UPDATE: Jun 18, 2023
PETMD UNIVERSITY IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. WE'LL LOOK TO FIND A SIMILAR SERVICE TO REVIEW FOR A FUTURE POST. IF YOU HAVE AN EDUCATIONAL SOURCE OF INFORMATION THAT YOU GO TO FOR PET WELFARE, PLEASE SHARE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.
I was concerned that the vets would use a lot of medical jargon that I couldn't understand. The good news is that most veterinarians are invested in making sure that dog owners understand what they're getting themselves into when learning about how to best care for their canine companions.
One resource that can aid owners of dogs of all ages is PetMD University.
PetMD University (PetMDU for short) is an online learning environment which allows users to take online courses related to companion animal health and behavioral topics. For this review we took the Dog Skin Care course, since it was something that we had some experience with having had a dog with some severe skin issues stemming from an anti-biotic resistant bacterial infection.
One resource that can aid owners of dogs of all ages is PetMD University.
PetMD University (PetMDU for short) is an online learning environment which allows users to take online courses related to companion animal health and behavioral topics. For this review we took the Dog Skin Care course, since it was something that we had some experience with having had a dog with some severe skin issues stemming from an anti-biotic resistant bacterial infection.
These education courses on pet health are free and sign-in was extremely easy.
You can can choose from among the 15 courses available across both dog and cat topics and save progress at any time. This allows you to come back and complete the courses at your own pace. The Dog Skin Health course took us about an hour from start to finish, but we could see where others might take 15 more minutes to complete if they read all of the reference material provided.
We had no expectation for what to expect from a free course, so we were pleasantly surprised that each content section (either a series of articles or videos) instructed by a veterinarian. The good news is, much like our own vets, the teachers of this course make no assumption as to the skill level of the audience. Even the most technical terms have very easy to follow descriptions provided. For example: Did you know that pruritus defines a dog's proclivity to scratch? We sure didn't before taking this course.
The course is set up in such a way that you have the opportunity to share your experience with your friends on a variety of social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. In addition, you can also share your favorite content with your friends on social media.
We had no expectation for what to expect from a free course, so we were pleasantly surprised that each content section (either a series of articles or videos) instructed by a veterinarian. The good news is, much like our own vets, the teachers of this course make no assumption as to the skill level of the audience. Even the most technical terms have very easy to follow descriptions provided. For example: Did you know that pruritus defines a dog's proclivity to scratch? We sure didn't before taking this course.
The course is set up in such a way that you have the opportunity to share your experience with your friends on a variety of social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. In addition, you can also share your favorite content with your friends on social media. 
After each PetMD class section participants have the opportunity to test their knowledge on pet health and well being in the form of multiple choice quizzes.
If you've carefully read through the content, expect to get a high mark, however, they aren't easy.
When you've successfully made your way through one of PetMD's entire pet health courses, you're graded and provided with a certificate, as well as the opportunity to once again share your success on Facebook and Twitter.
The site does have ads, but I was happy to see that they don't get in the way of the course content. I'll be looking closer at more of the courses and hope to provide you with additional reviews on this site in the months to come.
Myself and a number of other pet bloggers will be available to answer questions at the PetMD U #blogpawschat on Twitter (yep, you'll need to use that hash tag along with #petmdu) when we meet on May 14th from 8 to 10 PM Eastern time.
