Pet Professional Guild Announces Geek Week Grand Prize Winner

Press Release (ePRNews.com) - LECANTO, Fla. - Feb 01, 2022 - The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has announced the Grand Prize winner of its virtual educational event Geek Week, held in November 2021. The Grand Prize, co-sponsored by PPG and PocketSuite, comprises a total of $1,500 in credit toward an approved educational program, or programs, as selected by the winner.

Kira Klawitter of Friends for Life Animal Shelter (FFL) in Houston, Texas has been named as the lucky winner. She has selected Michael Shikashio’s Master Course – Aggression in Dogs and DogNostics’ Dog Behavior Consulting Diploma as the educational programs she would like to participate in.

Klawitter is a behavior technician at FFL and is responsible for care, training, behavior modification, and enrichment for the dogs in the shelter’s program. She also provides behavior consults for adopters and participates in FFL’s Thinking Outside the Shelter, an initiative that provides free pet food, wellness care, and behavior training to the public as an alternative to surrendering animals to a shelter.

Klawitter selected her prize-winning educational programs based on her desire to improve her skills and efficiency with the consulting process, as well as to learn and become more skilled in the area she wants to specialize in. She is already a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) and is currently preparing to take her Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA). She has a special interest in dogs people label as being ‘aggressive.’

“I’ve found that most of the time [‘aggressive’ behavior] is just a matter of miscommunication in humans to dogs or dogs to dogs, and it is my mission to help these animals become understood and empowered to make their voice heard,” Klawitter said. “More than 80 percent of the animals I work with are considered ‘unadoptable’ in other programs. I find so much fulfillment helping them learn to be comfortable, with themselves and others, so they can find their own homes.

“I am very passionate about education and want to express my gratitude and thanks to PPG and PocketSuite and everyone involved in making this prize possible. I also wanted to give a special thanks to Mélissa Taylor at FFL who made this all possible by giving me a ticket to Geek Week. Without her, none of this would have happened.”

Part of PPG’s mission has always been to broaden its educational reach, and the Geek Week Grand Prize is another way of fulfilling this aim. “PPG is always delighted to help fund the further education of pet industry professionals,” said PPG president Niki Tudge. “This philosophy fully supports our Key Charter and the very reason why in 2016 we implemented our PPG annual scholarship program. I am delighted that Kira won this prize at Geek Week and was able to choose two programs of study that are aligned with our Guiding Principles.”

“Contributing to the success of pet care professionals like Kira is core to our mission,” added PocketSuite CEO, Chinwe Onyeagoro. “Kira’s work exemplifies the passion and commitment that are the critical ingredients for achieving success. Geek Week provided us the opportunity to meet amazing dog trainers like Kira and to invite  her to join the PocketSuite community.”

About the Pet Professional Guild

The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) is a 501(c)6 international member organization founded on the principles of force-free training and pet care. Its membership represents pet industry professionals who are committed to science-based, humane training and pet care philosophies, practices and methods. Pet Professional Guild members understand force-free to mean that shock, prong, choke, pain, force, or fear are never used in training, managing, or caring for a pet.

About PocketSuite

PocketSuite is an all-in-one business app that makes it easier for dog trainers to run their own business. PocketSuite’s Dog Trainer Edition keeps trainers organized and looking professional with automated scheduling (including Open Enrollment), payments, contracts, and more. Whether a trainer is just starting out or a seasoned business owner, PocketSuite saves them time so they can focus on what they love doing. A dog training business can be up and running on PocketSuite in just 15 minutes. Learn more here https://pocketsuite.io/