What Do You Do In The Dog World?

[toughgirl27]

I've just started my ndtf course..woohoo! Work is putting me through it.

I work at boarding kennels- but we are branching out.

We do doggy day care and training and are starting to get on the bandwagon for dog sports.

And my boy is in training to try and become a therapy dog.

I have my cert II in Animal Care and my cert III in Companion Animals.

I love what I do, and I love learning something new everyday. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else!

Hey Jessm,

Which boarding kennels do you work at? I work at Wellington Park Kennels.

You will be coming to our kennels for your practical workshops.

[Sagittarian]

Purchased my first St Bernard in my teens.

Trialled in NSW and during the few years I lived in NZ. Gained CDX with the granddaughter of the above.

Met my husband at a dog show (does that count lol?)

Have bred and/or owned a number of Best in Show winning Saints and a Grand Champion.

Worked for various petfood companies.

Groomed from home whilst the kids were young.

Judge Utility at Champ level and Non Sporting & Working at Open level.

Been on committees of all breed and specilty clubs and was chair of Conformation Committee in Vic for a year.

Ian owns two pet supply outlets that I work for as well. It is our passion and so rewarding to meet so many great dogs, the occasional cat and so on.

During the years we were breeding and active in the showring, I had a particular interest in genetics and particularly the genetic health of St Bernards.

With the business so busy, and two awesome sons and a property to look after, we've not been as active in the dog world these last few years. All the Saints passed away eventually, so we now enjoy our wildlife and other people's pets.

Sags

Edited May 7, 2011 by Sagittarian

[Ravyk]

I'm currently studying to become a qualified vet nurse.

[jacqui835]

Oooh, thank you for posting this thread, OP! I'm looking at changing my career and it's so fascinating to read about all the different animal related jobs one can do!

At the moment I'm a groomer. I've been grooming for about 5 years, mostly self-taught. I'm not that great and my wrist is undergoing chiro treatment at the moment as it's a bit wrecked.

In the past I've worked at a kennel (hated it with a passion, the way the kennel was run made me really upset) and I've volunteered for a couple of shelters, doing walking and a little bit of lure training. I've also pet sat and I fostered a cat that ended up being a foster failure firstly for me, and then re-failed to one of my friends who lived with me for a while and took her along when she moved in with her partner!

I've recently purchased my first agility and show dog, and hope to sign up for obedience this weekend at Croydon I've also started designing some hand-made soft dog toys as I haven't been able to find many things for a Papilon puppy who loves carrying things around in his mouth - most toys are far too big! I'd love to eventually learn enough about sewing to make him and his friends jackets and costumes and maybe some collars and leads.

I'd love to know what any former groomers are doing now and how they transfered their skills into another industry (I only finished year 10 at school so uni isn't an option unless I do one of those transfer course thingies). I really really want to start the Delta training course but I can't until next year (but have already saved up the neccesary funds!)

E x

edit: oh, and I forgot my proudest moment! LOL. I was grooming for a well-known Vic rescue group for a while with my old job and absolutely loved it, highlight of my career for sure. I really miss doing it

A tiny bit OT but do you have any toys I could buy for paps? My sister has 2 and has the exact same problem, in that they love toys, but there are few that seem suitable. She currently gets them a mix of cat toys and baby toys.

And so it's not too OT - well, I am purely a dog lover lol. We go to obedience and agility and I honestly love my dog more than anything else in the world right now (it's a good thing my OH doesn't come on these forums, but he probably suspects as much anyway). My two passions were animal science and psychology - ended up choosing psych because you can take biology as an elective which I did - so it seemed like a compromise.

When I have made enough money to live off investments (lol if that ever happens...), there are 2 things I plan to do that involve dogs. One day when I'm closer to that reality I'll post about it here in the hopes of getting some input. I think as dog owners we're very lucky to have this forum, it's an incredible source of information.

Edited May 8, 2011 by jacqui835

[Mason_Gibbs]

Im a pet owner and obedience trialler, got my first dog at age 3 and have had dogs my whole life...

[Jessm]

Hey Jessm,

Which boarding kennels do you work at? I work at Wellington Park Kennels.

You will be coming to our kennels for your practical workshops.

Oh, i'm in NSW, so doing distance ed and going to the Pet Resort in Syd.

I am very much looking forward to it- so excited when I received my package last week!

[Leelaa17]

Started with my first Vizsla 23 years ago which led to showing, obedience, hunting and more recently, breeding.

My passion for dogs led me to become a qualified dog groomer, operating my own salons, and also trained and worked as a Veterinary Nurse.

Have headed a breed club sub-committee and been a committee member of that club.

Have also handled show dogs for lots of other people.

These days I have completely scaled down any involvement. I know longer show and rarely get out on the quail or rabbits etc.

Edited to say... I no longer work within the pet industry as it doesn't pay enough to raise 4 kids, dogs and a stack of other pets!

Personal staff to 4 Salukis

Co-parent of 2 Afghans and an Irish Wolfhound

Show my own dogs

Club Secretary for a Group Club and an All Breeds Club

Member of my two breed clubs

Steward at dog shows and occasionally at trials

Do some private lure coursing over winter months

Occasionally do breed rescue and foster when the need arises

Planning my first litter.

Also a member of the CSM and definitely a Crazy Dog Lady

Before I ran out of hours in the day, I was a volunteer obedience instructor and have taught classes and given intake lectures at two of the Canberra obedience clubs.

