With several options available to train your staff, you may ask yourself which one is ‘worth it.’
Is it the one that has been around the longest?
The one with the most videos available?
The one with flashy transitions and cinematic videography?
Here are 5 things to consider when choosing the right training program for your team:
- Easy to Understand and Implement: Training should be engaging, practical, and easy to apply during daily operations.
- Proactive Dog Handling: Employees should learn to read dog body language, effectively manage group interactions, and prevent problems before they occur.
- Customer Service: Every employee should understand their role in delivering exceptional care to both dogs and their owners.
- Leadership Development: Training should help build confident leaders who promote teamwork, accountability, and long-term employee growth.
- Real-World Experience: The people developing your training should have firsthand experience implementing the techniques they teach.
While each of these factors plays an important role in effective staff training, understanding why they matter starts with recognizing the unique challenges of staffing and operating a pet care facility.
The reality of the industry is the need to consistently train and onboard new staff. Previous staff may not work out, part-timers go back to school, individuals move on to different careers, and existing employees advance into new positions. The demographic also includes many young adults learning to navigate their early job experiences.
To begin, staff training should be thorough and easy to digest, while keeping employees engaged and focused. The training should be comprehensive, easy to understand, and practical enough to apply in daily operations.
It should work toward building a staff that wants to engage with dogs effectively in groups, not only managing (or simply surviving) natural arousal. Staff should feel empowered to utilize effective techniques throughout daily operations, particularly in areas where dogs may exhibit heightened excitement, such as gates, doors, and transitions into different areas. Along with that, learning how to read dog body language and proactively prevent accidents and injuries is a must!
Whether kennel staff or staff moving into positions to expand their involvement with clients, any individual working with client dogs should understand how to deliver exceptional customer service. The dogs under our care involve the humans that walk them through our doors, so providing exceptional care means caring for both ends of the leash. Staff training should involve working with and understanding quality customer service, regardless of title.
To deliver quality care to the dogs in our community, we must prioritize building a team that works together and alongside one another effectively. The best teams are run by effective leaders, those who understand the responsibility of policies, procedures, and accountability, but also those who look to create other leaders. Staff training should go beyond knowing the dog basics and include how to build and manage a reliable team through leadership and management development. When staff training involves building a team through proper leadership skills, we can begin shifting the industry away from high turnover and toward developing employees who are invested in the long-term mission.
To truly understand staff training and the most effective ways to build a team, the people developing the training should be actively involved in the industry. That means individuals who not only support the training system you use but are also involved in the daily practice of what they teach. The people creating the training should be the same people putting it into practice, continuously refining their approach, and working to raise the standard of care across the industry.
At PackPro, this is the philosophy behind everything we do. Our training is developed and continuously refined by professionals who are actively involved in the daily operations of pet care facilities. We believe effective staff training should go beyond simply completing lessons. It should build confident employees, capable leaders, and stronger teams that deliver exceptional care every day.
Last Updated on October 23, 2026