The Cochrane and area Humane Society is about to kick off a program that will help people who work with animals, both new and experienced, learn some new tricks. The Positive Approach Canine Education (PACE) Program features one of the biggest tools to learn about animal behavior, hands-on time with animals.

Tracy Keith, Department Head of Behaviour at CAHS explains what PACE is all about. “We have two certificates in the program so people can either focus on becoming an instructor so doing private consults in people's homes with dog behaviour or teaching group classes. The other certificate is geared more towards behaviour and handling. Often in those classes, we see people like groomers, animal health technicians, and anybody handling animals, including bylaw officers.”

“All the practical hours are really what people enjoy most because that's working, hands-on with the dogs. although we are often also working hands-on with dogs in workshops and definitely the mentor meets but it's, you know, coming into the shelter and working with the dogs. The nice thing about it is that we have every kind of size and breed and colour and behaviour issue and all that you can imagine.”

Keith says they see a wide variety of applicants. “It's kind of neat because we see people that are every age, from students coming out of high school to people retiring and are looking to make a bit of income in their retirement and do it part-time.”

“For a lot of people, COVID is, kind of, the perfect time for it as well, because they are seeing a lot of change in their personal lives and their work lives, and they just feel like, well, maybe this is that opportunity.”

The students are not the only ones to benefit from all the hands-on time spent with the shelter’s animals. The extra training has lead to many dogs getting adopted because an unfavourable behaviour were corrected during the program.

The deadline to apply for the PACE Program is this Friday, February 12/2021. More details can be found here.