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Animal Care Worker as a Career
By Nikola Marshall
Animal Care: Pet Pests Are Back!
By Bill Knell
Animal Husbandry And Other Unnatural
Acts: A Career in Dog Training By Albert Medinas
Is My Child Ready For A Family Pet?
By Jennifer Gove
Animal Care Worker as a Career
By Nikola Marshall
For many animal lovers, working with animals
is an ideal career. The rewards, however, are set off by hard work.
A partial list of duties include; training, feeding,
watering, grooming, bathing, and exercising animals. It may also
involved cleaning, disinfecting and repairing the enclosures where
the particular animal or animals are kept. It may be necessary to
play with the animals, provide companionship and observe changes
in their habits and diet.
Working with animals usually consists of two
areas, caretakers and trainers.
Some employers in this field include veterinarian
clinics, stables, aquariums and zoos.
Here is a closer look at some careers and their
requirements.
Kennel attendants care for pets while owners
are out of town. This job requires basic care of the pet or pets
such as feeding, watering and exercising the animals.
In a Shelter, the basic tasks need to be performed
along with keeping records, vaccinations, cleaning cages and dealing
with the public.
Stable hands will saddle and bridle horses, groom
them, walk a horse after a workout to cool them off, feed and water,
exercise and maintain stalls and bedding. They will also clean tack
and keep the tack room neat and organized and store supplies and
feed. An experienced hand may help to train horses.
Zookeepers prepare food and clean enclosures.
They may assist in raising very young animals. Zookeepers watch
behavior patterns for signs of illness and keep records of these
patterns. Answering questions for the public is also a job requirement.
Most of these professions are trained on the
job, however some employers may require some experience with animals.
The work is sometimes unpleasant and can be physically and emotionally
demanding, sometimes even dangerous. The hours can be irregular
and you may work in all kids of weather conditions.
However difficult the work may be, the rewards
of working with animals will far outweigh the demands.
Nikola lives and writes in Oklahoma. She is active
in local Citizen's Police Academy Alumni, Volunteers in Policing
and Skywarn. She enjoys reading, scrapbooking and spending time
with her two dogs. This article has been submitted in affiliation
with http://www.Facsimile.Com/ which is a site for Fax Machines.
Animal Care: Pet Pests Are Back!
By Bill Knell
While most Garden Buffs can hardly wait for spring
and summer to arrive, many pet owners fear this lovely time of year.
They know it’s the beginning of flea and tick season. While
the exact time when these tiny pests appear en masse to torture
pets and humans alike may vary, a wise Pet Owner starts to prepare
for their arrival as the snow melts, flowers bloom or the temperatures
start to climb.
Preparation can help avoid infestation. Flea
and ticks may seem like super-pests that are able to thwart even
professional efforts to get and keep them out, but they are not
as tough as you might think. In most cases, people actually invite
these pests on to their property and into their homes by their action
or inaction. They do this by creating a flea and tick friendly environment.
I received a letter from a big city apartment
dweller a few years ago. He had a small dog and lived in a clean,
well-kept New York City apartment. He took stellar care of his dog,
had his place professionally cleaned and always made sure that his
pet avoided contact with other animals and areas likely to be infested.
Despite all these precautions, his pet always ended up with fleas.
Having lived in the Big Apple myself for a number of years, I knew
that his problem was a common one. People who live in urban areas
or clean suburban neighborhoods fail to understand how their pets
get flea and tick infestations. Well, it’s a lot easier than
you might think.
During my days in New York City, I watched more
then a few people walk their pets near trees. I mean, when a dogs
gotta go, they’ve gotta go! The problem is that almost all
trees in urban or suburban settings have grass, weeds or some other
form of flora near or around them. That grass is rarely trimmed
to proper standards. Fleas love tall grass because it’s just
a hop, skip and jump to the next animal that happens along to use
the nearby tree as an animal restroom. Ticks also have a field day
with these areas. Animals free and clear of these tiny pests interact
with infested pets and you know the rest of the story.
There are just no shortcuts to preventing flea
and tick infestation. It is all about cleanliness, vigilance and
making the right choices. Providing a clean and well-kept environment
for your pet is the best way to avoid infestation. Problem areas
include refuse storage, lawns, trees, plants and bushes. Problem
situations include contact with other animals and exposure to environments
outside of your residence.
