RACKING UP THE CERTIFICATIONS

The walls and halls of our four locations are filling up with framed certificates for CPR and Pet First Aid. Okay, so maybe the walls aren’t literally covered, but that doesn’t diminish the pride we take in the capabilities of our staff. They’re amazing. And they’re always looking for ways to improve themselves and the care they provide your dogs.

So, we upped the ante.

Since we have so many employees who are excited to earn the certification, we went ahead and certified someone to train others on pet CPR and First Aid. Yes, we certified a certifier.

What does it take to become a certified certifier you ask? Well, it’s intense and well worth it. ProTrainings offers a two-day course where each day is a 9-hour event. And as a result, we are on track to certify all of our staff members throughout each location. Once we do that, we plan to make pet CPR and First Aid part of our orientation process for new employees.

Currently, we have 33 staff members certified, and we schedule our teams to make sure that at least one person per shift is prepared to respond in case of emergency.

And one such emergency has already arisen. Back in February, a dog collapsed and went into cardiac arrhythmia. Luckily, Chris Chatman (our certified certifier) had completed their training and was able to administer life-saving CPR on the spot.

So, is it worth it? Absolutely. We want you to feel as comfortable leaving your dog with us as they feel when they run and play and chase each other around all day.

We are considering opening our training sessions to the humans who bring their dogs into The Watering Bowl. So, if you might be interested in bringing some expertise home and hanging a certification on your wall at home, reply in the comments and we’ll figure out how to make something work.

These dogs trust us implicitly, and we consider ourselves fortunate to have their loyal friendship. Plus, it’s cool to be the one who raises his or her hand when someone yells out, “Is there anyone who knows dog CPR in the house!”