work experience with animals aged 16

WolfSong2000

Wish your daughter the best of luck. I worked in livery yards with horses from the age of 12 until I was 16 (now 27), so that may be an option for your daughter...also farms (especially during lambing season, etc).

As others have mentioned, vet medicine is *incredibly* competitive so the more hands-on work experience she can get (ideally in a wide range of contexts) the better. I think a lot of people (and by no means saying your daughter is one of them) have an idealised idea of what it means to be a vet, whereas the reality can be pretty brutal. I did work experience with a vet when I was 14 - watched the vet put a horse down (bolt to the head) and also saw a lot of other procedures. I am an animal lover, but decided there and then being a vet was not for me...vets also sometimes have to put down healthy animals for a variety of reasons and I couldn't do that. Those are aspects that a lot of people don't think about.

Apologies if I am coming across as overly negative...just want to drive home the realities. Veterinary medicine can be an incredibly rewarding career (my mother used to be a vet nurse and I have grown up around vets and animals) - I know you mentioned Glasgow vet school. They really are one of the top places - big into research, very highly thought of, etc. It may be worth getting in contact with a few uni's and seeing if you can pick the brains of a few professors with regards to what work experience would be valued, etc.

marcarm

I have no advice, but I just wanted to say it's nice to hear a young person who knows what they want to do and is prepared to go and do it.

My son is nearly 16 and I hope he is as determined and not put off by things as your daughter is, it would have been very easy for her to give up but she has stuck by it.

rs65

DomRavioli wrote: »

as she is under 18 and insurance can be a nightmare for under 18s,

What type of insurance are you talking about? I can't think why age would be a problem.

Savvy_Sue

We work with volunteers and our insurance doesn't cover under 18s working with clients. Not that we'd allow it anyway ...

any_name_will_suffice

It's worth thinking of ideas that don't seem so obvious.

My local canine hydrotherapy centre would possibly take an under 18 on work experience, maybe not in the pool but certainly to shadow/ observe.

I don't know if there's anything like that local to you?

I_Can_Haz_Job?

when I was 14/15, about 1,000 years ago, I was a weekend girl at the National Canine Defence League. Unpaid and got all the lovely poopy jobs but it was fab experience. I didn't go into animal care in the end but it was a good start to working life. I agree with the suggestion of the canine hydrotherapy service shadowing - also think of things slightly leftfield as niche things will give her a broader experience. I'm not sure if you have a programme near you - or if she's willing to sacrifice Christmas - but Crisis do drop ins for the homeless over the Christmas period. I've volunteered there a few times now and they take on kids if there's an adult guardian. The reason I mention this is that there's always a specific drop in for clients with dogs - she could help out there (they bath them, clip nails, give them an MOT). There's also schemes for therapy dogs at old folks' homes that she could approach - not much in the way of medical training but it would be a nice introduction to service dogs. She could also look into shadowing things like guide dog puppy training, police dog training. Once she's 18 there'll be much more open to her but doing these for now will help bridge the gap

aileth

I worked for free at a stables when I was 14 (12 years ago), but wasn't allowed to deal with the horses, all the dirty jobs, mucking out, yard cleaning, bucket cleaning etc, but I loved it.

I went to equine college when I was 16 and had to do work experience, which was working on a professional yard, but I'm guessing that the college's insurance would've covered me.

Definitely offer herself around to different yards, emphasise 'free labour'. She might not get hands on with the horses, but she'll get experience in the environment.

Also try local dog/cat rescue places, one near us takes 16 year old volunteers, no great responsibilities and mostly dirty jobs, but invaluable experience.

TBagpuss

do you have any pets? if so, speaking to your own vet might be a good place to start. In a different field, I managed to get some work experience through someone I knew - I was turned down when I asked about going during the school's work experience week as they had a blanket policy of no under 18s, however, my acquaintance was willing to let me shadow him unofficially during the summer holiday, which I did, and as a result was also able to sort out some further work shadowing with a different individual in a related branch of the profession.

Lateral thinking may help, too - could she find out whether there is a local shelter which needs volunteer dog-walkers, for instance? She might be able to start with that, and then when she has some personal connections, ask about further involvement, (may also mean she gets to know whichever vet they use and is able to ask them directly about shadowing - if they know her as an individual and can see that she is serious, and responsible, they may be much more open to letting her shadow them)

Could she get a Saturday job at a pet shop?

Westwardbound

She could apply for a Nuffield Research Placement for Summer 2015. This would help set her apart from her peers, give her something unusual to talk about at university interviews and satisfy the "working with animals" criteria. Furthermore, I understand placements are offered at Bristol University. Even if she was unable to undertake the placement there, they would understand its value.

Charityworker

My 19 year old daughter knew right from when she was very little that she wanted to work with animals. She did 2 weeks work experience in a kennels whilst still at school and then on leaving school did a 2 year Diploma in Animal Care. She worked at the local zoo for 2 years as a volunteer. Not actually doing animal care as she wasnt insured but she would wipe down the outsides of the vivariums where people had got their fingerprints on it. She also prepared foods for the animals and got involved in all the background work.

She now runs her own petsitting business. She used savings to rent a workshop space and takes in small animals and exotics and does home visits for dogs and cats. Shes really busy earning between £150 and £200 per week. Shes in popular demand as shes the only pet sitter in the area who is actually qualified in animal care!

So I guess the moral of my story is paid employment wasnt easy to get and wasnt forthcoming so she made her own paid work.