Professionals Membership
Owners expect that the professionals advising them and caring for their dogs are experts in their field. This level of knowledge and experience does not come from simply loving dogs. It comes from being educated and experienced in all fields related to the professional care of dogs. ICS was founded to provide continuing education for professionals in the canine care industry. ICS programs delve deeply into all topics professionals need to know on a daily bases, from canine psychology and Learning Theory, to customer experience and business knowledge, to creating impactful training programs. ICS also offers a safe place for professionals to comfortably grow their skills and network with each other.
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Certification & Staff Training
Supporting the growth and development of professionals in the following professions:
Dog training companies
Kennels
Grooming salons
Dog walking companies
Shelters & rescues
Competition & Working Dog Clubs
In an industry with no education standards, completing certifications and staff training through ICS shows your commitment to education and professionalism. Certifications build immediate trust with the public, helping you turn leads into customers. Topics covered in our certification courses include:
Handling skills for group control
Group play dynamics and the role of prey drive in aggression
Group health maintenance and proper medication administration
The art of training, developing and running training classes that will achieve your clients’ goals and exceed their expectations
Customer Experience, how to create customers for live
Canine Psychology & Learning Theory
The foundation for everything we do
Understanding canine psychology and Learning Theory is critical to all professionals in the canine care industry. Understanding from a dog’s body language that it is highly stressed helps keep a groomer or vet tech safe. Trainers that teach owners that appeasement gestures are not signs of a guilty dog improve the dog’s quality of life with the owner. Vets are routinely asked about housebreaking and training puppies. Canine psychology and Learning Theory impact every canine professional on a daily basis. Topics in our Professional Membership courses include:
Understanding Micro and Macro body language
Appeasement gestures, displacement behaviours and interspecies miscommunication
Operant Conditioning Matrix, the foundation of all training programs
Extinction bursts, what they indicate and why to not change your training plan
The critical role of Root Cause Analysis
Defensive handling skills
Canine Health Care for Professionals
Professional care for dogs
Running a doggie day care, operating a boarding facility or being a dog trainer or walker is absolutely unrelated to how an individual owner cares for their own dog. Professionals who care for dogs in group settings need to understand the health care and behavioural issues that will occur, and how to manage them. Our courses cover the following topics:
Infection control
Understanding and managing canine stress in group environments
Signs of canine illness and when to contact a vet
First aid certification
Medication administration and documentation
Zoonotic diseases
Business Management
Your business resource center
For your business to grow and thrive you must be more than an expert in canine care, you must also understand how to set up, manage, and market your business, and produce a customer experienced that will turn customers into raving fans! ICS helps you navigate complex business issues, such as understanding business structures and registration, business insurance, creating compelling marketing, and how to become a customer centric business. Topics covered in our business courses include:
Which business structure is right for your, sole proprietorship, partnership or incorporation
Understanding business insurance
Customer service vs. customer experience, how they are worlds apart and why this matters
Use of Change Management principles to achieve client goals and increase client satisfaction
Creating raving fans, and how this drives business
HR support options, tools and forms to help you run your business
Use of social proof in marketing with testimonials
Elevation of canine jobs to professions
Continuing Education Credits
Supporting Vets and RVTs in their regulatory requirements
Veterinarians and Registered Veterinary Technicians require Continuing Education credits.
ICS provides annual Continuing Education Programs for vets and RVTs.
Membership
Membership is reserved for professionals, and those actively becoming professionals, in the canine care industry, including:
Vets and vet techs
Trainers, groomers and walkers
Behaviourists
Breeders and rescue staff
Kennel owners and kennel staff