David+P.

Man's Best Friendtoc
 * Title**:

My goals in this experience, was to shadow Dr. Alma Rotolo, a veterinary doctor at the Wellesley- Natick Veterinary Hospital in Natick, MA. By following Dr. Rotolo, I wished to learn about animals, specifically dogs, and the common illnesses and diseases that can ail them. I expect to learn about sicknesses such as heartworm disease, or things less severe such as fleas and ticks. My goals were vague going into my visit, because I just wanted to learn more, and I was not quite sure what I wanted to learn more about, I just knew I wanted to know more, and Dr. Rotolo helped me greatly with that.
 * Goals**:

I discovered on my visit that Veterinary science is in no way shape or form very glamorous, the pay is not great, and the working space shows it. Dr. Rotolo mentioned that the pay was less than satisfying, but her passion for her job made her forget all about that. She knew that everyday when she wakes up that she is going to do something that brings her joy, helping others, and helping their animals. I was surprised by the fact that, on my experience, I learned more in a philosophical point of view than a biological one. I learned that passion for something makes everything else in life (the bad things at least) seem small and unimportant, and as long as one has passion, they can also have happiness.
 * Discoveries**:

The most challenging aspect of my experience, was dealing with patients who were disobedient, unruly, and extremely energetic. Tasks that are simple to doctors focusing on humans, such as taking x-rays or collecting urine samples, are easy, but with dogs, they based on instinct. Meaning that when they are put in an uncomfortable position to take an x-ray, they immediately try to right themselves up, and with bigger dogs multiple people are needed to restrain an unruly, large dog.
 * Challenges**:

I will be the first to admit that I could have started much earlier on the research and the project in general. I also failed to find out whether my first choice was even possible, it turned out it wasn't, and I had no clue what to do, so it would have been helpful to had two possibilities that are equally intriguing.
 * Looking Back**:

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 * Project Resources**: