The Pet Professional Guild

09/05/2026

🎉You can attend the live Advocacy Panel and join the discussion in one of two ways:
1. Log in via the Zoom link accessed by registering for the event on PPG’s website.
2. OR jump onto PPG’s page at the allotted time (Sept. 16 at 12pm ET) to catch the conversation and ask questions.

09/04/2026

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD – Pets and Their People is a FREE online publication for people with pets. The articles are written by the best pet professionals in the field and access is FREE. I recommend that all of my clients at Green Acres Kennel Shop and Force Free Pets subscribe. FMI - https://petsandtheirpeople.education/

People

09/04/2026

'Compassionate Housing: Integrating People & Pets in Transitional Shelters for Unhoused Communities' - with Sabrina Mignacca
Webinar Details:
🗓️ Date: September 15, 2026
⏰ Time: 12:00 p.m. ET (Live session with recording access)
🎟️ Standard Registration: $30.00
🏷️ PPG Member Registration: $20.00 (Use your exclusive member discount code at registration! Available inside the PPG Member Area)
CEUs: PPAB 1, PMCT 1, CCPDT 1, KPA 1, IAABC 1
👉 Register Now & Reserve Your Spot →
https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/compassionate-housing-integrating-people-pets-in-transitional-shelters-for-unhoused-communities-with-sabrina-mignacca/
This session explains how keeping people and their animals together can be a form of harm reduction and how housing programs can adapt safely and realistically to become pet-inclusive.

09/03/2026

We can design the most brilliant training plan in the world, but if the human on the other end of the leash is dysregulated, progress grinds to a halt. 🐕🧠✨

In behavior modification, professionals excel at antecedent arrangements and operant mechanics for the dog. But what happens when a cue fails or arousal spikes? Handlers often spiral into embarrassment, frustration, fear, or anxiety—instantly stalling the learning loop and feeding into the dog's arousal.

Training success doesn't just live in the mechanics; it lives in the nervous systems of both learner and handler.

Join us for Mindful Dog Handling: Regulating the Human End of the Leash, a transformative webinar designed to equip trainers with an actionable, coachable framework grounded in Polyvagal Theory and practical coaching pedagogy.

What You’ll Learn:

🫁 Somatic Regulation & Polyvagal Science: How to coach clients through deliberate breathwork and grounding techniques, broadcasting a biological signal of safety directly to the dog to break the mutual fight-or-flight spiral.

🌿 The Montessori "Prepared Environment": How to use Maria Montessori’s concept of Freedom Within Limits as a client-friendly analogy that makes antecedent management intuitive rather than restrictive.

🧘 The "Observe. Breathe. Serve." Framework: A practical mantra to shift clients from panic-driven managers into calm, responsive guides during high-arousal moments like leash reactivity or resource guarding.

🔍 Applied Case Studies: Real-world breakdowns showing how to apply these somatic and environmental interventions with complex cases, including dysregulated adolescent dogs, while honoring their core behavioral needs.

If you’re ready to help your clients move from overwhelmed to empowered—and create lasting, ethical behavior change for the dogs in your care—this session is for you!

📅 Reserve your spot here:

https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/observe-breathe-serve-coaching-human-regulation-to-improve-canine-compliance-with-kristin-baker/

09/03/2026

So You Adopted an Adult Dog… Now What? First—congratulations! Bringing home an adult dog can be incredibly rewarding, but remember: your new dog has just experienced a HUGE life change. They don't know your routine yet. They don't know your expectations. And they may not even know that this is their forever home.

Here are a few things to remember:

Give them time to decompress. Keep things calm and predictable at first. You don't need to introduce them to everyone or take them everywhere on day one.

Observe before you assume. Your new dog is communicating with you constantly. Watch their body language and learn what makes them comfortable, worried, excited, or overwhelmed.

Start training right away—but keep it simple. Training isn't about correcting everything your dog does wrong. It's about teaching them how to successfully live in their new environment.

Use reinforcement to build new behaviors. Reward the behaviors you want to see more often. Behaviors that are reinforced are more likely to be repeated.

Create routines. Regular meal times, walks, rest, potty breaks, and training sessions can help your dog figure out what to expect.

Build the relationship first. Your new dog doesn't need to be perfect. They need to learn that you are a safe, predictable person they can trust.

And remember…Your adult dog isn't a blank slate—but they're not "too old to train" either! Dogs continue to learn throughout their lives. With patience, appropriate reinforcement, and an understanding of canine behavior, you can help your new best friend become comfortable and confident in their new home.

Need help getting started? Call, text or email us!

MyBestBuddyDogTraining.com

09/03/2026

Are you ready to move beyond “random acts of marketing” and start building a sustainable engine for growth? Join Niki Tudge for an intensive deep dive into the architecture of successful marketing campaigns.

