Working with animals....anyone?

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Hello, I was majoring in nursing but it did not work out because I simply CAN'T work with people or handle the stress. I decided to go back to school this fall to be a vet tech because I love animals, especially dogs, anyone here work with animals?

Sure I'm on WP, isn't that exactly what I'm doing: Working with animals!

I work at a Petsmart doggie day care, but I wouldn't recommend it. (Petsmart, not working with animals.) These sort of corporations place a lot of emphasis on drumming up as much business as possible and providing a "simple" solution (dump all the dogs in one room and tell the associates they HAVE to throw a ball to "entertain" them constantly). These environments are very stressful to dogs and I do not recommend them at all. (However, there are some private facilities that do a MUCH better job of working with animals...another place I am looking to transfer to has rooms to allow dogs to relax, an outside where they can play, kiddie pools for those who are so inclined, and isolate the dogs for a set amount of time so they are ALLOWED to unwind and decompress.) I guess my point is that working with animals is fantastic, but make sure wherever you go is up to the standards that animal caretakers NEED to be at.

hey...small world.Fellow Petsmarter here.I work the overnights,so I dont do the ball throwing for more then 20 min at a time in the morning "walks" and the dogs(most)like that small dose.The rest of the time is cleaning and when I am done ,I can go and cuddle the dogs that cant sleep.I like it but I agree the company atmosphere is a bit oppressive and the barking can get to me.They also have a lot of "rules" that I think are stupid(dont go into the animal cages at night,they might attack you(and you might sue us),but they want me to clean their cages?I would never leave an animal there during their busy weeks(holidays)they dont get enough care,it smells and is stressful for them and us...bad.

I plan on checking out some other places(Only been here a few months)but I need to work nights/over nights and not many places have staff on at night.I would be afraid to work in a vets....the animals are scared and it causes them pain(even though they are getting helped,it would be hard for me to be around).I also heard it pays crap compared to the amount of schooling.

I have had a couple jobs as a kennel attendant....I love working with the animals...I less love working with the other animal care workers....ummm.....There was a percentage of them that were really down to earth and who cared about the animals and working with me ... tolerated my akward but well intended ways...Then there were a buncha mean..jaded...not-nice-to-the animals people..who could be rude arrogant...creepy....Vets who yell...bitter angry vet techs...etc....
Weird office politics.....what-have-you....That was just from my couple of experiences...I am sure they are not all that way....I found I was pretty good with the animals...They had me doing all kinds of stuff...the pay was a tad lousy though...but I was just an attendant...which generally requires no prior education and minimal to no experience...at my second job, I was on a training program to become a tech, but my learning difficulties kinda got in the way ...and then I was runned off by the mean office manager...even though the doctor liked me ok.