Spend what spare time I do have reading all I can find on my breed, structure, performance, heath etc and talking about those things with other dog tragics likeminded people.

I have an office job, I couldn't afford to pay for what I want to do with my dogs with a dog job, and probably could not put up with the people associated with dog jobs either.

It's really sad that being in the dog industry doesn't pay well. It's hard to chose between something you have a passion for and money. Believe me, journalists get paid s**t as well! lol lucky us!

[Leelaa17]

It really does show that if you face your fear, theres a chance you will get over it!

That was my thinking when I volunteered to help someone catch funnel webs. I'm no longer afraid of funnel webs, but any other spider still gives me the heebie jeebies. I had a consulting friend who used to make me laugh because I'd be following him through the bush and he'd suddenly jerk backwards and I was like "You're afraid of spiders, aren't you?" I would recognise that "Hells bells, spider web!" dance anywhere. He was kind of relieved to find another zoologist with the same achilles heel. It was a problem for herp surveys, though, as neither of us liked lifting rocks because half of them had these big, black scary spiders that lived under them that made us shriek. Well, I shrieked. He was too manly. Most of the time.

Oh now I think that would be fun! Spiders are fascinating creatures. Funny story, a little OT... I was at a set of lights and the car directly diagonal from me had a man in it. All of a sudden this guy opened his door and flew out, he was jumping and dancing and ripping his clothes off in the middle of the streets while everyone was still stopped at a set of lights... I looked at the car next to me (behind him) and the guy was PISSING himself laughing (I was too). They guy who jumped out of his car all of a sudden stopped, turned around, gave a thumbs up to everyone and got back in his car and drove away.

Im assuming it was a spider - funniest thing I've seen!!! And I can tell you, even though I don't really have a problem with spiders... that is DEFINITELY what my reaction would be like!!!! :rofl:

[bedazzledx2]

Oooh gotta love the spider dance!!! Especially when a guy does it!!! :rofl:

It really does show that if you face your fear, theres a chance you will get over it!

That was my thinking when I volunteered to help someone catch funnel webs. I'm no longer afraid of funnel webs, but any other spider still gives me the heebie jeebies. I had a consulting friend who used to make me laugh because I'd be following him through the bush and he'd suddenly jerk backwards and I was like "You're afraid of spiders, aren't you?" I would recognise that "Hells bells, spider web!" dance anywhere. He was kind of relieved to find another zoologist with the same achilles heel. It was a problem for herp surveys, though, as neither of us liked lifting rocks because half of them had these big, black scary spiders that lived under them that made us shriek. Well, I shrieked. He was too manly. Most of the time.

Oh now I think that would be fun! Spiders are fascinating creatures. Funny story, a little OT... I was at a set of lights and the car directly diagonal from me had a man in it. All of a sudden this guy opened his door and flew out, he was jumping and dancing and ripping his clothes off in the middle of the streets while everyone was still stopped at a set of lights... I looked at the car next to me (behind him) and the guy was PISSING himself laughing (I was too). They guy who jumped out of his car all of a sudden stopped, turned around, gave a thumbs up to everyone and got back in his car and drove away.

Im assuming it was a spider - funniest thing I've seen!!! And I can tell you, even though I don't really have a problem with spiders... that is DEFINITELY what my reaction would be like!!!! :rofl:

[Inevitablue]

Spiders.... I can handle St Andrews Cross ones but any signs of fur...

Staying OT, OMG try riding your bike up Lapstone Hill in the Blue Mountains to look down and see a massive, fat huntsman walking over the speedo, thank dog I had gloves on....waited until he crawled onto my glove then started flicking like crazy still doing 80km/hr in the fast lane. Heart rate would have been well over 190! I was flicking and seat dancing for almost a km then finally he lost grip.

Sigh...... Heart rate drops, composure slightly returns....until

His mate appears, crawling up the fork leg (the bit that runs down to the front wheel). He decides to sit inside my windscreen for the next few km until I could make it to a service station and buy 2 cans of Mortein.

I had so many drivers staring at me, I must have looked like I was suffering some type of seizure.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Inevitablue

[Leelaa17]

Spiders.... I can handle St Andrews Cross ones but any signs of fur...

Staying OT, OMG try riding your bike up Lapstone Hill in the Blue Mountains to look down and see a massive, fat huntsman walking over the speedo, thank dog I had gloves on....waited until he crawled onto my glove then started flicking like crazy still doing 80km/hr in the fast lane. Heart rate would have been well over 190! I was flicking and seat dancing for almost a km then finally he lost grip.

Sigh...... Heart rate drops, composure slightly returns....until

His mate appears, crawling up the fork leg (the bit that runs down to the front wheel). He decides to sit inside my windscreen for the next few km until I could make it to a service station and by 2 cans of Mortein.

I had so many drivers staring at me, I must have looked like I was suffering some type of seizure.

AGGHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rofl: :rofl:

AWWWWW1 but the poor huntsman - couldn't you have flicked him out like his friend instead of morteining his ass? lol The poor thing!

See I like huntsmans. They are big and creepy but I think they are gentle and kind! HAHA I sound like a wacko... but they aren't aggressive - thats why I like them... If it was a funnelweb........ I would've jumped out of the car at 80km an hour and rolled! lol

Edited May 8, 2011 by Leelaa17

[Inevitablue]

I sprayed the whole bike!