Which Professional Certification is Right for You?

We are excited that the opportunity for professional certification is growing in pet care services. This means that anyone working in a career providing dog training, dog daycare, pet lodging, pet sitting or dog walking will soon be able to achieve a professional designation.

Professional dog trainers have offered certification through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) for over 10 years. Their program was recently accredited and is the model used by the Professional Animal Care Certification Council (PACCC) for their new program.

Deciding which certification is right for you requires a self-assessment of your knowledge and pet care service role. Which services do you spend most of your time engaged in and how do you introduce yourself in the market?

• CPAC-Provider – confirms knowledge required for hands-on pet care used by professionals working in dog daycare, pet lodging, pet sitting or dog walking. The role requires understanding pet health, behavior, engagement and safe care practices.
• CPAC-Manager – confirms knowledge required for quality pet care as outlined in Provider, but also includes management responsibilities like human resources and customer service.
• CPAC-Operator – confirms knowledge for the Manager certification plus the operation of safety systems, procedures and policies that ensure pets in their care remain safe and healthy.
• CCPDT-KA – confirms knowledge as a dog trainer including instruction skills, learning theory, husbandry, ethology and equipment.
• CCPDT-KSA is the next dog trainer level of certification and demonstrates their practical skills necessary to train dogs and teach others to train their dogs.

You may want to obtain multiple certifications to reflect your diverse roles in pet services. The CCPDT certification reflects your skills as a professional dog trainer and CPAC-Operator that your dog daycare services operate with a focus on health and safety.

To help you make a decision on the appropriate level of certification in dog daycare, PACCC has shared additional information on their levels that you can download here. The CCPDT website provides full details on their certification levels at http://www.ccpdt.org.

We know our members value education and provide quality pet services. Professional certification is an important step in sharing how you stand apart from your competition. We are excited to share these resources so you and your team get the recognition you deserve. PACCC has created a marketing package to help professionals share their support of certification with your clients, for more information on the package visit their website.