Higher Certificate in Canine First Aid
This veterinary approved and externally accredited online course is written and designed by a qualified registered veterinary nurse and clinical animal behaviourist. It has been designed for pet professionals, fulfilling Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. However, it is suitable for pet owners too.
Written with the benefit of practical veterinary experience and informed by current veterinary best practice standards.
Learning outcomes:
- Gain the skills to identify and effectively respond to various first aid scenarios that may arise.
- Acquire the knowledge necessary to conduct a safe assessment of the dog's condition.
- Learn the proper techniques for administering basic first aid treatments and providing immediate care while awaiting veterinary assistance.
- Explore fundamental principles of first aid, emphasising safe handling practices and updated CPR protocols, along with additional essential skills.
This course includes:
- 8 modules
- Bitesize lessons
- Access on all devices
- Lifetime access
- Video demonstrations
- Downloads
- No assessments, just quizzes
- Certificate of completion
- CPD transcript
- Tutorial & technical support
Course preview images
Who this course is for:
- Dog owners
- Dog walkers
- Dog groomers
- Dog carers / sitters
- Dog trainers
- Dog kennels / hotels
- Animal behaviourists
- Pet professionals
Before you enrol:
No specific requirements for this course. This certificate course has been designed to help the student develop new skills and enhance their knowledge. You can enrol on this courses without any animal related qualifications, although a reasonable standard of literacy is required.
This course includes videos with English subtitles. As we
This course includes videos with English subtitles. We design our courses to work with the way you learn — not against it. Whether you are neurodivergent, have a sensory or physical difference, or simply prefer flexible ways to study, the features below are here to support you.
- Reading Ruler: Highlights one line at a time to help maintain focus. Toggle it on/off from the toolbar at the top of each lesson.
- Table of Contents: Longer topics display a Contents button in the toolbar for quick navigation between sections.
- Dark Mode: Reduces eye strain in low-light environments. Toggle it from the sidebar panel (top-right icons).
- Reading Time: Each topic shows an estimated reading time in the toolbar so you can plan your study sessions.
- Auto-Generated Subtitles: Available on all of our videos (approximately 95% accurate). Enable them using the CC button in the video player.
- Video Transcripts: Text versions of video content with timestamps, allowing you to follow along or revisit specific sections.
- Adjustable Playback: Video quality adjusts automatically based on your connection. Use the gear icon for manual control, or adjust playback speed to suit your pace.
- Feature Boxes: Key information is presented in visually distinct boxes, helping break down content and improve focus for neurodivergent learners or those with reading difficulties.
- Colour Contrast: Our course materials use high-contrast colour schemes to aid readability, particularly for learners with colour blindness or visual impairments.
- Downloadable Resources: Slides and supporting materials accompany webinars, enabling you to take notes and refer back at your own pace.
The course recognises that the veterinary surgeons act 1966 restricts the diagnosis and treatment of an animal by another person other than a qualified and registered veterinary surgeon. However any lay person can carry out first aid in an emergency situation.
This course is NOT designed to replace veterinary treatment and attention. For all first aid cases, a veterinary surgeon should be contacted as soon as possible.
About the instructor:
Course curriculum:
-
Intro to First Aid & Patient Assessment
- Introduction from Caroline
- The basic principles of first aid
- What to include in a first aid kit
- Hand hygiene, safe handling and restraining techniques
- Assessing and examining the patient and measuring the vital signs
- Mucous Membranes and Capillary Refill Time
- Suggested Tasks
- Multiple Choice Questions Quiz
-
General First Aid Situations
- Haemorrhage and Locating the pressure points
- Dealing with clinical shock
- General Wounds
- Poisoning
- Bites and Stings
- Suggested Tasks
- Multiple Choice Questions Quiz
-
CPR, Neurological & Recognition of Pain
- Cardio-Pulmonary Arrest (CPA) and Performing Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
- Dealing with fits
- Recognising pain and its effect on the patient
- Suggested Tasks
- Multiple Choice Questions Quiz
-
More General First Aid Situations
- Burns and Scalds
- Hyperthermia
- Hypothermia
- Ticks - recognition and safe removal
- Suggested Tasks
- Multiple Choice Questions Quiz
-
General Intestinal Conditions, Electrocution & Drowning
- Gastric dilation-volvulus (GDV)
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea & Dehydration
- Electric Shocks & Electrical Burns
- Drowning / Near Drowning
- Suggested Tasks
- Multiple Choice Questions Quiz
Student reviews:
- Students gained real confidence handling emergencies after learning CPR and recognizing critical dog symptoms.
- Reviewers appreciated flexible self-paced learning with videos, downloadable resources, and ability to revisit content anytime.
- Students valued the practical skills for their dog-related careers like walking, boarding, grooming, and training businesses.
- Learners praised the clear, easy-to-follow format mixing text, videos, and quizzes without exam pressure.
Based on 120 published student reviews across all star ratings for this course.
Very good course. Was dubious at first as prefer classroom teachings but the course covered everything I was looking for in detail.
Normally I prefer a more hands-on approach to learning but this course is very interesting and well set out. CPR was especially helpful. All videos were extremely informative.
FANTASTIC COURSE
This course was detailed and provided all the information I needed for my dog-walking business. I now feel confident if something happened while out on a walk I would have all the knowledge and equipment to deal with it.
Really interesting and informative training course
The course was very easy to follow and understand; the videos were very helpful (although it would have been nice to have a few more). The CPR was really helpful for me and has given me a bit more confidence of what to do if I am ever faced with that situation.
This will help me with my own dogs but also when grooming dogs for other people.
absolutely amazing and so full of information
The course was easy to understand and broken into to interesting sections very well explained. The course will be very helpful for me in the future. This will benefit me in my dog grooming career to pick up any minor ailments dogs may have that might need veterinary treatment. I loved the videos so clearly explained for all to understand. I would have no hesitation in recommending the course to others to progress your career.
Great in depth course for someone with little knowledge of canine first aid!
Thank you so much for providing such a comprehensive but easy to follow course! I liked the mixture of text and videos to break up the reading and watching, and I have made notes of all the information provided to keep with me at all times, which I'm sure my partner will test me on weekly!
I am hoping to work with animal charities and organisations in my area to improve the lives of dogs and other animals, so this was a fantastic first step and I would highly recommend it to anyone! I'm sure I'll be back on here in a few years to refresh my training/
informative course
The canine first aid course was informative and easy to follow.
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