Why certification is important in your dog's care

You probably don’t know this, but we teach an aqua therapy certification course through our training arm, The Canine Fitness Institute. It’s an intense six-day course where up to four students are in the pool almost all day every day working with dogs who are not only challenging, but present a number of different health conditions, swim styles, activity levels and more. We believe we have the best program in the country and one that fully prepares students to work with dogs in water. We assume we’re right because we have people from all over the U.S. come to learn through our program. Most of them are now operating successful pools or plan to be doing so soon.

We just finished a class and, prior to enrolling, a couple of students told us that the only way they would get veterinary referrals was if they became certified in canine aqua therapy. They wanted to make sure they would become “certified” after successfully passing our class. They were.

Why is certification important? Because there are a number of fields in animal care, such as massage, aqua therapy, training, aromatherapy and more, that aren’t licensed like a veterinarian or human massage therapist is licensed. As a result, someone with absolutely no training can hang out a shingle or create a business card saying they do “whatever.” How do you know that person is qualified to do what they’re saying they can do? One way is to ask if they’re certified.

But that’s only part of the picture. Since these fields aren’t regulated, “certification” is only as good as the training that’s behind the certificate. For example, there are a couple of canine massage schools out there that have their entire program online and then ask their students to send in a video of them massaging a dog. There’s another that will give you a certificate in a weekend workshop. Neither of these approaches will qualify anyone to professionally massage a dog. What’s even worse is that this person can actually hurt your dog!

When you’re looking for someone to work with your dog, the first question you should ask is about their training and certification. If they can’t produce the certificate, look elsewhere. If they are certified, ask how many days or hours it took to complete their certification and how much hands-on time the program included. In most areas of practice, more is better! Armed with this information you can decide if the person you’ve chosen to work on your dog is the best possible choice. And ultimately, you want the best for the health and well-being of your beloved best friend.

Sherri Cappabianca, an expert in the field of canine health and fitness, is the author of two books on canine health, and the co-owner of Rocky’s Retreat Canine Health & Fitness Center, and Barking Dog Fitness, a Gym for Dogs, both located in Orlando. For more information, visit rockysretreat.com or barkingdogfitness.com