Conference Call platform, which can be used on smartphones, iPads, and desktop/laptop computers. Participants will be sent an invitation and instructions on how to join. Please check the PPG All About Cats Facebook group for further details. Photo: © Can Stock Photo/cynoclub



Canine Arthritis Management Member Offer

 

                      


PPG corporate partner Canine Arthritis Management (CAM) is a vet led education service for owners and pet professionals. Osteoarthritis, a leading cause of premature elective euthanasia, is a complex and common disease that is often overlooked as simply ageing or slowing down. It frequently underlies unwanted behaviors and results in a poor quality of life for dog and owner. CAM believes that education is key to changing this and has made a special discount available to PPG members to get 10% off all its shop products. Find the discount code in your PPG member area under vendor discount programs.



Transpaw Gear®
Offers Special Member Discount


PPG corporate partner TransPaw Gear® is offering a special PPG member discount of 20% on its TransPaw Gear® Happy Harnesses. The usual PPG discount is 15% off, but from now through May 31, you can receive 20% off your order. Find the discount code in your PPG member area under vendor discount programs. Wholesale and industry pricing is also available.



Smart Dog Training and Behavior Offer



Special offer this month, May 2020, from PPG corporate partner Smart Dog Training and Behavior! Research Bites, a series of webinars taught by Kristina Spaulding PhD CAAB, is on sale at $5 (instead of the normal $12) for the trial period for the monthly subscription and 10% off the annual subscription. Research Bites finds current, relevant, and interesting papers and reads and interprets them for you. All you need to do is show up, listen to the lecture and discuss the implications.



New PPG Approved Vendor


Kelly Duggan of Kelly Duggan Design is now a PPG approved vendor and is offering members a 25% discount on her work which includes graphic design, branding and website design. TO see a sample of her work, see the PPG’s new Pet Rescue Resource website.



Business Contingency Planning for PPG Members

PPG is still offering a range of services to support members and their businesses during the current pandemic. These include free member webinars, Facebook Live sessions offering business and marketing advice in the PPG members’ Facebook group, virtual PPG Social events, educational blogs, deferral of membership renewal fees, waiving of Pet Professional Accreditation Board application and transfer fees and more. Watch out for the regular Business Contingency Planning member email updates and keep an eye on the new Business Contingency Planning section in the members’ area of the PPG website for more details and ongoing updates.



Project Trade Announces March 2020 Ambassador


Congratulations to Daniel Antolec of Happy Buddha Dog Training in Wisconsin, USA for trading two prong collars and who has been named Project Trade Ambassador for March 2020.

 

Project Trade is PPG's advocacy program whereby members offer service discounts in exchange for aversive training gear.

Find out how Project Trade can help your business in Helping Dogs, Helping Families.



BARKS Podcasts are now available on the Anchor platform, from where you can select your preferred app to listen any time or download. Make sure you follow BARKS Podcasts on whichever app you choose so you can stay updated with new releases. Join PPG president Niki Tudge as she chats to:



    Live Webinars:

    Thursday, May 21, 2020 – 5 p.m. EDT

    Your Ten Point Game Plan to Rolling Out a New Service Product. Presented by Niki Tudge

    Friday, June 5 - 1 p.m. EDT

    Anxiety: The Whole Story. Presented by Dr. Jessica Hekman DVM PhD

    Monday, June 8, 2020 - 2 p.m. EDT

    Training vs. Management. Presented by Suzanne Clothier

    Wednesday, June 17 - 1 p.m. EDT

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - How It Manifests in Dogs, and How We Can Help Them. Presented by Alexandra Santos

    Did you know that PPG has hundreds of recorded webinars? Each month more are added as live events are completed. You can search on them via topic, or presenter. Click here to have a browse through them or to check out the new scheduled live webinars.

    PPG is offering the following
    selected webinars at a discount this month:


    Emotional Dog with Dr. Robert Falconer-Taylor

    A Simple Recipe for Social Media Success with Tracey Lee Davis

    There’s No Place Like Home: Easing the Transition to Inside Life for Outside Dogs with Kristi Benson

    Top Tips for Supporting a Client with a Rescue Dog with Nathalie Ingham

    Separation Distress with Alexandra Santos






    The PPG Archive holds over 3,250 articles, blogs and videos. Here's a selection of what's been added this month:

    Familiarity with humans affect dogs’ tendencies to follow human majority groups - Miho Nagasawa, Kazutaka Mogi, Hisashi Ohtsuki & Takefumi Kikusui

    Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish pet dogs - Milla Salonen, Sini Sulkama, Salla Mikkola, Jenni Puurunen, Emma Hakanen, Katriina Tiira, César Araujo, and Hannes Lohi

    Identification of separation-related problems in domestic cats: A questionnaire survey - Daiana de Souza Machado,Paula Mazza Barbosa Oliveira,Juliana Clemente Machado,Maria Camila Ceballos,Aline Cristina Sant’Anna

    20 problems with punishment in animal training– Dr. Karolina Westlund

    Living with and loving a pet with behavioral problems: Pet owners’ experiences - Kristin Buller & Kelly C.Ballantyne

    Teenage dogs? Evidence for adolescent-phase conflict behaviour and an association between attachment to humans and pubertal timing in the domestic dog - Gary C. W. England, Rebecca Sommerville and Naomi D. Harvey

    Canine collars: an investigation of collar type and the forces applied to a simulated neck model - Carter, A., McNally, D., & Roshier, A

    How to Read Your Dog's Body Language When Training– Emily Larlham

    How to Manage Your Dog’s Indoor Energy Level – Updated for COVID-19 - Kristina Spaulding

    Quantifying Equid Behavior—A Research Ethogram for Free-Roaming Feral Horses - Jason I. Ransom and Brian S. Cade

    Reconciliation in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris): Evidence for the uncertainty reduction hypothesis -

    Why Dogs’ Happiness, Not Obedience, Is What Counts– Zazie Todd

    Safely Hand Feed Your Horse – Essential Animal Training

    Adopting or Fostering a New Dog or Cat? Learn the 3’s! - Katelyn Schutz

    Encounters with Dead Pets: A Study of the Evolution of Grief- Hal Herzog

    Do Dogs Grieve Other Dogs? - Susan Paretts

    The impact of paternity and early socialisation on the development of cat' behaviour to people and novel objects - Sandra McCune

    See the full PPG Archive.


    New this month!

    Phoenix Blog Competition: Mookie’s Tale – Kim Geisert

    Phoenix Blog Competition: Where Hope Lives - Heddie Leger

    Phoenix Blog Competition: Starting Straw for Dogs – Metis Riley

    Message Received! - Suzanne Clothier

    Tell Us What You Really Think - Susan Nilson and Angelica Steinker

    E-Fence Fallout - Daniel Antolec

    Finding the Upside of a Pandemic - Daniel Antolec

    Dog Trainers: Still Here to Help – Virtually!- Anna Bradley

    Goals in Dog Training: Outcome or Behavior – Which Do You Control? – Niki Tudge

    PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Tell Me Who You Are – Understanding the Individual Dog - BARKS from the Guild

    PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Foundation Training Skills to Prepare Dogs for Future Learning After Adoption - BARKS from the Guild

    PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Canine Welfare – What Is It and How Do We Measure It? - BARKS from the Guild



    Member Brags


                

    Congratulations to Emily Tronetti of Coexistence Consulting in Bellevue, Washington who received a PPG scholarship to attend The Academy for Dog Trainers in June 2018 and has now graduated from The Academy with honors, holding a Certificate in Training & Counseling. “I'm now a much more efficient and effective trainer and am confident in my greatly improved client counseling skills,” she said. “I will be forever grateful to The Pet Professional Guild for making this possible, and I have so much appreciation for Jean, the Academy staff, the graduates and the other students.”



    YOUR QUICK PPG  LINKS

    * Advocacy Resources


    * BARKS Blog - latest blog posts and subscribe

    * BARKS from the Guild: back issues

    * BARKS from the Guild: subscribe

    * BARKS from the Guild on Facebook

    * BARKS Podcasts

    * Corporate Partners

    * Equine Resources

    * Feline Resources

    * Pet Dog Ambassador

    * Pet Professional Accreditation Board

    * PPG All about Cats Facebook Group

    * PPG All about Horses Facebook Group

    * PPG Archive (links to over 3,250 articles, blogs and studies and growing daily)   

    * PPG Australia

    * PPG British Isles

    * PPG Education Scholarship Program

    * PPG Educational Resources: webinars and workshops

    * PPG Member Discussion Board (note: you must be logged in)

    * PPG Newsroom

    * PPG on Facebook

    * PPG on Twitter

    * PPG on Instagram

    * PPG Position Statements

    * PPG Shelter and Rescue Facebook Group

    * PPG Summit Phoenix 2020

    * Project Trade

    * Shelter and Rescue Resources

    * Shock-Free Coalition




    All content copyright 2020. The Pet Professional Guild . All rights reserved. The PPG is a 501 c 6 Non Profit organization
    Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software • Web Design & Development by DotCreativity Web Design Services