DOG DAYS ARE OVER

SCIENTIST’S PAWESOME CAREER CHANGE

I DIDN’T REALISE IT AT THE TIME BUT I WAS SUFFERING A LOT WITH ANXIETY AND MENTAL ILLNESS, AND SOME BULLYING WAS GOING ON COURTNEY SHARMAN

A FORMER medical scientist has traded labs for labradors in an unlikely career move that made work a happy pursuit.

Margate local Courtney Sharman began working in pathology fresh out of university for many years without realising the negative impact the work was having on her health.

“I didn’t realise it at the time but I was suffering a lot with anxiety and mental illness, and some bullying was going on,” Ms Sharman said.

“I was so miserable so I took a job as a high school lab tech which was better but I struggled to work with people, I’ve got a lot of social anxiety.”

Eventually Ms Sharman stopped working altogether, focusing instead on raising children for 10 years before deciding to look for a different path.

“My pet dogs have been great for me, so I googled ‘job with a dog’ and found PetCloud,” Ms Sharman said.

The website and app allows pet owners to connect with people near them for animal walking, sitting and driving services.

After two years on the platform, Ms Sharman has celebrated international dog walking day yesterday reflecting on her best career choice yet.

Ms Sharman has regular customers whose dogs she walks every week in addition to clients who let her mind their dogs when on holiday.

“People say ‘just work harder to beat your illness’, I ditched that advice and changed my life to meet my needs and now I can work and be happy and calm,” she said.

“It’s a good part time wage for the amount of dogs I’m able to take.”