As you may have seen on my work experience page, I have a lot of experience working with a variety of different animals. I have grown up with a lot of different animals in my life, including, cats, rabbits, birds and small mammals. However, from day one, I have always had a special bond with dogs and have known from a very young age that all I wanted to do was work with dogs.

I would say that I had an intermediate knowledge of handling dogs before I started my first year at university. However, I really hope to further these skills throughout the course to ensure that my canine handling skills are up to professional standard.

I personally think that my 150-hour work experience at the dog groomers has really enabled me to handle dogs in a safe manner and to understand dogs body language. This enables me to know what the dog is trying to communicate with me. For example, signs of pain or discomfort could include, pulling away, walking lame, holding the head low and tucking the tail between the legs. All these signs are important to notice to make sure that the dogs do not get put under too much stress. Furthermore, I am now more aware of breed specific behaviours and what is normal/ not normal for that specific dog. Moreover, as I got to know specific dogs, I knew what was normal for that dogs and could recognise when the dog may be acting out of character.(Kramer, 2018)

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Kramer, M. (2018). 8 Key Skills for Working with Dogs. [online] The Balance Careers. Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/essential-skills-for-working-with-dogs-125551 [Accessed 10 May 2019].