Let’s begin with the garbage. Refuse areas
are the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of pests. Keeping
the inside and outside of garbage containers clean and making sure
they are tightly covered is a step in the right direction. However,
you also have to be sure that pets cannot get near or have regular
contact with the containers or the area where they are kept. Pets
are attracted to the smell of garbage (which you might not even
be able to detect). So are other animals. Birds and various animal
visitors to your property can bring unwelcome pests. These pests
can end up infesting your pets. Refuse areas should be fenced off
or placed outside of your pet‘s roaming area. Bird feeders
should be placed away from areas where your pet eats, drinks or
exercises.
Wild birds carry a number of tiny pests and diseases
that can seriously affect the health of domesticated pets. When
birds use pet water bowls to drink or bath, they can pass all kinds
of health problems along to your animals. A large or concentrated
number of bird droppings are also a major problem. While you cannot
avoid having birds visit your yard or balcony, you can help limit
their access to your pet by not going out of your way to welcome
large numbers of them. Feed and water your pets inside. Avoid Bird
Feeders if you have pets that eat, drink or exercise nearby. Keep
pets inside when you seed your lawn.
The best way to place a NO VACANCY sign on your
property when it comes to fleas and ticks is to avoid creating a
pest friendly environment. Keep your lawn, trees and bushes trimmed.
Use small portable gardening fences or other means of containment
to keep your pet away from areas between bushes, small trees, gardens
and your house. Purchase flea and tick preventive lawn sprays. These
attach to your garden hose and allow the spray to be easily applied
to your lawn, trees, plants and bushes. Most of these spray products
are available at large pet or department stores. Outside areas should
be sprayed once a month from March until October (and later if temperatures
remain mild). If your pet has access to a balcony, patio, deck or
garage, these areas need to be kept clean as well and may also be
treated with anti-flea and tick sprays available in aerosol cans.
Dog Houses, concrete Pet Runs and containment
areas can become havens for all kinds of bacteria, pests and disease.
Unless you have a specific need to have these artificial areas on
your property, don’t bother with them. Your pet is better
off without them. These kinds of areas require a huge amount of
maintenance and cleaning. Even when properly maintained and cleaned,
it’s difficult to keep these structures free of troublesome
pests.
Once you get the clean pet area thing down, you
have another big hurdle to jump. Spring is the perfect time to take
advantage of public picnic and park facilities. We all love to take
our pets to the park and show them off. Well, fleas and ticks love
that too. As pets meet and mingle, all kinds of pests and health
threats rear their ugly heads to threaten your beloved pet. That
is why it’s smart to stay away from public areas with lots
of other pets, wild animals, tall grass and poorly maintained flora.
If you’ve got Spring Fever, curb your enthusiasm
and keep your pet safe. I just cringe when I see people bring their
pets out to public areas and allow them to run all over the place
unleashed. That’s wrong on so many levels and it is an even
bigger problem during flea and tick season. Maybe they watched too
many Lassie reruns and have a vision of their dog running across
a high grass meadow to save old Mister Hobbs who had a heart attack
while plowing his field? Perhaps they saw Free Willy, all the sequels
and want to give their pet a respite from the gated existence they
endure as domesticated pets? Either way, letting your pet run free
in public areas is not doing them or any one else any favors (except
fleas and tick, they love you for it).
Another way to help keep your pet free of pests
is by keeping the outside from coming inside. During the 1970s,
everyone wanted to be Grizzly Adams. My mother loved to go walking
out in the country (as long as it consisted of meadows off any one
of a number of local expressways, parkways or highways). She brought
all kinds of wild plants and berries into the house from those places.
My favorite was the time that she decided to make Dandelion Wine,
spent a couple of days collecting Dandelions and a couple of months
trying to get the vile brew to taste like something someone would
actually drink.
After any one of her attempts to get closer to
nature, our home quickly filled with wild flora and all kinds of
annoying flies, tiny flying insects and other annoying bugs that
came along for the ride or were attracted by them. My Mom got really
mad at me when I kept insisting that she had caused a fly with a
human head to be brought into the house after collecting a bunch
of wild plants and ferns from near an old research laboratory. I
think the fly kept saying, “Help ME…Help ME!”
The object lesson here is to keep inside plants and wild foliage
brought in from the outside away from your pets. Trudging around
nature and making it welcome in your dwelling can bring many tiny
pests into your pet’s environment. May I suggest getting your
inside flora from a reputable Nursery?
