Students performing elective rotations with Canine Companions for Independence will have the opportunity to assist in a broad numbers of tasks, including: phycial exams, development of treatment plans, administering medical care, imaging studies, dentistry and surgery. In addition, they will have the opportunity to learn about reproduction, including timing of estrous cycles, facilitating dog breedings, semen evaluation and storage, pregnancy detection and assistance with whelping and neonatal puppy care.
Canine Companions is a non-profit organization that raises and places highly trained service dogs with people with disabilities. Its national headquarters are in Santa Rosa, CA where it operates a full-service outpatient clinic, onsite kennels to house breeding dogs and dogs in professional training, and a whelping center that cares for dams and puppies from birth up to 10 weeks of age. The clinic has a well-equipped surgical suite, radiology suite including digital radiography, ultrasound and endoscopy to assist with TCI procedures. Staff includes 3 full time veterinarians and 3 licesnsed veterinary technicians.
Students participating in an elective are expected to work 8 hours a day for 40 hours a week. The work week is defined as Monday through Friday, between 8am and 5pm. Occasionally, weekend assistance might be requested. If a student agrees to work on a weekend, their weekday hours would be reducted to reflect the weekend hours worked so their total weekly work time would not exceed 40 hours.
We prefer students with a minimum of 2-3 years of veterinary school training, who are able to follow verbal instructions and confident in their basic veterinary skills. We have suffcient staff to provide consistent supervision to students during an elective rotation.
On campus housing is subject to availability.