Advocacy Panel. The Humane Standard: Elevating Competency, Accreditation, and Truth in Pet Training, Behavior and Care

Join this special Advocacy Panel with PPG Board Members.

Establishing an Independent, Legally Sound Baseline for the Pet Professional Field

The pet care and behavior sector stands at a critical crossroads. In today’s unregulated marketplace, anyone can claim expertise without verification—leaving animal welfare compromised, ethical practitioners undermined, and pet guardians vulnerable to misleading claims. Trust in our profession cannot rest on self-declared titles; it demands verified competence, objective benchmarks, and uncompromising ethical standards.

In this opening session of our 5-Year Strategic Plan, we unpack our foundational position statement on professional accreditation, competency verification, and humane practice. We will examine the critical structural shift required to move our field forward: transitioning from voluntary trade club memberships to independent, third-party skill assessments, and establishing legally and scientifically defensible welfare metrics.

Attendees will gain a clear breakdown of the core criteria needed to benchmark pet professionals, protect consumer safety, and uphold true animal welfare. Join us to explore how this position statement establishes the non-negotiable bedrock for our industry’s five-year roadmap toward systemic reform, consumer transparency, and professional legitimacy.

What We Will Cover:

• The Reality of the Unregulated Marketplace: Why voluntary self-regulation is failing animals, pet guardians, and ethical professionals.
• Trade Membership vs. Independent Validation: Defining the structural separation between educational/trade bodies and independent, psychometrically sound competency assessments.
• Operationalizing Humane Standards: Establishing verifiable, non-aversive welfare baselines that hold up under legal and scientific scrutiny.
• The 5-Year Foundation: How this position statement anchors our strategic direction for industry accountability and legislative advocacy.

Reference: Position Statement: Standardizing Professional Accreditation, Competency Verification, and Humane Standards

We will live-stream the sessions on the PPG public Facebook page. 

Those who prefer not to view the live feed on Facebook can access these events on Zoom, where we will also provide closed captioning.  

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