Choosing a career with your dog in mind

I am at a crossroads in my life where I can choose to go back to school for a complete career change. I am thinking about having a medical career in either medical assisting or radiology so I am looking at several medical assistant training schools and community colleges. During my search I was also thinking about becoming a vet tech and the advantages are health care for my dogs along with having one or more of them with me at work.

If the field of pet care professionals was not so low paid then I would seriously consider going into a dog or pet related career field. I was also thinking along the lines of what kinds of jobs could I have where my dog could join me. I came up with a short but interesting list:

Forest Ranger
Garden center worker
Cattle herder
Sheep herder
Pet store owner
Police officer
Search and rescue worker

Throw a party bash

More and more dog owners are throwing birthday parties for their dogs. They include party invitations sent out to other dogs and menus that are for dogs and not geared towards their owners. I have even heard of a few summer time barbecues and pool parties that were just for the dogs.

It stems from people that either have grown children or no children and they can afford to indulge the family dog. Every dog owner should attend at least one dog party just for the experience.

Your dog at the wedding

When I got married the only way we could show our affection for our pets at our wedding was to have 2 dogs sitting next to each other as a wedding decoration on our wedding cake. Times have changed and now people are more tolerant of dogs at weddings and even the family dog has become the ring bearer or attendant. No longer are dogs at weddings limited to just a cartoon on the wedding invitations. After all dogs are members of our families not just an after thought.

The care and treatment of dogs

The above barcode is one of my favorite cartoons. It reflects how I feel about my dog. Our dogs are part of the family not just an item that we feed, clean-up after and occasionally play with. I would love to see when people purchased their dogs from either a breeder, pet shop or the local shelter the dogs have a barcode that when the barcode scanners scanned them the words would come up on the check out screen "do you promise to cherish and care for this dog for the next 16 years or more?", "if not, do not complete transaction".

Keeping your dog active and healthy

Unlike us humans dogs are a pretty active lot. Their bodies can handle foods that are off limits to many of us. Their digestive systems are not only are able to raw meats, bones and are in fact little fat burners. It is now coming to light that a raw meat diet is preferred for dogs over the dry or canned diets that have been pushed down the consumers throats by the pet food industry.

About 18 years ago I use to breed and show Chow Chows and they are known for having skin problems. My vet had me put the dogs that were having skin problems on a raw meat diet and all their skin problems cleared almost overnight. My vet said it was because the dog food companies do not always put on the labels ALL the ingredients or lump them together under a "by products" labeling.

If your dog has been having problems with dog foods then you might want to add real meat to their diet everyday.

Camping with your dog

Just about the only way to take your dog with you when you go on vacation is when you camp. Staying in motels or hotels with a dog can be a little expensive because the hotels, even if they accept pets they do charge extra for them. Camping either in a tent and roughing it or in a rv can be fun if you take some simple precautions before you set out on your trip.

Make sure your dog is wearing a collar with ID and current rabies tags. Go the extra step and have your dog mirco chipped before the trip. Make sure your dog has all of it's vaccinations up to date just in case your dog encounters another pet dog that is sick.

Take with you a dog bed or a blanket that will just be for the dog. It will help the dog feel more at home rather than on the road. Plan what you will be doing with the dog while in camp and away from the camp. Keep in mind that a dog is an attractive nuisance for small children near your camp and take precautions.