Awesome Future Veterinarian in the Making!

 This week we're featuring a guest blog written by Arushi Saurabh, an awesome and compassionate kid who is well on her way to taking the world by storm. Arushi came to visit HSSV, and wrote all about what she learned about animal behavior!

Arushi and one of our behavior specialists, Jessica

"In December, I went to the Humane Society of Silicon Valley (HSSV) to interview two of the animal behavior specialists. When I entered HSSV, I was greeted by Kara and Jessica (the animal behavior specialists), and Theo (Kara’s pug puppy who found my finger very tasty). I asked why they wanted to be animal behavior specialists, and they said they both had a full-time job when they started volunteering at HSSV. But, after working with the animals, they loved it more than their full time jobs, so they decided to get a job at HSSV.

Arushi meeting Theo, behavior specialist Kara's puppy

I asked what one of their favorite moments on the job was. Kara said her favorite moment was when the challenging animals got adopted. Jessica’s favorite moment was when a shy dog met another dog and they became friends. The other dog made him brave, and then he got adopted. 

Shy kids making friends

I asked them what they would tell kids who might want a job like this. They both advised to start by volunteering. They also told me, that since I want to be a vet, that there is such a thing as a vet behaviorist and they are very rare. There are less than 100 vet behaviorists in California! A vet behaviorist diagnoses medical conditions that affect an animal’s behavior, as well as treat behavioral problems. 

Meatball, Arushi's new friend

After the interview, we went to introduce two dogs who had never met each other, Meatball and Romeo. Meatball is different because he is deaf. Meatball and Romeo are both the same breed, around the same age, and the same height. We took both of them out to the big fenced grass area so they could play together. After Romeo and Meatball played for a while, Jessica showed me how to make Meatball do some tricks. I made him sit, lay, and roll over. 

Arushi teaching Meatball to roll over

    Visiting HSSV was an amazing experience and I felt very inspired by it. I was happy because it was really cool to learn so much more about what animal behavior specialists do. More importantly, I was really happy to see how they helped animals have a better life. The experience was also very inspiring. Even though I always wanted to be a vet, meeting the animal behavior specialists made me realize that I want to be a vet behaviorist. It was a lot of fun to see how they worked with animals for one day. I wonder how much fun it would be to work with animals everyday!"

 Thanks for being an awesome behavior assistant, Arushi. We know you're goin' places!

Want to learn more about getting involved at Humane Society Silicon Valley? Visit www.hssv.org/get-involved