Because fleas and ticks have become such a big
problem, there are now a number of indoor and outdoor chemical treatments
available for your pet and their environment. Given the possible
repercussions of exposing a pet to any chemicals, I suggestion you
ask your Veterinarian for their input on these choices before using
any. They are some natural choices that produce the same result.
A natural flea repellent can be produced by cutting
up a lemon, allowing it to sit in a spray bottle overnight and then
spaying it liberally on your dog. Avoid their eyes, but spray behind
their ears. The spray can also be used on your pet‘s environment.
A small amount of eucalyptus oil can be added to the final rinse
of your pet’s bedding to help keep those tiny varmints away.
Fleas hate salt and it can kill them. If your dwelling is really
hopping with fleas, apply a thin layer of salt to your floor, carpet
and furniture, then vacuum. You will be surprised how effective
salt can be against all kinds of annoying pests. Dogs who need a
flea bath can be bathed with some Lavender oil. And then there’s
the G-Bomb. Dogs hate garlic, but so do fleas and ticks. Garlic
can be added to a nice piece of meat or chicken. When you pet sweats,
they drop the G-Bomb on pests.
When it comes to fleas and ticks, they always
prefer to come into a pest friendly environment. The best way to
keep fleas and ticks away from your pet, your housing and yourself
is by making sure that you do not put out a WELCOME sign. Keep your
pet and their environment clean and well groomed. Pest proof your
dwelling. Use common sense when taking your pet outside or away
from home. Like poor relatives, it’s much easier to keep these
pests out then to make them leave once they have found a nice place
to stay.
Read more about Dog Care and health tips at http://doggiestyle.billknell.com
Animal Husbandry And Other Unnatural
Acts: A Career in Dog Training By Albert Medinas
Do you like dogs? Do they like you back?
Well, in that case, maybe YOU have what it takes
to make it in the ruff and kibble world of canine coaching. Maybe.
But before you start barking up this career tree, it might be beneficial
to get a little information first. The exiting world of dog training
covers several areas of expertise, so consider which dog track you
want to take.
So, like, what do I need to know? Isn’t
it just “Sit, Heel, Stay”?
I am so glad you asked. Dog training encompasses
much more than simple submission commands. Yes, a career in dog
training can and does involve obedience training, but it can also
delve much deeper. For instance, you could become an Animal Behaviorist,
or a Behavioral Consultant. These professionals burrow into Rover’s
psyche, working to dig up the long buried bones of his past. Rather
than flea the past, they use it to see what makes him tick (Ooh,
that one even made ME groan).
You mean I have to be a dog shrink?
Many in the dog-training field, especially Behaviorists,
study not only veterinary science, but also psychology. So, in a
way, you kind of become a “dog shrink” as you so eloquently
put it. But this training helps with more than just the dog. Don’t
forget, the dogs you will be training generally have owners, and
some dog owners don’t realize that they may be the cause of
the behavioral issues exhibited by their puppy pals (think of the
mom of that snotty, screaming kid in the checkout line at grocery
store who thinks she’s a great parent), and that they need
to learn how to interact more effectively with their pets. It’s
up to a trained dog specialist to uncover and rectify this.
So how much schooling up am I gonna need before
I begin my career in dog training?
Many experts in the field of dog training will
tell you it takes three to five years of serious, intensive study
and hands-on dog training and handling to even become a good novice
trainer. Becoming an experienced Master Dog Trainer takes many years
of working with the animals, gaining valuable field (or park) experience.
You will most likely even pay your dues with a few nips here and
there (bites, not nerve-settling sips of schnapps). It’s all
part of the price - and the leash you can do, if you are serious
about a career in dog training.
So, are there like, dog trainer colleges?
There are indeed schools that offer courses in
canine training. The program lengths and costs vary from school
to school, depending upon the type of study you wish to pursue.
There are even online and home study courses (I am familiar with
one that charges $995 for a home study video package), but anyone
who seriously wants to work with dogs should look for a school with
actual animals that you can touch. Sniff around and dig up a school
that fits your situation.
The Animal Behavioral College (ABC, get it?)
charges about $3000 for its hands-on program to become a Certified
Dog Trainer, which takes around six months to complete. And there
are some accredited universities and colleges that proffer animal
behavior programs. These are not necessarily dog-specific, but nevertheless
will assist you in beginning your career in dog training. Cornell
University in Ithaca, NY; Guelph University in Ontario, Canada;
and Tufts University in Boston, MA are three such universities.
