Beginner's Guide to Choosing a Career With Animals
By Karleen Lindsey
So, you'd like to work with animals, but don't really know where to begin? This beginner's guide to choosing an animal career might help you get started.
Working with animals can be very rewarding, interesting, exciting and possibly dangerous in some cases. If you want adventure, this could be the type of work you are looking for. No one can predict how any given animal will act on any given day, so each day is unique and seldom boring.
Some questions to get you started:
- 1. What kind of animals would you like to work with? There are many different categories.
- If you really love dogs and cats, you might consider becoming a pet sitter, dog walker, pet store employee, pet groomer or dog trainer. A more technical career that would involve a few years of college would be a veterinary technician, or continue on with even more education to become a veterinarian.
- If you love wild animals, you could work as a zookeeper or at a wildlife sanctuary. You might have to do some volunteer work first at a zoo before a position opens up that you could apply for. You might also want to go on with your education and become a zoologist. Becoming a park ranger might not get you in much contact with wild animals, but you'll learn a lot about them and how to protect them in the wild.
- If farm animals are your passion, such as horses, you might want to get a job on a horse or dairy farm. Working with and handling animals on a daily basis in this kind of job is a great way to learn more about them than you could ever learn in a classroom. This could lead you on to becoming a horse trainer or farm manager, a horse groom or even an equine massage therapist.
- If your love is more for marine animals, you might consider becoming a marine biologist.
- 2. How much money do you want to make?
For some people, being able to work with animals fulfills a lifelong dream and they only need to make enough money to live on. Unfortunately that cost of living is constantly rising. Many jobs working with animals are not high paying jobs, but many will provide the financial means to get by modestly. The real reward is in helping the animals in whatever form and having fun in a career chosen out of passion rather than anticipated financial gain.
A few of the top salary careers with animals include becoming a veterinarian, a marine biologist, or a zoologist, all of which require several years of college education.
- 3. Would you like to work in a law enforcement type of job?
An animal control officer position would allow you to not only help animals in need, but also help people understand how to care for animals. This is a position that involves seeing a lot of horrible living conditions and neglect or abuse situations so you would need to know that you could deal with that emotionally. It's a tough job, but it can also be very rewarding.
An animal cruelty officer position would take that a step further, investigating cruelty cases, getting pictures, taking interviews from witnesses, etc. with the intent of prosecuting animal abusers. This is also a tough job, but you will get the satisfaction of knowing you have helped get animals out of the hands of abusive owners.
- 4. Would you like to start your own business?
Pet sitting is a good business to start as your own if you are available to stay at the homes of people vacationing. Walking dogs is a good business to start also. Many people just don't have the time to walk their own dogs every day and would appreciate having someone else walk them. An exercised dog is usually a happy dog and less apt to have behavioral problems. For both of these jobs, you might want to check into getting liability insurance, though.
Pet grooming is another business you could start after getting training and some experience in a grooming shop. While you are working in a grooming shop, you can actually be building up a clientele that will follow you to your own business when you are able to start it. Mobile dog grooming is a very popular business that can even do well in a medium sized town, although the larger cities are even more in demand of this service.
- 5. Would you like to get started working with animals right away rather than spend years in college?
Acquiring a job at a veterinary clinic is a great way to get started working with animals. You might have to start as a kennel cleaner, but will possibly then move up to receptionist or even a veterinary assistant, which is a little different than a veterinary technician.
Working at a pet shop, getting a job on a farm, at a boarding kennel, as a bather for a dog groomer - these are just a few of the jobs you might be able to get without formal training. Other careers that may only involve minimum occupational training would be pet grooming and dog training, as well as becoming a massage therapist for pets and horses.
This is just a small list of some questions and answers that might head you in the right direction for finding a job or a career working with animals. It can be a very rewarding type of career and one you will never regret if you choose to follow that dream.
Karleen Lindsey has spent much of her life working with animals and has experienced the rewards as well as the heartaches. To learn about some possible careers with animals in more depth, visit her site about animal careers, including pet grooming as a great career choice.
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