Wanted: Hard-Working Pet Owners
Written by: Christina Mehra, Staff Writer

I wanna puppy!

This thought (or some variation) is what crosses your mind every time you see a cute dog walking down the street with its owner, spot the neighbor's cat curled up in the window or look at pictures of your co-worker's prize-winning horse.

But between working 40 hours a week, the gym, laundry, errands, and your social life, you hardly have time to take care of a goldfish these days.

How does everyone else do it?

Well, as it turns out, with a lot of planning, sacrifices, and juggling, it is possible to balance a career and pets.

Helen Dickinson, in Fredericksburg, Va., works full-time and still manages to take good care of her two horses, two cats and a dog. She's also able to find the time to pitch in at the barn where she keeps her horses.

On a typical day, she gets up at dawn and makes it to the barn by 6:45, where all the supplies have been laid out in advance. "All my barn work/feed is set up so I do minimal work in the morning, therefore allowing me to arrive at work relatively 'horse smell' free."

Depending on traffic, Ms. Dickinson has a 30 to 45 minute commute. She then changes into her business clothes at the office and starts her workday by 8 a.m. She tries to leave the office by 4 or 4:30 and then heads home to change again and pick up her border collie, Belle. This way Ms. Dickinson can take care of the horses and exercise Belle at the same time. The dog chases balls around the barn while her owner tends to the horses.

The cats get attention when Ms. Dickinson gets home in the evening, which can be any time from 7 to 9.

"And these are days where going to the grocery store, or picking up feed and hay ... aren't factored into the mix."

Hillary Hytken is another busy working pet owner. This Washington, D.C., resident has a dog, Emma, and two horses, Lego and Perry. She brings lunch from home and goes to the gym on her lunch break so that she can go straight home to see Emma the three nights a week she is not in class.

"We go for a walk every night for about an hour, and we go for a 15-minute walk every morning before I leave at 7:50 a.m. I ride Saturday and Sundays and an occasional weeknight if I leave work by 4 to avoid the traffic."

Running on such a tight schedule is necessary because pets need love, attention, and training. A deficit of any of the above could lead to behavioral problems -- and let's not forget that animals with behavior problems are often the ones that end up in shelters.
Mimi Davis runs an animal rescue in Englewood, Colo. She has seen what can happen to pets that are neglected, when owners don't take those extra steps to spend enough time with their animals.

"The things I have seen at times still amaze me. I have clients who give away puppies after three weeks since they cannot house break them. However, they will not take the time to train them or give up their lunches, dinners or parties to work with the animal."
Even owners who spend plenty of time with their pets said the pets can get bored or upset being home alone.

Jessica Smith of Burnsville, Minn., owns two Italian Greyhound puppies, 10-month-old Jackson and 3-month-old Jypsy. If she doesn't spend enough time with them in the mornings, they show their disapproval by shredding things.

Antoinette Hillian, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, said her cats, Malcolm and Frank, were also mischievous youngsters.

"Malcolm, when he was younger, liked to unroll my toilet paper, which was always a pleasant surprise when I got home. Also, they went through a phase where they would break into my bathroom cabinet and steal my Q-tips and cotton balls. I'd come home and find them all over the house."

Must be willing to put the job ahead of the saddle

Even so, sometimes work has to come before the animals. Heather Novak, an Amissville, Va. resident who has two horses, three dogs, and two cats, said she often prioritizes her career over her animals.

"It's challenging to keep up with daily tasks. My horses don't get groomed every day. They don't get ridden every day," she said. "I have to go to work; it keeps everybody fed."

"I could either make horses my career, or have a career that allowed me to have horses," Ms. Novak explained. "Knowing that success is rare in the horse industry, I chose to have an office job. It's a bummer, but I am not broke."

Luckily she works for a flexible company and has a generous boss, Ms. Novak said, so she can leave early when she needs to, as on days when she has to meet the farrier.

Ms. Dickinson said she strives to be productive at work and is a stellar employee, so when she has to leave early for a veterinary appointment, her boss allows it. And she's careful only to take advantage of this flexibility when necessary.

