Step 5: Get a Job Working with Dogs

My first day on the job, Maxward the German Shepard was already there by the time I clocked in (at seven in the morning, I might add). And there was diarrhea all over the floor.

I'm not going to lie - my first day working in dog daycare was pretty rough, but it actually had nothing to do with cleaning up after all the dogs (I've got pets of my own, so I'm used to it). It was more that I was anxiously bored.

First off, I'd never done anything like this before. Sure, I've watched wolves, but with the wolves I knew their fights were about dominance and they wouldn't actually hurt one another. And if things did get a little rough, I knew the wolves could handle it. Dogs aren't like that, and I don't know these dogs well enough yet to be able to tell when they're legitimately fighting too hard or getting too worked up and are about to snap at another dog. So I hover.

But there's only so much hovering you can do (intermixed with some pee clean-up here and there) before you get bored. I wanted so badly to turn my attention to something else instead of just standing there and watching everything (because the previous jobs I've had, you didn't just stand there - you were always doing different things), but I was afraid to. And, technically, that's my job to stand there - I watch the room and the dogs and make sure that everything and everyone is friendly and clean.

But that first day I forgot about the best part of working with dogs - I'm working with dogs! I shouldn't just be hovering over them - I should be interacting with them. My second two days went a lot smoother once I adjusted my mindset about the job and started playing with the fuzzy little guys (well, I guess I shouldn't say "little," because there are some huge dogs who come to daycare!). And now me and Maxward are pretty good buds. ;)