In this webinar, we strip away the jargon to focus on the essential Marketing Levers that drive engagement and conversion. Whether you are launching a new service or revitalizing an existing one, you’ll learn how to structure a plan that is both strategic and compassionate.



We will walk through the “Plan & Format” of high-impact campaigns and analyze real-world applications through the Land Shark and Home Alone case studies.

You’ll leave this session with a clear understanding of Entry Points—the specific moments where your potential clients transition from curious onlookers to committed advocates.

https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/learn-to-build-powerful-marketing-campaigns-with-niki-tudge/

09/02/2026

"You may have been lucky with cats in the past, but successful quick introductions are the exception, not the rule, with adult cats." - Misty Hampton of Fellow Creatures Pet Consulting in the new Pets and Their People blog post. For tips to starting off right, read the full post here:
https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/pet-owners/pets-and-their-people/pets-and-their-people-blog/fighting-like-cats-and-cats/

by Misty Hampton

09/01/2026

Ever written the "perfect" training plan for a reactive dog, only to watch progress completely stall in real life? 🐕‍🦺💔

We often treat reactivity as a purely mechanical problem to solve: manage thresholds, set up clean training loops, and deliver high-value reinforcers. While mechanical skill is essential, training never happens in a vacuum. It happens within a dynamic relationship shaped by the dog's emotional state and the human’s stress, bandwidth, expectations, and learning history.

When we overlook the human end of the leash, even the most technically brilliant behavior modification plans fall apart.

Join us for an eye-opening webinar that reframes reactivity through the lens of human-canine dynamics, adult learning theory, and relational coaching.

What We’ll Cover:

Beyond the Mechanics: Why technically correct protocols fail when client capacity, overwhelm, and emotional regulation are missed.

Coaching the Adult Learner: Practical communication strategies and session structures that support client confidence, retention, and follow-through.

Building Resilience & Regulation: Practical tools to reduce handler stress and help guardians stay grounded during difficult moments.

Sustainable Training Design: How to create realistic, humane behavior plans that clients can actually execute long-term without burnout.

If you are ready to elevate your coaching skills, boost client compliance, and create lasting, ethical outcomes for both ends of the leash, this session is for you.

📅 Reserve your spot here: https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/reactivity-is-a-relationship-problem-not-just-a-training-one-supporting-both-ends-of-the-leash-with-ruth-hegarty/

08/31/2026

"My dog knows this at home, but outside is a completely different story!" 🐕🌪️

Sound familiar? When a dog is fluent in the living room but falls apart at the park, it’s not stubbornness, spite, or a lack of willingness. It is a predictable outcome of how learning, context, and emotional state interact.

Join Louise Stapleton-Frappell for an insightful webinar on bridging the gap between practice and reality: building true behavioral reliability in the real world.

In this session, we'll break down:

Generalization vs. Discrimination: Why cues don't automatically transfer across novel environments and how environmental variables reshape stimulus control.

The Failure of Traditional "Proofing": Why standard testing approaches often create frustration and how reinforcement history truly dictates performance.

The Emotional Component: Why emotional safety, arousal levels, and competing reinforcers make or break successful ex*****on.

Real-World Troubleshooting: How to analyze behavioral breakdowns and design structured, progressive force-free plans that stand up to everyday life.

If you are ready to move beyond frustrating plateaus and build rock-solid behaviors that hold up anywhere, this webinar delivers the framework you need.

📅 Reserve your spot today: https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/beyond-the-session-why-behavior-doesnt-transfer-and-how-to-fix-it-with-louise-stapleton-frappell/

08/30/2026

What if we could look directly inside a dog’s nervous system during every step of the grooming process? 🐾💓

We often rely on outward body language to gauge canine stress, but subtle internal shifts can tell a completely different story. That’s where Heart Rate Variability (HRV) comes in—providing an objective, real-time window into the autonomic nervous system.

Join us for a fascinating look at canine physiology in practice as we dive into a groundbreaking case study by Dean, examining HRV across the entire grooming journey.

What We’ll Explore:

📊 The Science of HRV: What heart rate variability measures, how it reflects physiological stress and recovery, and why it's a game-changer for evaluating animal welfare.

🛁 Step-by-Step Grooming Analysis: A breakdown of every key stage—from arrival and bathing to high-velocity drying, handling, and table work.

🔍 Surprising Results: The specific moments stress spiked the highest (the findings might surprise you!) and what the data reveals about common assumptions.

✂️ Actionable Low-Stress Strategies: Practical, welfare-centered takeaways for groomers, trainers, and pet professionals to minimize arousal, prevent distress, and build true cooperative care.

Whether you're a professional groomer, behavior consultant, trainer, or dedicated pet guardian, this session offers eye-opening insights into how dogs truly experience the grooming environment.