"Employers, in my experience, tend to work with employees who do not abuse special privileges."

Requires long hours, minimal social time

After work is usually the pets' time. But some owners do attempt to have a social life, too. (Notice we said attempt.)

It's hard to be away from the dogs at night after being at work all day, Ms. Smith said. But if she does have evening plans, she tries to have a friend stop in and check on the dogs.

Ms. Davis tries not to leave her dogs, Speedo, Rocky, and Moose, home alone at night for more than three hours.

"Last night I went to dinner and was gone one and a half hours, [then I] told everyone I needed to get home to the kids," Ms. Davis explained.

Ms. Hytken's pets do cramp her style a bit, but she doesn't mind. "I would never trade my beasties for anything!" she said. "It means my social life is nil but my dog and my horses relax me and keep me sane and happy."

The key is to make sure all this time spent with your animal remains fun, Ms. Dickinson said.

"You have to find time to make sure the joy of the animals, the reason you got them in the first place, doesn't get lost in the chore of taking care of them properly."

If getting a night out is hard, planning a vacation is even more difficult. Bosses maybe lenient about time off, but animals won't tolerate missed feedings. Two weeks at the beach every summer just isn't practical for many pet owners. Instead they often include their animals in their days off.

During fox hunting season, from October to March, Matt Simpson, who lives in central Kentucky with his three dogs and three horses, often uses a vacation day to hunt on Wednesdays.

"I get 20 days a year, and almost never take a real vacation trip, so using them up one at a time works pretty well."

Good training a plus

A good way to spend a day off could be looking into that obedience class you've been meaning to check out. Making time to train pets is important, Ms. Dickinson said.

She has found clicker training to be very helpful with the horses and Belle is trained to perform certain "tasks" to keep her busy, such as escorting some of the horses in and out.

"Going to the barn with me is her 'job.' I spent a lot of time early on with this dog in obedience training and it's really paid off in the day-to-day chore of keeping such a high energy dog exercised and happy."

Ms. Smith agreed that training is beneficial. She brought her dogs home on weekends and was working full time when each joined the household, so she couldn't train them during the day. But she has been taking them to puppy kindergarten in the evenings. Not being home for daytime housebreaking was a challenge at first, she said.
"Potty training did take a little longer with Jackson since I had him first. I had to confine him to the kitchen for about a month."
However, Jypsy had the concept down after two weeks. Ms. Smith attributes this to the puppy learning from her companion. Both dogs also know to use "piddle pads" in the house, if Ms. Smith isn't home to let them out.

Benefits included

There's no doubt that managing a demanding job and a time consuming pet, especially a puppy or kitten, can be exhausting. But greetings of wagging tails and wet kisses make up for it, working pet owners said.

"It's a great feeling to have them be so excited when I get home," Ms. Smith said. "They help me de-stress and take my mind off of work."

Ms. Dickinson added, "there isn't a better feeling in the world then to have your dog smile when she sees you, a [horse] gallop to the gate to see you, or a cat's yowls to greet you home."

And for single people, having a pet makes the home more, well, homey.

"It's nice to come home and have another living creature around -- especially one that won't hog the remote or the covers," Ms. Hillian said -- even if it does occasionally unravel the toilet paper.

More information for interested applicants

For full time workers considering getting a pet, Ms. Smith said, "make sure you are willing to spend quality time with your pet. If you work a lot of overtime and can't be home much, then reconsider. Pets can get stressed and develop behavior problems if they are left alone for too long."

Ms. Dickinson added, "having a pet is, without doubt, a fulfilling and rewarding experience; it's also a lot of hard work!" She has found it helps to view all pet related activities as fun time and not another job.

And it works -- in most cases.

"I haven't found a way to take joy in cleaning the litter box yet, but, hey...who has?"
A little perspective helps, too. "Pets are much less demanding than children, and many people manage to have children and jobs," Mr. Simpson rationalized. "So it's not really a big deal, as long as you know what you're getting into."

*Article courtesy of VetCentric.com
Originally published December 07, 2007
Written by: Christina Mehra, Staff Writer
For more information on this article, please visit http://www.vetcentric.com