Teaching Animal Lovers, Pet Owners, & Professionals How to Enrich the Lives of Wild & Domestic Animals Through Trust, Respect, & Understanding.

Unusual Animal Careers
A Series about Careers with Animals

Unusual Animal Careers Part Four
Obtaining Practical Experience
with Pets & Domestic Animals

Animal careers, animal schools, & animal courses are just a few topics you will find here. You can read about careers with animals, discover animal programs, and enroll in unique animal career seminars. This is part four in an unusual animal career series. In this section you will learn about how to get experience for pet and domestic animal careers.

The first three parts of this series discussed types of careers and which ones might be appropriate for you, how to begin researching those career options, and how to find specific information in the area of your interest to help you further clarify your goals and contacts. This section, and the next few articles in the series, will help you to explore how to get specific experience in the career area of interest.

Unfortunately, in order to break into the field, you will have to define your interest. If you have not read the first three articles, go back and read them now and follow the suggestions listed. Once you have a clear idea of two or three areas you want to pursue, it is time to get to work and start looking for avenues of entry into your top area of interest.

Certainly all of the options will not be here but those that are can help you find related areas of interest or spark another thought to something similar. Since the career field is changing so fast, many new positions will crop up every year.

DOMESTIC ANIMAL WORK

The easiest type of career to pursue would be work with domestic animals. It is probably one of the more stable careers to pursue since the companion animal needs are wide scope and effect more than 50% of the total population in the United States!

If you are still enrolled in school there are some part-time jobs you might want to do. Sometimes you could even volunteer for experience. The key here is that your efforts should be consistent, and that you need to be committed for at least six months to a year in order to gain a good realistic viewpoint of the career area and some useful experience.

CLUBS

Practical experience can start in a number of ways. If you are fairly young there are programs, such as 4H, that can teach you about the care and development of a variety of animals such as pigs, goats, rabbits, sheep, cows, and poultry. Many of these programs will be geared toward the consumption use of these critters. It does give you a good feel for the demands of the animal, and if you are willing to do the work required to care for an animal. Also, if you are under 16 years of age, this type of programming is available to you, while other types of programs probably would not be.

Local stables, horse training facilities, canine companions, hearing dogs, seeing eye dogs, and therapy animals are some of the other types of programs that will fall into this category. See if you can locate other types of options by looking around town, talking to friends, or by looking through the phone book.

PRIVATE FACILITIES OR BUSINESSES

These can be variable and include both profit or nonprofit organizations and businesses. If you can get paid experience, it is often better than non-paid, since you are required to be there regularly, and have specific hours of commitment that are documented.

However, many times, you will have to volunteer to get experience so that you can get a paid position! So, if you volunteer, make sure you have a log book and do consistent and reliable work just as if you were an employee. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and that of the facility or business you are involved with.

Dedicate a minimum of time regularly, and do this for a minimum of six months to a year at one location. This will help keep the particular place receptive to taking and training people as volunteers. Remember that it costs the facility or business both time and money to train you, so make it a good experience for both of you.

Businesses to consider approaching could be pet stores, grooming centers, kennels or pet hotels, dog training facilities, veterinary offices, petting zoos, and pet related services like professional pet-sitting services, dog walking, or doggie day care and other options. In some areas you might be able to assist animal shelters, animal control, or humane societies. Remember that there may be liability or insurance issues to deal with, and you need to be considerate of their concerns or flat refusal to assist you.

SCHOLASTIC PROGRAMMING

Some schools will have work experience programs to help students define their goals, or to assist them in supporting themselves and exploring career options. Check any job referral boards at your school or with the career counseling center for leads. If there are none in your area of interest, check to see if that is something that could be set up by the office and by talking to businesses in the area. The contact list would be the same as the list above under private business or facilities.

INTERNSHIPS

An internship is where you are actually sponsored into a program to help with research in conjunction with a school or educational facility. This is usually a program for an advanced student or graduate in a specific field of study to; it is supervised practical experience. This is mainly sponsored work by a professor or senior educator. You actually go and work within a separate program or facility while finishing your degree program. Many of these programs are run in the summer months.

EXTERNSHIPS

This is where you are involved in a training program that is part of an actual course of study of an educational facility. Usually the externship is in the private business world, and supervised by the business owner or participant. It is also supervised work with the main difference from an internship being that this is often conducted in the business world rather than having a strictly academic focus.

DOCENT OR VOLUNTEER PROGRAMMING

These programs are not related to a school or work experience program, and will be different in how they are set up. Usually you will have to apply in person and with a written application. You will undergo an interview, and an orientation; often this type of programming gives you a specific amount of training hours to bring you up to speed on performing your role. Most of these programs will also require that you give a specific amount of hours within a particular window of time.

Volunteers and docents are valuable tools when it comes to helping animals, performing educational presentations, and assisting with special events. Often, you will be allowed to assist staff on special projects, and have a specific uniform that identifies you to the public. Sometimes, along with the time commitment, there may be monetary responsibility for uniforms or other educational materials.

Unusual Animal Careers Part Five: Practical Experience for Exotic Animal Work

About this animal career specialist: Since 1978 Diana L. Guerrero has worked professionally with both wild and domestic animals. Guerrero has been affiliated with, and certified by, a variety of animal programs in the USA and Europe. Based in California, she writes, consults, and speaks. Information on her animal career programs, training courses, and her books {What Animals Can Teach Us about Spirituality (SkyLight Paths, 2003), Blessing of the Animals (Sterling, 2007), Help! My Pet is Driving Me Crazy (Guerrero Ink, 2007), Animal Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners & Pet Professionals (Guerrero Ink, 2007)} can be found in this web site and in the shop. Questions for Guerrero should be submitted via the blog comments or membership forum.