Standard college tuition would apply at these schools, but they
might throw you a bone and let you apply for financial aid. Beg…beg…good
boy!
And then I can become employed as a dog trainer
and watch the scratch (money, not the flesh wound) roll in?
No.
Why not?
Good dog trainers – and by that you can
read “employed” dog trainers – enter their careers
in dog training because of their love of dogs. They work for the
intrinsic pleasure of helping man’s best friend, not for the
money, power, or glory often associated with dog training. Initially,
the novice dog trainer may even begin his career by working for
a more experienced trainer as his assistant, trainee, or lackey.
The pay grade for such positions is, of course, Lhasa Apso-sized
– assuming you can find an experience dog trainer who will
take you under his paw. If not, when was the last time you read
a classified ad seeking a dog trainer?
The way many dog trainers collar a career in
dog training is to become self-employed. Hang a shingle on the front
door. This has been suggested by the American Dog Trainers Network,
which states that you can have a part time career where, nationally,
trainers earn an average of $20/hour. Not a bad living. But Uncle
Sam is always snapping at the heels of the ambitious with his own
statistical snarls and growls. The Occupational Outlook Handbook,
put out by the U.S. Department of Labor, states that the median
hourly earnings of non-farm animal caretakers were $8.21 in 2002
(the most recent year they have numbers for).
So what should I do? I love them pups!
The bottom line is that a career in dog training
is something you do because you have a desire, passion, or drive
to work with dogs, not because it’s a quick, easy, lucrative
career option. As with most any career choice, there is effort involved.
Shed your fears (regular brushing helps), put on your shiny coat,
and get out there and claw your way to your career in dog training.
Or you can just sit…stay…roll over. Good dog.
Albert Medinas has developed and maintains the
website Dog Training Resources, which answers the most common questions
people have about Dog Training. Please visit us at http://www.dogtrainingresources.net
today.
Is My Child Ready For A Family Pet?
By Jennifer Gove
At some point every child asks that all time
famous question. “Can I have a pet?” While owning a
pet fosters responsibility and compassion, some children are just
not ready to help take care of a pet. It is a huge responsibility
and one that must be given careful thought.
There are many things you should consider as
a family.
What kind of pet?
What kind of pet would fit into your life style
best. There are many options from large dogs to little fish. You
should carefully consider the needs of each and what you think will
fit into you life style as well. The happiest pet is one with happy
owners that don’t feel stressed by its care and needs. You
should study into types as well as breeds so you know exactly what
to expect breeds.
Can you afford the addition of a pet?
Now that you have decided on a type of pet. You
need to consider the cost of owning a pet. Pets even if you are
given on free are very expensive. If you have a dog or a cat there
will be vet visits, food, licensing, toys and supplies and if your
pet should become sick there are medications they may need. Owning
a pet is very expensive.
Do you have the time?
Animals require attention just like we do as
human beings. The need to be feed, groomed, walked, played with.
They need to know they are loved. With out proper care they will
suffer. Families that are going threw major changes such as a move
or birth of a child or that work long hours may just not have the
time.
My home
Do you live in an apartment? Is a pet ok with
your landlord? Will you have to pay a separate pet deposit? Do you
have the space? Is there room in the back yard for a pet to roam?
Are there laws in your area regarding scooping and licensing? What
are they?
My child
Is he or she ready? Owning a pet is a family
matter. Never surprise your child with a pet they are not expecting.
Expectations about the pets care and exercise should be laid out
clearly. Many children loose interest in a pet after the first few
weeks and leave mom and dad to care for the pet. Pets require gentle
handling and understanding do you think your child is ready for
that? How do they react to animals you see out in public? Are they
rough, or afraid? It may be better if they learn some animal care
before you add a pet to your home. Visits to the local animal shelter
are a wonderful start and often the staff is willing to teach basic
animal care to children.
Remember
A pet is a huge commitment. Many pets live for
at least 15 years with proper care. Will you still want this commitment
then? Puppies, kittens and such are cute, but they grow and have
needs that must be met.
About The Author
Jennifer is a full time mother of nine children.She
resides in a small fishing village on the coast of Maine.She has
been married for 12 years to her best friend whom is also her loving
husband.
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