Pet Services
I can't remember when the last time was that I wrote about the animal service industry and my feelings about it. So as I had it on my mind this morning I figured I would sit down and write out some of my thoughts. Warning, this entry has some graphic details about animal cruelty.
When I was a little girl one of the things I wanted to become when I grew up was a vetrinarian. I loved animals, and had a natural talent for figuring out what was wrong with our dogs and taking care of it before we ever had to take them to a vet. I thought that I would make a great vet. Thankfully life took me in a different direction and I never ended up going in that direction. I say thankfully because of my experience with the animal service industry and what I have noticed about how certain professions that deal with animals tend to leave a person.
Years after those days of dreaming of becoming a vet, I applied for a job as a dog bather at Petsmart. I loved the job, I got to work with dogs on a daily basis, I was happy with what I was doing and felt good about my job. I did end up seeing some things that bothered me about the dogs, about the owners, about the groomers, about dog grooming in general. But everything was going good and so I just filed those things in the back of my head.
I then decided to become a groomer. I went to grooming school and while there the first dog I ever groomed/shaved came in. The owner when he dropped it off told us that he thought the dog had been shot. This surprised and frightened us, but we were being paid to shave the dog not to worry about the dog's health. We shaved him down until we got to a large mat that was on his side. As we began to shave this mat we could tell that there was a lot of blood and pus under it. We ended up taking the dog to the vet where they shaved off the mat with a surgical shaver. Turns out the dog was not shot. Instead a foxtail had gotten into his side. (a wicked type of weed whose seeds have barbs that attach them to an animal's fur, as the animal moves the seed moves farther and farther forward, until it hits skin and begins to move into the skin. Foxtails are particularly nasty because they can break through the skin, cause a nasty wound, cause infection and some can even work their way into the blood stream and get to the heart and kill the animal.) The fox tail had created a seriously nasty wound, but the dog had been too matted for the owners to realize what the problem was.
This was my first experience with really disturbing pet treatment. As I continued to groom dogs I saw more and more. There were a pair of Old English Sheepdogs that were brought in to me on a regular basis. Everytime they came in they would be matted to the skin. Matted so badly that when they moved they cried because their hair was pulling their skin.
I saw dogs who had mats over their bums and privates, so that the feces and urine just built up and caused infections in the area.
I saw dogs whose anal glands had been ignored to the point where they had absessed and created a wound on the dogs bum.
I saw more wounds under mats where something had gotten in under a mat and had begun to dig into the dog's skin.
I saw severely matted dogs and was told to brush the mats out even though it would hurt the dogs.
I saw dogs who came from a house where the owners were running a puppy mill of sorts and brought their dogs in to be groomed because they were told to.
I also saw viscious dogs, dogs that acted as if they had been sexually abused, dogs that acted as if they had been beat. Day after day I saw one terrible thing after another, and I had to work through it all. It was against the rules to call the ASPCA on the owners. We could get fired for that. Our job was to groom the animals however the owners asked us to, we were not supposed to turn any of the customers away.
Over time I grew desensitized to the bad conditions I saw some dogs in, I grew callused to scared dogs, nervous dogs. My job was to get the dogs in and get them out as fast as possible. I grew tired of dogs, I would come home at night and I wanted to be left alone by my own dog. I started to really hate my job. Fortunately for me, I ended up getting fired, which made me leave the job that I was wanting to leave anyway. I started looking for another grooming job, but in the end I went in another direction.
I am glad that I got out of the animal service industry. When I say animal service industry I mean any job where the main part of your job deals with the care and service of animals. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure that there are jobs in animal service that don't do this to you, jobs where everything is good, where everything is fun and you don't see the really bad side of animals and people. Probably things like, dog walking, dog training, maybe even pet sitting, or pet daycare. However there are others, like grooming and being a vet where you begin to really see the nasty side of people and what they do to the pets they own.
I am so grateful that I never became a vet. Firstly because I am glad that I don't have to see what condition some animals come in to vet offices in. Second because I am glad I don't have to risk the harm that can come with dealing with other people's animals. Thirdly because I don't want to become desensitized to the terrible things that people do to animals, I don't want to get to a point where I go, "Oh, that's terrible." Then shut the awfulness of it out of my head so I can do my job.
At this point the only interaction I have with animals is with my own dogs at home. And that is enough for me.
