Veterinary Internships with Hetta Huskies

Hetta Huskies is listed with the British Veterinary Association as an approved location for veterinary interns.

The manual below was put together by one of the veterinary students who has been a part of our team. Most of the medically interested / trained professionals we have had come to work with us to date have been veterinary students. Some have managed to do their placements through us (some in association with our local veterinary clinic) but most have simply come for the experience. We have also had a number of fully qualified (and trainee) doctors, veterinary nurses and one or two fully qualified vets apply and all, to date, have been impressed by the level of medical care and attention we commit to the dogs and the systems we have developed to ensure that this continues at the highest possible level.

Most people who fall into this 'medically interested / trained' category - so long as they are with us for at least three months - will become our 'medical overseer'. Those visiting for shorter placements will work alongside the dedicated medical overseer (who may or may not have as much medical knowledge as you) and will help them to complete all of the basic medical jobs which don't require specific knowledge of each of the dogs (eg teeth cleaning, nail cutting, dog checks, heat checks, heart checks etc).

Even those who are going to become medical supervisors are expected to complete the intensive trainee guide training course so that they can become a fully functioning part of the team (running safaris in season etc) even if their focus will be on the health and welfare of the dogs. (NB: Other team members will be focusing on building and repairs, others will be focusing on dog training and still others on jobs like project management and staff training. In other words, we will utilise your skills and try to develop them further but we will also introduce you to as many other aspects of working on a sleddog farm as your time with us allows.

We are particularly keen to partner with students hoping to carry out their research projects with us / those that are interesting in using our collected data to support their projects. Subjects that interest us include nutrition, ulceration, hypothyrosis (anyone interested in blood testing c.170 dogs and figuring out the likely occurance rates / linking it to family histories etc?), lactation in pack animals, lactation linked to ovarian cysts / mammary tumours, stress flushing and ways of preventing it, heat regulation, etc). We would also be super interested to learn from massage and holistic care professionals.

And, don't say you weren't warned.....if you thought veterinary school was hard.......


We have a lot of material about the role and sled-dog specific medicine available in a dropbox folder. However, the standard basic manual that most medical overseers work through when learning about the core components of the medical overseer role can be found here.

Please contact us for further information.