DOG FIRST AID CLASSES TEACHES HOW PREVENTION IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Steffanie Costigan

Published: April 3, 2025

Melissa Mikl instructor and course designer of Pet First Aid demonstrates dog CPR tactics at her home on March 15th, 2025.

According to Made in CA under pet ownership statistics in Canada, 39 per cent of Canadian households are dog owners.

And having prior awareness precautions could save your pet during a time of crisis. This is what sparked the idea to create a pet first aid program within the Calgary Associated Dog Fanciers (CADF).

Melissa Mikl one of the Instructors of the Pet First Aid classes shared where she got her inspiration to design this dog first aid course.

“I work in the medical field for human beings, and I take first aid every single year and I see how useful it is every single day for people. So, for me it was really important for us to be able to take care of our dogs,” said Mikl.

CADF hosted the Pet First Aid classes back in 2022, with 15 participants, recently they held a first aid class on March 8thof this year with 19 attendees. Kim Copeland one of the class participants shared her experience attending the Pet First Aid course.

“I think it was a great opportunity. I’m always looking for opportunities to build relationships with my pets and knowing that I can be depended on in a time of crisis or emergency to better the situation is ideal. And I got to spend a whole day with one of my dogs and she loved it,” she said.

Pet First Aid classes is available to the public and runs for eight hours per class, two classes are typically staggered apart by a half an hour. Classes are held once a year. You do not need to be a member of the CADF to register for classes.

“The idea to bring first aid to our membership was actually it, well Calgary Associated Dog Fanciers mission includes educating the public and educating our members and making resources available for our members and the public. For bettering their relationships with they’re dogs,” said Mikl.

Leah Mikl who also is an instructor in the Pet First Aid classes voiced, “In a lot of cases prevention is the best medicine [especially] when you can help the vet by stabilizing your dog,” said Leah.

Registrations for Pet First Aid classes are posted through CADF’s Facebook page or can be registered through email. Mikl voiced how she hopes more people will come out for the classes and that there can be more classes held in the near future.

“I hope that we can actually have a first aid class every single year. And that somebody learns something to take care of their dogs at our class, that everybody who attends learns something and feels more confident about taking care of their dogs on a daily day.”

Some of the topics the Pet First Aid classes cover is taking vitals, nose to tail checks, insects such as ticks also rodents, skunk and porcupine attacks, respiratory emergency that can lead to CPR, vomiting, pet stools, seizures, poisoning, burns, eye injuries and more.

“I think whenever you are around so many dogs whether it be through your business or just having pets in your home anything can happen. And having the basics to know how to behave and what to do, just improves the likelihood that you’re not going to panic in a given situation,” said Copeland.