VET STUDENTS GET HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE AT LOCAL DOG SHOW
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atching Australian Cattle Dogs fly over jumps and Border Collies sprint through tunnels gave veterinary student Natalia Sytch a great- er appreciation for purebred dogs and their abilities. “Currently it’s popular for people to go adopt dogs from shelters,
BY LAURA GALLUP
PHOTOS BY JOHN ENRIGHT, BAKER INSTITUTE Original article appeared in: https://news.cornell.edu/
and that needs to happen,” said Sytch, a second-year student in the College of Veteri- nary Medicine who participated in the 36th Annual Wine Country Circuit Dog Show, held September 29 to October 1, 2022, at Sampson State Park in Romulus, New York. “But there’s kind of a lack of appreciation for purebred dogs,” Sytch said. “It’s really impressive to see how the animals can be trained, and how skilled and how intelligent they are. And that’s not necessarily something you can get if it’s not a purebred animal.” Sytch was one of 20 students who participated in the dog show’s mentor program, which pairs Cornell veterinary students with breeders and exhibitors from kennel clubs. The program was started in 2021 by Sue Hamlin, a now-retired administrative manager at Cornell’s Baker Institute for Animal Health. Inspired by a similar program at Tufts University, the mentorships help familiarize veterinary students with some of the 200 breeds the American Kennel Club recognizes as purebreds, Hamlin said. “They’re going to see some good ones, and they’re going to see some lousy examples of the breed,” she said. “And some of these dogs you rarely see, at least in a certain part of the country.”
stories/2022/10/vet-students-get- hands-experience-local-dog-show.
198 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, NOVEMBER 2022
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