Work with dogs and follow your Joy!

I wonder if you were like me growing up, totally ‘dog mad’? Now when I think about it I probably nigh on tortured all the dogs I knew as a kid. I have photos in my album of me with my arms wrapped around the neck of my aunt’s dog, my grandad’s dog, our dog, I dressed them up, we had tea parties or just ‘ran and played’ together around the back yard, they were my best friends. To me it was like they knew what I felt like doing or was just thinking about and I found real happiness in their silent but good humoured company. I knew when I grew up I would ‘Work’ with dogs. I tried working with horses for a while which I loved too but to me there was nothing like the reciprocal friendship and love you get from a dog, both our species have been together a long time and we are alike in a lot of ways.

Finding your Joy

Ok I know not all of you feel like this  about dogs and there may have been something else that held or holds that top spot in your heart more than anything else. If you didn’t have to pay the mortgage, rent or babysitters and you could do something you Really Love would it be what you are doing now in real life? No? What about, it’s your main Hobby outside of work? It doesn’t matter what it is but unless you find time to find your joy, have fun in your joy and even share in your joy, life and it’s stresses will soon catch up with you and we all know that just sucks!

If you are like me and you need to find some doggy joy in your life my advice is go and try it and see how you feel about it, move on if you think there could be more or  ‘this isn’t for me’. Volunteer! at a dog shelter, at a dog groomers, with mountain rescue, with ‘P.A.T. dogs, at a doggy day care centre, at a dog club, look after other people’s dogs (with permission of course!)

Now there are more dog jobs or ‘vocations’ as they like to call them, than ever! When I told my careers teacher that I wanted to work with animals, especially dogs, I was given the list of Vet, Vet Nurse, Groom, possibly working in an Animal Shelter/ dog pound. That was it! Now there are animal Therapists, Behaviourists, Biologists, Beautcians, Carers, Trainers, Handlers and the list goes on. Do some research, I think I would have loved to be a Wolf Biologist if I had known that was something that was a Real Job back then.

What ever it is that makes your heart sing and puts a Real smile on your face and you wish you could do it all the time, That’s It, you’ve Found It! Your Joy, cherish it with all your heart. Go visit it Often if not All the time!

If you dont know what makes you feel like that, try something new. When you have a rediculous grin on your face and you say to no-one in particular ‘I Love doing this’, you’ll know.

Share with me what Your Joy is by leaving a comment below

Thank You

Bernie (The Dog Owner’s Coach)