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Sent From (Definite): Olive SpelmanSent To (Definite): Our DogsDate: 27 Nov 1931
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Quotes St. John Byrd, 'Advice to a Would-be Kennelmaid on Going to the Dogs', Our Dogs 85 (20th Nov. 1931), p. 538.
Description:‘Sir,- In reference to the article in your paper, “Advice to a Would-Be Kennelmaid on Going to the Dogs,” I should like to say I think the writer’s advice most misleading to any girl wishing to take up kennel work as a career. She is advised not to choose a commercial kennel. But surely all kennels are run, if not for profit, at least to pay their own way. In which case, of course, dogs must be sold, and besides, the number of dogs would soon be beyond all control if all were kept.
The writer says that there is little chance of gaining veterinary experience in this type of kennel, “since illness is a disaster to the kennel to be avoided at all cost.” Why should any kind of kennel welcome illness?
The writer’s experience as a pupil is certainly unfortunate; but in most cases if a girl proves to be intelligent and reliable, in a few weeks she will be given responsibility. The hours stated are ridiculously long. No one would expect a girl to work from six in the morning till bedtime: from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. is far more usual. There should certainly be time to read books and newspapers, for I maintain that, however great her love of animals, that alone is not sufficient to satisfy a normal and intelligent girl.
I agree that the life of a kennelmaid is a great life; but most certainly not, tied, as the writer of this article suggests.’
Relevant passages from article:
'The first thing is this, if she is really keen on dogs, I should advise her to take up child-nursing. Following the method of the inimitable Jeeves, and studying the psychology of the case, I should imagine that she will have not particular passion for children, therefore she will expect no pleasure from that profession nor receive any disappointment. But from dog work (though she would emphatically deny it) she will expect perfect bliss and daily continuity of those joys which she has hitherto enjoyed all too rarely as a hobby. I commend her to the sentiment of the line,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand,
and suggest that she nail it firmly above her bed and imbibe it at frequent intervals.
If, however, she is determined, I can only advise her not to choose a commercial kennel, for if she has a real love for dogs it will surely break her heart to be in a place where the animals are regarded as so many square feet of investment, to be fed, groomed, and disposed of for profit as soon as possible. In a kennel which specialises in buying and selling there is little or no chance of making canine friends, or of gaining any knowledge of veterinary work, since illness is a disaster to the kennel which is avooided at all costs.
...
The work is hard, the hours from round about six till bedtime. Sundays differ only from weekdays in that the people one encounters in the roads are clad in stiff unnatural garments, and are even more perturbed than usual in meeting a pack of hefty and inquisitive dogs. She will have little or no time for reading - kennelmaiding is the best antidote I know for a surfeit of superfluous knowledge gathered at school...
...
The compensations of kennelmaiding are many. There will be the thrill of leaning back to watch a tired mother with six small blind bullet heads questing her side - the first litter she has helped to bring into the world; the last round at night, when her tired feet drag a little as she stares at the white-faced stars, and gulps just a little as she thinks how much she loves this queer unruly breed under her care. There will be her first show, and the first time she is left entirely in charge, and as the swaying trailer, brearing the kennel champions, disappears round the bend in the road, and she turns to walk back, feeling like any liner captain or Atlantic flyer, to her kennels. Oh it is a great life!'