The Pierce Township Fire Department would like to make two things clear. One, with a little training, you can do a lot to help your pet survive an injury. Two, if your pet does get injured, don’t call an ambulance, call a veterinarian.

That being said, classes are currently being scheduled on emergency pet first aid techniques that will allow the average citizen to lend a helping hand to man’s best friend, canine or feline.

“We’ve had more interest in this than we’ve had in regular CPR,” said assistant fire chief Scott Light. “It’s amazing, people just really care about their pets.”

Light said that the idea to start the pet CPR class was toyed around with for a little while, but not seriously considered at first. When the idea was given a green light to proceed, the plan was to have maybe one class a year. However, when word got out that the class was being offered, the response quickly showed there to be more demand than was expected.

“We’ve recently switched companies that we use to do our CPR,” said Light. “One of the things we could be trained in was pet first aid. We thought it would be one class a year, not a big deal. We try to do something new each year for our public education, and this just went in leaps and bounds. People took to it, and the ones who have called are coming from everywhere. To date, I’ve confirmed 35 people for the classes we have so far, and more coming in.”