Hello, folks! I hope this post finds you well and enjoying some summer weather. I am certainly excited to be finished my third year exams at OVC and grateful for the prospect of some hands-on, in-the-field kind of veterinary work!   

I was raised in rural Ontario, and I attribute several of my early life lessons to the barn cats and the cattle I admired across the gate.  I grew up riding horses and “training” (being trained by?) my family’s endlessly patient Australian Shepherd.  These days, I still ride horses when I can and have a soft spot for feral cats and cattle. My best canine friend Timber is (probably) a Husky-Labrador mix who we adopted from Northern Ontario. Arthur the cat appeared one day on the farm and has happily adopted our family. Both our “strays-no-more” love everyone enthusiastically and keep our lives interesting with occasional bouts of mischief.  

I joined the Externship Blog Project for two reasons. The first is that I have always enjoyed writing, and saw this as an opportunity to get the creative part of my brain moving. I look forward to touching base with you weekly for the next two months!  My second reason for blogging this summer is that I have enjoyed following students’ blogs over the past several years, and this felt like my chance to give a little back to prospective students and the veterinary community. I have learned from incredible veterinarians, technicians, clients, patients, and of course my fellow students during my journey thus far, and it is my hope that someone out there might read my post and take even a fraction of this inspiration along with them. I am happy to chat and respond to questions, so please feel free to reach out!  

My externship is at Heartland Veterinary Services in Listowel, Ontario. I was interested in spending time with Heartland because it is a large and busy clinic with a wide array of patients. I also love this area of the province and am looking forward to seeing even more of rural Southwestern Ontario!  Most importantly, the veterinarians, technicians and staff at Heartland are dedicated to mentoring students, which makes this an invaluable opportunity.  

Stay tuned for the exciting part: animals and veterinary medicine!