Exploring your career options is the next step. To supplement the career information in this book, check your library or a bookstore for books about your chosen career. Look beyond the typical career guide. For instance, aspiring veterinarians may enjoy reading Nick Trout’s Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon (Broadway, 2008). Want to be a wildlife biologist who studies wild canids? Look for Swift and Enduring (E.P. Dutton, 1981), by George and Lory Frame, about their time in Africa spent tracking the endangered painted dogs. Read books by trainers and behaviorists, people who show dogs, and animal-welfare advocates. Their experiences can give you an idea of the highlights as well as the problems these types of work.
For more information about the training and education needed for a specific career, earning prospects, job outlook, working conditions, and job-search tips, consult the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. You can find it in your library in the reference section or online at www.bls.gov/OCO. It provides an excellent overview of most careers, from animal-control officer to veterinarian, as well as seven- to ten-year job projections in each field.
Don’t forget to check consumer magazines and trade journals, such as Dog World magazine, Pet Product News International, and the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. You can subscribe to them or find them at newsstands as well as at libraries. If your library doesn’t carry a publication, talk to the librarian about obtaining a copy.
The Internet is another great source of both objective and subjective information. Lots of trainers, veterinarians, and other pet professionals have blogs, for instance. Reading them can give you a window into their work life and the issues they face in their fields.
Information Interviews
Reading books and magazines and surfing the Web are useful for acquiring background information, but there’s nothing like talking to people who work in a field. This is the best way to learn how to become established in a given career and what’s actually involved in a job on a day-to-day basis, and it will help you develop and refine your career goals.
Set up what’s known as an “information interview” with people in your desired field. It will probably be easy to find people who work in your hometown or nearby as animal-control officers, dog trainers, groomers, or veterinarians. Look in the phone book or talk to the people who care for your pets. Professional organizations, such as the National Dog Groomers Association, the American Pet Products Association, the Pet Care Services Association, and the Public Relations Society of America, can also help you find people in pet-related jobs. The Occupational Outlook Handbook lists organizations as resources for different careers, so look for leads there.
Once you’ve identified someone in the field, call to make an appointment to speak to that person by phone or at his or her place of business. Explain that you are not seeking a job interview but would like to learn more about the field as a possible career. Some busy people may prefer to answer your questions by e-mail, so be sure to give them that option.
For a phone call or personal meeting, write your questions down in advance, be on time, and take good notes. Don’t forget to send a thank-you note afterward. Such a gesture of courtesy can pay off when you need a reference for a college or graduate-school application or for an apprenticeship. Even if you just speak casually to your veterinarian, groomer, or another pet professional about his or her job, be sure to thank that person.
Try to talk to more than one person in a given field. For instance, if you want to be a dog groomer, speak to one who owns his or her own business, one who works for a veterinarian or a pet-supply store, and one who runs a mobile grooming van or do-it-yourself dog wash. If you are interviewing veterinarians, talk to a general-practice one and an emergency-room one as well as a couple with specialty practices in fields such as cardiology or dentistry. If you’re interested in a career in pet products, interview the owner of a pet boutique and the manager of a pet-supply superstore.
If you’re not sure where your interests lie, do as many different information interviews as you can. Think, too, about where you’d like to live, the lifestyle you want, what salary you need, and what type of organization you’d like to work for. These factors affect such decisions as where you choose to go to school or apply for a job. As you review interview notes and compare them with notes about career desires and skills, knowledge, and needs, you’ll start to develop a picture of what career to pursue.
Pursuing Education and Acquiring Experience
If you’re not academically inclined, you may prefer to get your training on the job, apprenticing with a professional. If you do want formal education in a particular field, research as many different educational programs as possible to make sure you choose the best for your purposes. Professional organizations often have their own requirements for members, including certification and licensing.
Learning about dogs starts with observing and interacting with your own pet.
In addition to on-the-job training or formal education, make the effort to learn on your own. Spend as much time as possible watching dogs, studying their behavior, reading about them, and viewing them in works of art. Your self-study, along with your education in the fundamentals of your career, will help train your eye and give you a firm foundation as you pursue your chosen field.
On-the-Job Training
Not every dog-related career requires formal education. Often, the best way to gain experience is to learn on the job. Groomers, dog trainers, and professional handlers have a long history of serving in apprenticeships to people established in their field to learn the trade.
Working in retail isn’t exactly an apprenticeship, but it is the type of job that’s frequently open to people with little or no experience in pet-supply sales. A friendly, helpful attitude toward customers and a strong work ethic will go a long way in the pet-supply business, and it doesn’t hurt to be knowledgeable about the products the store carries.
Careers in the arts also allow you to get your education on the job. Many artists and photographers never take a course; they learn by doing.
Are you planning to work in the field of human welfare but want to incorporate dogs into your job? Police- and military-dog handlers often learn the dog-handling aspect on the job, but prior experience through personal ownership, volunteer work for a search-and-rescue organization, or formal study at a dog-training school can help as well.
Lead cashier and accredited pet trainer Kayla Barett stocks the shelves at PetSmart in Woodhaven, Michigan. Working at a pet-supply store can be a good way to learn more about dogs and pet products.
Formal Education
Groomers and trainers may also attend schools that specialize in educating future canine hairstylists and dog whisperers. People who plan to be trainers, whether they apprentice or attend a dog-training school, can benefit from college courses in animal behavior and human psychology. Because trainers teach the owner to teach the dog, it can be immensely helpful to understand the psychology of learning and learn what techniques motivate people to follow advice. Trainers who want to work in the entertainment industry need to understand something about filmmaking and self-promotion.
Profiles of Bachelor’s Degree Programs