I do know that the animal service industry has to be there, because there are services that animals need. However, that industry is not for me.
When I was a little girl one of the things I wanted to become when I grew up was a vetrinarian. I loved animals, and had a natural talent for figuring out what was wrong with our dogs and taking care of it before we ever had to take them to a vet. I thought that I would make a great vet. Thankfully life took me in a different direction and I never ended up going in that direction. I say thankfully because of my experience with the animal service industry and what I have noticed about how certain professions that deal with animals tend to leave a person.
Years after those days of dreaming of becoming a vet, I applied for a job as a dog bather at Petsmart. I loved the job, I got to work with dogs on a daily basis, I was happy with what I was doing and felt good about my job. I did end up seeing some things that bothered me about the dogs, about the owners, about the groomers, about dog grooming in general. But everything was going good and so I just filed those things in the back of my head.
I then decided to become a groomer. I went to grooming school and while there the first dog I ever groomed/shaved came in. The owner when he dropped it off told us that he thought the dog had been shot. This surprised and frightened us, but we were being paid to shave the dog not to worry about the dog's health. We shaved him down until we got to a large mat that was on his side. As we began to shave this mat we could tell that there was a lot of blood and pus under it. We ended up taking the dog to the vet where they shaved off the mat with a surgical shaver. Turns out the dog was not shot. Instead a foxtail had gotten into his side. (a wicked type of weed whose seeds have barbs that attach them to an animal's fur, as the animal moves the seed moves farther and farther forward, until it hits skin and begins to move into the skin. Foxtails are particularly nasty because they can break through the skin, cause a nasty wound, cause infection and some can even work their way into the blood stream and get to the heart and kill the animal.) The fox tail had created a seriously nasty wound, but the dog had been too matted for the owners to realize what the problem was.
This was my first experience with really disturbing pet treatment. As I continued to groom dogs I saw more and more. There were a pair of Old English Sheepdogs that were brought in to me on a regular basis. Everytime they came in they would be matted to the skin. Matted so badly that when they moved they cried because their hair was pulling their skin.
I saw dogs who had mats over their bums and privates, so that the feces and urine just built up and caused infections in the area.
I saw dogs whose anal glands had been ignored to the point where they had absessed and created a wound on the dogs bum.
I saw more wounds under mats where something had gotten in under a mat and had begun to dig into the dog's skin.
I saw severely matted dogs and was told to brush the mats out even though it would hurt the dogs.
I saw dogs who came from a house where the owners were running a puppy mill of sorts and brought their dogs in to be groomed because they were told to.
I also saw viscious dogs, dogs that acted as if they had been sexually abused, dogs that acted as if they had been beat. Day after day I saw one terrible thing after another, and I had to work through it all. It was against the rules to call the ASPCA on the owners. We could get fired for that. Our job was to groom the animals however the owners asked us to, we were not supposed to turn any of the customers away.
Over time I grew desensitized to the bad conditions I saw some dogs in, I grew callused to scared dogs, nervous dogs. My job was to get the dogs in and get them out as fast as possible. I grew tired of dogs, I would come home at night and I wanted to be left alone by my own dog. I started to really hate my job. Fortunately for me, I ended up getting fired, which made me leave the job that I was wanting to leave anyway. I started looking for another grooming job, but in the end I went in another direction.
I am glad that I got out of the animal service industry. When I say animal service industry I mean any job where the main part of your job deals with the care and service of animals. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure that there are jobs in animal service that don't do this to you, jobs where everything is good, where everything is fun and you don't see the really bad side of animals and people. Probably things like, dog walking, dog training, maybe even pet sitting, or pet daycare. However there are others, like grooming and being a vet where you begin to really see the nasty side of people and what they do to the pets they own.
I am so grateful that I never became a vet. Firstly because I am glad that I don't have to see what condition some animals come in to vet offices in. Second because I am glad I don't have to risk the harm that can come with dealing with other people's animals. Thirdly because I don't want to become desensitized to the terrible things that people do to animals, I don't want to get to a point where I go, "Oh, that's terrible." Then shut the awfulness of it out of my head so I can do my job.
At this point the only interaction I have with animals is with my own dogs at home. And that is enough for me.
I do know that the animal service industry has to be there, because there are services that animals need. However, that industry is not for me.