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How many times have you seen an animal shy away from the blow dryer or the nail clippers? How about trembling in the bathtub? Many animals don’t necessarily enjoy having their feet handled, getting a haircut, or taking a bath. But there’s a lot that groomers can do to make those things more comfortable (and even fun!) for them.

The Fear Free Groomer Certification Program teaches you how to use Fear Free concepts to ensure that the grooming experience is as enjoyable as possible for every pet, every time. Step-by-step video clips and slides show you how to teach animals to love the grooming table, clippers, the bathtub, the blow dryer, grooming shears, the groomer’s loop, and more.

Whether it is the animal’s very first visit to the salon or they have already developed a fear, you can help them. You’ll learn how to recognize even the most subtle signs of stress, and you’ll be well equipped on how exactly you can help a pet who is feeling stressed.

You’ll learn how to set the salon environment up to help ensure Fear Free grooms, from the moment a pet enters the salon, throughout the groom, and until the moment they leave. This includes shop layout, sights, sounds, smells, entrances and exits, and more.

All this translates into happier pets, more frequent visits, and satisfied pet owners spreading the word about how much fun their dog or cat had at your salon. Decrease stress on you and the animals, and increase your revenue!

The purchase of the Fear Free Groomer Certification Program provides you with an annual membership for the program, which requires an annual renewal fee and completion of additional annual CE to maintain your membership.

This course has been approved by the PACCC for 5 CEU

What’s that you smell?

We know that dogs’ and cats’ sense of smell if far superior to ours. What can we do to to optimize their olfactory experience? In this webinar, Fear Free Practice Certification Manager Dr. Rachel Abrams will take a closer look at Optional Facilities Standard 4.8 “Cleaning protocols to improve olfactory experience for pet are in place.”

All webinars in this series open with a brief overview of the path to practice certification and conclude with a live Q&A session.

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Do You Hear What I Hear? Noise Aversion Beyond Thunder and Fireworks

Noise aversion isn’t only about thunder and fireworks. Many of your patients are suffering daily from noise aversion to everyday environmental events.

What can the veterinary professional do? In this webinar, sponsored by Zoetis, board certified veterinary behaviorist and Fear Free Executive Council member Dr. Lisa Radosta discusses a variety of treatments that can help patients with noise aversion live happier lives.

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Vaccinations for the Mind: Positive Puppy Socialization

Monique Feyrecilde, CVT, VTS (Behavior)

Puppies should explore the world and the people with whom they share it. When clients bring home a puppy, they have a golden opportunity to protect their newest family member from fear and anxiety later in life. By making a positive puppy transition and socialization plan, owners can help puppies have a smooth and happy puppyhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In this Fear Free webinar, sponsored by Ceva, Monique Feyrecilde, CVT, VTS (Behavior) covers techniques, products, and client education to get puppies started off on the right paw; how early detection and intervention can help shy puppies blossom; and more. Sponsored by Ceva.

In this one-hour module, you will learn what natural functions scratching serves for cats; common owner responses to scratching and the problems associated with them; and the potential fallout from declawing cats. Most importantly, you’ll come away with several safe and effective alternative solutions to the problem of unwanted scratching, and a made-for-owners handout to help guide them in the right direction.

This module is open to all professionals that are already signed up for the certification program, and is RACE approved for 1 hours in the category of Scientific.

    Feline Destructive Scratching is divided into five lessons:

  • Lesson 1: Feline Scratching Defined (The Good)
  • Lesson 2: Scratching as a Problem for Owners (The Bad)
  • Lesson 3: Common Responses (The Ugly)
  • Lesson 4: Why Not Surgically Declaw Cats?
  • Lesson 5: Safe, Effective Alternatives to Declawing
Sedation can play a vital role when it comes to creating a Fear Free veterinary visit, but knowing when and under what circumstances to bring sedation into the picture as it relates to the fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) a pet may be experiencing is critical for the both the pet and success of the visit. In this podcast, featuring Fear Free Executive council member Tamara Grubb, DVM, PhD, DACVAA, and Sharon Campbell, DVM, MS, DACVIM of Zoetis, we discuss the physiological and medical impacts of stress on a patient, how that can play into properly assessing pain, when on the FAS scale to start implementing sedation, and the benefits of doing so.

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A visit from a Fear Free evaluator can bring back memories of exam day at school, but it isn’t as scary as you think! Valarie Tynes, DVM, DACVB, and Todd McCracken from CEVA Animal Health, join host Steve Dale to talk more about what a practice certification visit is like, what to do if you still have some holdouts, and how you can prepare yourself to put your best foot forward on certification day.

While Fear Free can often seem as though it’s only about animals’ emotional wellbeing, Fear Free is passionate about the science of animal care as well. Gary Landsberg, DVM, DACVB, DECAWBM (CA), Head of Research at Fear Free, brings you behind the scenes to tell you how Fear Free is advancing research in the field of veterinary medicine.

Achieving a Fear Free Practice Certification might seem like a daunting task, but with a little planning and a strong will to implement, your hospital can make it happen! Marcy Hammerle, DVM, owner of the world’s first Fear Free Certified Practice, shares her journey from Fear Free implementation to Practice Certification, with tips for setting yourself and your staff up for success.