Schedule

Tuesday, March 3

7-10 PM

Complimentary for all exhibitors at Connect. Join us for a casual evening where you can join your peers for beverages/hors d'œuvres and relax. Meet with your fellow industry players to discuss current events and what's trending in the pet world. (Must have exhibitor badge for entry)

Wednesday, March 4 (9AM - 5PM) Connect Show Hours

10 AM

Amy Toman

Optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) for success

Expert in SEO and Google Business Profiles Specialist. She founded Pet Sitter SEO in 2017 to help the pet care community better represent themselves online, and attract more business in the process.

Overview: This session will provide an in-depth look at best methods of creation, management, and protection of Google Business Profiles. Topics will include planning, email management, and optimization, Because Google listings are essential to marketing pet care businesses, they should be created with care and planning. This presentation will guide business owners on how to optimize their listing and prevent it from suspension.

11 AM

Laura Tolhoek

CHRL

Building the Dream Team

For over 15 years, Laura has used sound HR practices with a pragmatic approach to improve business performance. Laura hosts the CPCP Monthly HR Power Hour.

Scaling a business is not an easy task. Being the marketing, finance, customer service and HR expert for your growing business is tough. We hear you and we’re here to help. Essential HR’s team of experts give you tools, strategies, and tangible documents to save your sanity and time when scaling your team in your start-up business.

1 PM

Jenn Dahinten

BSc|CPACO

Why your business feels harder than it should - How Operational KPIs Become SOPs and Profitable Pricing

Jenn Dahinten grew Royal Pets Hotel and Enrichment from a small backyard business into an award-winning, $1.5M-per-year operation—now running smoothly and allowing her to mentor others and support industry growth.

Most pet care professionals think of KPIs as only sales numbers, revenue, bookings, or how many pets they cared for last month. But the KPIs that most influence burnout, consistency, safety, and profit are almost never financial…they’re operational. “If you’ve ever said ‘I don’t know where the time went,’ ‘I should be making more than this,’ or ‘I can’t raise my rates because clients won’t understand’—you already have KPIs. You’re just not measuring them yet.”

This session is designed for solo operators, mobile pet sitters and walkers, and growing facilities alike, and it demystifies what “operational KPIs” actually look like in real pet care businesses. From time spent per visit/pet, documentation habits, and incident frequency, to transitions between pets, communication touchpoints, and decision making under pressure, these are the metrics that quietly determine whether your business feels sustainable or chaotic.

Jenn uses the Professional Animal Care Certification Council (PACCC) Body of Knowledge as a guiding framework, and will show attendees how to identify a starting point of a small, manageable set of operational KPIs that make sense for their business model.

2 PM

Karen Baxter

L-CCC | CPDT-KA ABCDT | FDM CBDC

In Good Hands: Promoting Welfare Across Pet Care Roles or Every Tail Tells a Story:

Putting Welfare at the Heart of Pet Services

Behaviour Consultant, Dog Trainer and Co-Owner of Unified K9 Behaviour Centre. Karen’s specialties include Behaviour work focusing on reactivity, anxiety and fear, Rally Obedience, Agility & Hoopers, and anything Puppy!

As our understanding of animal welfare deepens, it’s clear that the way pets live and interact with humans has profound effects on their physical and emotional well-being. Today, pet care professionals are not just service providers — they are stewards of trust and guardians of welfare. This presentation explores how everyday practices in grooming, pet sitting, dog walking, and training can either support or compromise the animals in our care. With a focus on ethical responsibility and practical strategies, we’ll examine how to align business operations with the evolving standards of animal welfare ensuring that every tail truly tells a story of compassion, safety, and respect.

3 PM

Andrea Dinan CPDT-KA

LFDM|FFCT KAD-PA

From Overwhelmed to Understood: Recognizing and Responding to Stress Signals in Dogs

Serves on the board of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (CAPDT) Founder of City Dogs Training & Behaviour in Toronto and the creator and host of the annual Dogs and the City Conference.

Everyday interactions can either build a dog’s confidence or add to their stress — and pet professionals are on the front lines. In this session, I take a deeper look at canine body language to identify subtle signs of stress before they escalate into bigger challenges. You’ll learn how to recognize early warning signals and, more importantly, how to respond in ways that help dogs feel safe, supported, and understood. I will share role-specific strategies tailored to different professions: pause-and-reset techniques for groomers, route and pacing choices for walkers, group management adjustments for daycare staff, and safe space setups for sitters. Through real-life clients and scenarios, I’ll highlight how early recognition and thoughtful intervention can prevent stress, improve cooperation, and strengthen the human-dog relationship. Whether you’re clipping nails, leading a walk, supervising playgroups, or caring for a dog at home, you’ll leave with practical tools to keep dogs calmer and interactions smoother.

4 PM

Leadership Panel Canadian Pet Care Professionals

Morag

Willcox

Co-founder of Canadian Pet Care Professionals and Founder/Owner of York Professional Pet Sitting & Dog Walking since 2000. From a one-woman show to today, she now leads a team of 22+ dog walkers and pet sitters.

Katie

Fuller

Owner of The Fox and Hound Canine Retreat. Over the past 11 years, she has grown her “small facility” into a thriving canine retreat with 30 employees, caring for over 200 dogs per day.

Sheri

Canjar

PACCC-CPACO and Owner of Furry Friends Pet Resort. Sherri is a national award winning writer, public speaker, mentor and subject matter expert in Canine Nutrition, Canine Reproduction and Whelping.

Jessica

Abernathy

Past President of National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) Founder of Chicagoland Cat Sitters and Founder of PetBizPeople.

Erika

Godwin

Co-Founder of Canadian Pet Care Professionals, Co-Founder of ProPet Software (Software for pet boarding, daycare, training and grooming facilities), and Owner of Barketing Solutions (Website design and maintenance services for pet businesses).

Join us for a powerful leadership panel featuring some of the most successful and respected pet business owners in the industry. These are founders and operators who have built sustainable, scalable businesses, through real-world challenges, rapid growth, team expansion, and industry change. This candid conversation will go beyond surface-level success stories to explore what it actually takes to lead in today’s pet care landscape from decision-making and culture-building to navigating burnout, growth plateaus, and evolving client expectations. Expect practical insights, honest lessons learned, and actionable takeaways you can apply immediately whether you’re a solo operator, growing a team, or leading a multi-service pet business.

This is leadership, unfiltered—by people who are in it every day.