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I have been thinking about writing a blog on my new addition for a few weeks, but the little monkey takes up so much of my time, and I haven't got round to it until now. It was quite inspirational seeing Holly share her new addition (Bailey) on this morning yesterday. So it is nice having that to relate to. However, mine is often referred to as a land shark, and I wouldn't trust him on live television.
For those of you that don't know, it's a German Shepard. Although my new addition is only a baby at 14 weeks old, he is certainly a big boy and enjoys playing rough, particularly with his teeth (hence land shark). Just to note, this is not my pup in the picture, but an example of the breed. Due to a lot of people automatically putting them as guard dogs, and sometimes dangerous dogs, I wanted to share a bit about my puppy's character. He loves giving kisses and cuddles, he whimpers if he can't get in the same room as me, loves saying hello to other dogs when we're out on our walks, jumps up excitedly on the children when they get home from school (kisses included), and climbs on the sofa with me when he wants a cuddle and puts his head and paw on me to snuggle right in.
The reason that I'm sharing the back story, is because it changes the way you think of everything else you need for your pup/dog. Aside from the usual food, exercise and health, what about when I'm at work, or when we go on holiday, and making sure he is behaving correctly (particularly because of his adult size).
This brings me to the careers part of my post. Which in the most part is focused on dogs, mainly because there are a lot more careers developing for this animal, some of them can relate to other pets too.
For a change, I thought that we'd look at some apprenticeships first. Some that I see quite regularly are horse grooms, veterinary nurse, animal care assistant, dog handler and dog groomer. I'm sure that other charities do too, but the RSPCA offer apprenticeships most years.
Generally, most courses we see in the main stream education are animal care and animal management, and in some areas equestrian specific. Privately, you can access animal behaviour, equine dentistry, dog training, and dog grooming, but I'm sure there are others. Moving away from pets, but more professional, dogs and horses in particular do some very specialist training. From bomb and drug detection, to finding people and therapy dogs get their training through the specialist organisation that will usually train their trainers in house. Horses too can have more specialist roles in the military and police force, as well as the racing and competitions. Their trainers will either be trained in house or on a specific training course at college or university.
Some the degrees available are quite varied, and go beyond veterinary science and nursing, which is often the main one identified. Here are some examples: animal behaviour and welfare; equine physiotherapy; racehorse performance and rehabilitation; canine training training and performance; and equestrian sports science.
As much as all of these courses give a good insight into the kind of careers it can lead into, I think that there would be more if you had a good dig around, particularly related to nutrition and production of toys/accessories/bedding.
From my perspective, I have already made use of a vet, doggy day care and trainer for my little pooch, and I'm sure will go on to use more specialists in the animal care field in the future.
Next week I will look at other animals and careers associated with them.
So, to the animal lovers out there, happy hunting for your perfect career.
offer apprenticeships on a regular basis.
In some areas, the main courses available are animal care and animal management (level one, two, and three), for the mainstream ones. Then when you look at private ones, they offer things like the dog grooming, equine dentistry and animal behaviourist. Degree courses are more than veterinary nurse and surgeon, with things like veterinary physiotherapy, animal behaviour and welfare, animal training and performance, racehorse performance and rehabilitation, canine training and performance and equestrian sports coaching are some of the examples.
From a personal point of view, my pup will be seeing a trainer and a vet, going to doggy day care and boarding, and possibly a groomer. However, when we look at the bigger picture, and those courses/apprenticeships, it shows that there are so many more careers out there that are often overlooked.
Next week, I will look at other careers in other animals, rather than pets.
To all of the animal lovers out there, enjoy exploring the opportunities out there.