Do I Miss Being a ‘Real’ Veterinarian?


Dr Jones opens up about what he misses, and what he DOESN’T miss about practicing as a veterinarian.

3 thoughts on “Do I Miss Being a ‘Real’ Veterinarian?”

  1. Thank you, Dr Jones, for all that you are doing to help people and their pets and standing tall to share the truth on the holistic side of veterinary medicine!
    BRAVO!!!

  2. I am a dog trainer and started in the 70’s. I started out in 4-H and continued to show. As an adult I eventually started teaching obedience classes. I can fully understand because after years of people showing up to class every week, the group ready to move on to the next task, there were always the few that didn’t practice at home or only practiced the day before class. They held up the class because their poor dogs had no idea what was going on. The owners didn’t bother to teach the dogs to sit, to heel or to stay and come. I got paid either way but for some reason, I felt like I was wasting my time. I stopped teaching but at some point but had several people ask about me taking their dogs for a 2-3 month period and training them.I finally agreed to try. I did several dogs over a year and even put them in a few obedience trials and placed in the top 3. These dogs had no training at all prior but many bad habits. I trained their owners, sent them home with reference material but within a year, after checking in on the dogs, they were wild and unruly. The owners thought that once the dogs were trained they would magically stay that way. They were tossed in the backyards and became ornaments again. Again, I wasted my time and I gave up after that.
    I focused on teaching 4-H kids,judging 4-H dog shows, stewarding AKC shows and showing or doing sports with my own dogs.
    Up until recently, I had 5 longcoat European German Shepherds. 2 of them are imported. 1 female, I had planned on doing dock diving and FastCat with her. I did obedience training, she passed her CGC test but she was showing promising traits for a Service dog. I had her evaluated, I started training her with a coach and she became a Certified Service dog. I gave her to someone who needed her. Now I’m down to 4 dogs. Less grooming!!
    So anyway, I understand how sometimes, doing something you love but changing the method is hard but rewarding. I loved teaching classes but teaching 4-H kids was far more rewarding. I didn’t make money but I know that some of the 4-H kids grew into adults knowing that a pet is a lifetime commitment that you make. They learned how to take care of their dogs, groom them and train them. To me, that is so much more important than just teaching dog classes for money.

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