2 dogs during vet school

[FeenyFee]

Hi everyone! I plan on going to vet school (if I get in....) starting Fall 2017. I have a German Shepherd who is 7ish (rescue, so don't know exact age) and a 1 year old min pin doxie mix. They are my everything and I LITERALLY can't live without them so I basically want to know what I'm getting myself into. I've already researched dog friendly and non breed restricted apartments and there is a good selection close to school so thats good, though a rather hefty cost.

Any tips on the transition or dealing with my type of situation? Neither will be crated and they are both best friends so thats good. But I am naive to what the schedule will be like so I don't know how long I will be away from them on each given day.

I obviously was going to come home on my lunch break and let them out. Is it reasonable with parking and other constraints?

I plan on going to UF, btw.

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[Lab Vet]

Hi Feeny,

I also have two dogs- a 12 year old Greyhound, and a three year old Bloodhound cross. The Bloodhound is a teaching dog that I adopted from the vet school at the end of my first year. I fell in love with him during our physical exam skills lab, and just had to bring him home.

You can definitely make it work with dogs during vet school. I have a rigid schedule, waking at 5:30 a.m. each morning and going to bed by 11:00 p.m. each night. I'll typically return to my place mid-day to let the dogs out (unless I'm attending a cool lunch meeting), and they do just fine when I return home around 5:30 p.m. I do all of my studying at home (I live on my own with the dogs, two rats, and a fish), so have no trouble looking after the pooches throughout the evening.

When you decide on a place to live, be sure that the commute to and from school is reasonable. I've got about a 10-15 minute commute from home to school (depending on the time of day), so have no trouble making it back in time mid-day for my next class.

One thing you'll need to think about (I'm currently working through this) is how you'll handle your dogs during your offsite experiences, either during summers or your clinical year. This summer, I had an internship at a location 1.5 hours (one way) from my home. With three hours of commuting each day, it was difficult to coordinate the situation with the dogs but it worked out in the end. As for senior year, I'm not there yet, but I'll have to make plans for them while I'm off site for 3-4 placements in order to bank experience to bolster my residency applications. This isn't something you need to worry about straight out of the gate, but you should keep the logistics in mind.

 

[chickenlittle]

UF grad here. I'm not sure if/how the schedule has changed since I graduated ~10 years ago, but I know that I would not have had enough time to go home at lunch during much of vet school (definitely not during my first year or while on clinics, unsure about the other years). My understanding is that parking now is not any better than it was at that time, so I would expect it to be especially difficult if you're driving. I would look for the closest apartment that you can find and plan on biking if you need that flexibility. Honestly, my dogs just got really good at holding it for insanely long periods of time I ended up with a significant other by the time I was on clinics and therefore didn't have to worry about it then, but if that hadn't happened I probably would have tried to ask a neighbor.

 

[deleted498041]

Make friends! When I had to go home for quick visits and didn't want to take my dog, I had a friend watch her. I had an emergency take place and had to fly home to Australia and was not going to subject my dog to that quarantine, so a good friend watched her for about a month and I just repaid her with a bottle of wine.
I got a dog about a week before my first set of midterms in vet school -- awful, awful idea and I don't recommend it. Potty training plus studying for your first real vet school exams is not a good combination. That being said, it worked out fine! My pooch typically held her bladder all day, although when she was younger I either ran home at lunch to let her out or boarded her on campus and was still able to let her out during lunch.
I just started clinics and did have a plan in place to have her taken care of when I traveled for rotations but that plan fell through... As a result, she will be living with my parents in a few weeks for about a month and then for about two months in the winter.