Careers with Dogs. Kim Campbell Thornton

They are offering special meals, dog walking, pet sitting, and spa services for the animals of guests. Similar trends in pet-friendly environments include restaurants with outdoor seating areas for people with pets, walk-up windows at Starbucks so dog lovers don’t have to leave their pets outside when they order, and shopping centers that welcome animals, such as Stony Point Fashion Park in Richmond, Virginia, and Fashion Island in Newport Beach, California.

       More Sources for Pets and Products

      The growth in sales of specialty foods, toys, luxury items, and convenience accessories comes from passionate pet people who seek selection, style, and originality in the items they choose for their animals. They want products as good as those they’d purchase for themselves and ones that will match the style and décor of their homes, whether they live in a Colonial saltbox, a California bungalow, or a New York high-rise exuding global chic. No wonder pet products can be found not only in traditional pet-supply stores but also in discount, warehouse, home improvement, and lawn and garden stores as well as in freestanding independent pet boutiques that sell specialty items and treats.

      The dot-com bust of the 1990s was a mere bump in the road for online pet suppliers. They include not only the major players, such as PETCO and PetSmart, but also small businesses that focus on one product or a collection of unique products. The Web sites of these suppliers have increasingly sophisticated design and usability.

      Bill and Jack Kelly: Brothers with a Passion for Nutrition

      Two brothers and World War II army vets, Bill and Jack Kelly of Medina, Ohio, established Bil-Jac Foods in 1947. The first product the company introduced was Bil-Jac Frozen Dog Food, which boasted fresh meat sources and little processing. For more than sixty years, the company has remained family-owned and–operated, and the company’s credo remains “making pet food is our only business, our life’s work, and our passion.” Bil-Jac has built its business on investing in putting more quality ingredients in the bag and fewer dollars into marketing. The company claims to have revolutionized the dog-food industry with its “exclusive nutrient protection technology,” which involves how high-quality proteins are pasteurized and vacuum-dried to preserve the integrity of the amino acids needed for proper nutrition and digestion.

      As pet adoptions have increased, so too have the avenues for acquiring a pet. Prospective pet owners are no longer limited to breeders or to animal shelters in their immediate areas. With the advent of pet-adoption Web sites and rescue Web sites for individual breed and all-breed rescue groups, as well as informative Web sites created by breed clubs, people have more alternatives and opportunities for acquiring a dog.

      It’s much easier now to find a good breeder through a breed-club Web site or to find exactly the type of dog you’d like to adopt because of the greater access provided by the Internet to many different shelters and rescue groups.

      What does all of this mean? It means that pets are more than companions; they’re big business. Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, and IKEA are among the big-box retailers catering to pet owners by expanding their selections of pet products and offering products stamped with their own labels. Colgate-Palmolive and Nestlé entered the field by purchasing pet-food manufacturers Hill’s and Ralston-Purina, respectively. Industry analysts expect the amount of money spent on pets to increase.

      Saturation will happen at some point in time, but experts believe that the pet industry is still at the low end of the growth curve. This means that opportunities abound for people who are interested in careers in this wide-open field.

       Forecast for Animal-Related Jobs

      Given the prediction of continued growth in the pet industry, employment opportunities appear bright. The service industry as a whole is growing rapidly in the United States; pet services can fill a niche in many well-to-do communities as well as in middle-class areas. The growth in unique pet products is also a sign of future job opportunities in areas such as sales and promotion.

      Want an edgy and challenging job? Seek out positions in law enforcement or the military. If you’re interested in veterinary medicine or scientific research, you can find plenty of opportunity.

      Individuals with an artistic flair can put their talents to good use as photographers, artists, and writers. Dog shows also provide interesting career opportunities. Other fields that offer the potential for animal-related job opportunities include the law, public relations and communications, and sales.

      It’s clear that dogs are our best friends in more ways than one. We can do more than share our home life with them. We can work for them and with them in many different ways to help improve their lives as well as the lives of others.

       Pet Services

      Dog lovers with an entrepreneurial bent face a bright future, especially those with an interest in starting pet-related businesses such as dog walking, sitting, grooming, and training. Service industries are expected to account for approximately 18.7 million of the 18.9 million new wage and salary jobs generated through 2014. The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates that owners spent $3.4 billion on pet services in 2009, up from $2.4 billion in 2005. Two-income families, in particular, have the money but not the time to spend on their dogs. The state of the economy is also important, as pet owners tend to spend even more on animal services when the economy is strong.

       Doctor of physical therapy and certified canine rehab practitioner Amy Kramer works with a patient at California Animal Rehabilitation, the care business she founded in Santa Monica with veterinarian Jessica H. Waldman. They have been nonstop busy since opening in 2007.

      If you want to help animals, consider shelter work. The job outlook for animal-care workers, such as kennel attendants and shelter workers, is promising. While it’s not good news for animals, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that jobs in animal shelters will be plentiful. Although this type of work is rewarding in some ways, it can also be demanding and stressful. Shelter workers may deal with people who are sad about giving up their pets as well as those who callously abandon their animals when they are tired of them. Shelter workers also see pets who have been mistreated, are sick, or are difficult to work with because they are untrained. Because of the various stresses of the job, many shelter employees switch careers eventually, thereby creating opportunities for other people who wish to enter the field.

      The Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment of animal-care and service workers such as kennel attendants, groomers, pet sitters, animal-control and shelter employees, and trainers will grow by 18 to 26 percent through 2018. Advantages of these jobs include not only direct involvement with dogs but also generally flexible work schedules. In addition, such jobs usually don’t require a college degree. The work can be backbreaking, however, especially for groomers and kennel attendants, and anyone working in this field risks being bitten by the animals they work with.

      Trainers with good communication and self-promotion skills can find work teaching assistance or service dogs, training dogs for the entertainment industry, or as a broadcast personality, such as Victoria Stilwell of the Animal Planet television show It’s Me or the Dog.

       Pet Products and Public Relations

      The APPA estimates that American pet owners spent $10.2 billion on pet supplies in 2009, an increase of $200 million from 2008. One of the trends in this area is automated products such as self-cleaning litter boxes and programmable food and water dishes. Dog lovers with engineering or design skills