Barks Blog
Pet Professional Guild Launches New Divisional Member Meetups
Free Bimonthly Events Provide Members a Forum for Mentoring, Education and Support
INVERNESS, Fla. – Aug. 19, 2022 – The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has launched free bimonthly divisional meetup events for its members. The events are designed to give members the opportunity to join in the conversation and ask questions of pet professionals and featured guests live in an informal format.
“Our goal with the meetups is to provide an environment for topical and species-specific discussions and education while fostering a sense of community and support among PPG members,” said Niki Tudge, PPG president. “We are particularly excited about the meetups for the Inclusivity Division. Rather than focusing on species-specific education, these sessions will create opportunities for members to meet and learn about each other while celebrating our diversity and encouraging a stronger feeling of inclusion across the membership.”
Each divisional team will host and moderate its own hour-long event every other month, and event times will be rotated to enable members across different time zones to attend at least two events per year. Guest speakers will also be featured. The participating divisions include the Advocacy Division, Canine Division, Feline Division, Equid Division, Inclusivity Division, Assistance Animal Division and Shelter and Rescue Division. The events will be available to all members to attend live via Zoom or from the division’s respective group on Facebook. The meetup recordings will be available in the Facebook groups and on PPG’s website.
The first Divisional Meetup event was hosted by Judy Luther and Kelly Fahey of the Canine Division on Tuesday, August 16. The topic was kids and dogs and featured guest speaker Debby Lucken, the founder of U.K.-based Kids Around Dogs, an award-winning association of dog and child care professionals who specialize in helping families with children to train their dogs and live in harmony together. Debby has also designed a successful protocol to help children overcome the fear of dogs.
“We were honored to have Debby Lucken join us for the inaugural Canine Divisional Member Meetup,” said Judy Luther, chairwoman of the Canine Division. “Debby shared some great suggestions and ideas to help kids and dogs adjust to the upcoming school year. In the lively conversation, we also discussed many ideas to help members meet the needs of their clients, as well as some new ideas for marketing and training programs.”
The next meetup will be hosted by the Equid Division on Thursday, August 25, at 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The featured guest will be Michelle Martiya of Essential Equine Training, based in Boca Raton, Florida, and the topic is food manners for equids.
About The Pet Professional Guild
The Pet Professional Guild (www.petprofessionalguild.com) is a 501(c)6 member organization founded on the principles of force-free training and pet care. Its membership represents pet industry professionals who are committed to science-based, humane training and pet care philosophies, practices and methods. Pet Professional Guild members understand force-free to mean that shock, choke, prong, pain, force and fear are never employed to train or care for a pet. PPG members are professionals “Informed by Science, Guided by Empathy, Governed by Ethics” TM