Pet dog

I mean if your adopting one from a shelter then I suppose your giving it a better life but it really depends how much time you spend at home. In my opinion I don’t really think it’s fair on them.

You can generally expect your hours in clinical years to mostly be within 8am-5pm, with possibly a very occasional evening or night (latter generally aren’t compulsory but can be useful for learning).

I think the bigger issue is going to be travelling / distant placements. Depending on your uni and how far and wide they send people for placements, you may be expected to live out in hospital accommodation for some of your placements. Even if you choose not to live away for some of the more middle-distance ones, there may still be lengthy travelling involved at times.

Also, what would you plan to do once you graduate? FY years are definitely a lot more antisocial / irregular hours. Probably doable if you lived with a partner / others who were willing to share responsibility, but I dont think it would be doable for an FY dr living alone. You need to think long term with a pet.

If a doctor did own a dog would this not be taken into acount in creating rotas, or would the hospital simply say it was your responsibility to lose the dog?

Is it realistically possible to own a dog during the latter half of a medicine degree, ie years 4 to 5/6?
I say the latter half because I am well aware that little to no university provided accommodation allows pets so for this assume that you were living in your own accomodation that allowed pets.
Also, unless anybody thinks otherwise, I am assuming that a puppy would be too much time and commitment during university so I am more thinking of the possibility of adopting a fully grown dog.
Would the time commitment of years 4 to 5/6 of medicine (both work and social) allow for this? Experienced advice and/or examples would be very helpful, thanks.

If a doctor did own a dog would this not be taken into acount in creating rotas, or would the hospital simply say it was your responsibility to lose the dog?

Currently I'm having to make some complicated plan involving multiple taxis around town each week due to there being no flexibility to let me look after my child. A pet... lol no!

Can you not train it to be OK with being left alone for a few hours? I have with mine! Mind you, it took 16+ years........

I mean, he's sufficiently light that I could probably just carry him with me at work... That New Zealand MP did it right?

Nobody would notice, I'm sure, but not going to be feasible for the next 15+ years, really? Although would work better with a dog.....

Work would be better with a dog yes.

Everything is better with a dog!

I mean, he's sufficiently light that I could probably just carry him with me at work... That New Zealand MP did it right?

Is it realistically possible to own a dog during the latter half of a medicine degree, ie years 4 to 5/6?
I say the latter half because I am well aware that little to no university provided accommodation allows pets so for this assume that you were living in your own accomodation that allowed pets.
Also, unless anybody thinks otherwise, I am assuming that a puppy would be too much time and commitment during university so I am more thinking of the possibility of adopting a fully grown dog.
Would the time commitment of years 4 to 5/6 of medicine (both work and social) allow for this? Experienced advice and/or examples would be very helpful, thanks.

This is a lovely idea, but does suggest you have maybe not done much research into what the job of a doctor is really like......

Or a sheep, apparently.

To both, I think my question was along the wrong lines, I understand that shift patterns and hours are unsociable, however, I meant to refer more to extra time having to be spent at work outside of shifts. I have heard that it is not uncommon for doctors to be requested to work well beyond the 13 hour shift maximum or beyond rotared shifts which would be the sort of thing that would be unsuitable for dog owners as it cannot be planned around. Would it be possible at all for a doctor to simply say that they cannot work these sort of hours due to owning a dog or would this be unacceptable?
Ps there is not always one answer to these questions, having spoken to doctors who say that if you can't work certain hours then simply say you won't and protect your time and then others who may as well camp outside the hospital for the hours they do. I get the impression it is somewhat down to your commitment and willingness to bend over backward for the job and how confident you are to protect your time but correct me if I'm wrong as I can only go off what others have advised me for now.

Mmm, viral baby and oncology patients - winning combination!

Black sheep and all that......
She is deeply upset, now!

To both, I think my question was along the wrong lines, I understand that shift patterns and hours are unsociable, however, I meant to refer more to extra time having to be spent at work outside of shifts. I have heard that it is not uncommon for doctors to be requested to work well beyond the 13 hour shift maximum or beyond rotared shifts which would be the sort of thing that would be unsuitable for dog owners as it cannot be planned around. Would it be possible at all for a doctor to simply say that they cannot work these sort of hours due to owning a dog or would this be unacceptable?
Ps there is not always one answer to these questions, having spoken to doctors who say that if you can't work certain hours then simply say you won't and protect your time and then others who may as well camp outside the hospital for the hours they do. I get the impression it is somewhat down to your commitment and willingness to bend over backward for the job and how confident you are to protect your time but correct me if I'm wrong as I can only go off what others have advised me for now.