Ever wonder how the people who work with your pets learned to do what they do? Are they as qualified and experienced as you expect? How would you know?
What about how our attitudes are shaped towards caregiving and ethics when it comes to the companion animals in our homes and around us?
The truth is that nationwide, except for veterinary medical workers, there are few if any educational requirements for pet care workers, including groomers and trainers.
And how we learn about pets begins in the home and in school. Humane education as an integral part of classroom instruction dates back over a hundred years. Studies on the effectiveness of humane education in elementary schools in the United States exist and show evidence of the effectiveness of such programs in learner attitude and behavior towards animals. Several states, including Florida, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Washington, and Pennsylvania, mandate humane education in schools. However, New York State is the sole state to tie compliance with their humane education law to loss of a public school’s funding if instruction is not given. Short-term humane education programs, mostly implemented by welfare and independent providers (separate from school faculty), have been studied for the duration of effects in middle school children to the age of 13, with known influences on increased empathy towards both animals and people.
In New York City, a new law will regulate shelters to implement higher standards of care. For "brick and mortar"
service businesses, the Health Department requires only a short three-day course in care and handling for managers, but not their staff. Under this law, formal instruction is not required for independent groomers, sitters, trainers, and walkers. Furthermore, only one staff member who has taken the course is required to be on site. This means other employees may be working without any formal training and with no assurance that any training they might have received, is the right kind.
PetCenterEd wants to change all that. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to companion animal welfare, humane education, and the appropriate training of pet care workers of all kinds. Through expert guidance and mentoring, our aim is to be the first school and pet services center to offer a formal academic model with study and classroom instruction in theory, concepts, and applied training - all under one roof.
And for today's elementary school students, PetCenterEd offers multiple humane education programs to satisfy NYS humane education law's requirements to promote animal welfare and responsible pet ownership.
The PetCenterEd approach is revolutionary because it is holistic: our students will learn and practice within a single framework. Our school will not only properly prepare pet service providers for a working environment, we will also provide that environment. For the pet guardians of tomorrow, we aim to provide, on site, science based, welfare focused humane education at the elementary school level.
Reach out for more information on having your school host New York State compliant humane education program at your location. And find out about our free introductory presentation for your classroom.
