The Student American Veterinary Medical Association hosted its annual dog wash, making it paw-sitively perfect for people and their four-legged friends to enjoy.
SAVMA hosted the dog wash fundraiser on April 6, giving pet owners the chance to bring in their dogs for some pampering by LSU veterinary students. The dog wash offered a basic wash for $10 and additional grooming and cologne for an extra five dollars.
The event was organized by SAVMA Vice President Joshua Thier, a second year student in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. Thier sees the wash’s affordability as one of its key highlights, as it provides the public with a more accessible option compared to traditional dog groomers who may charge higher prices.
“I think it’s more accessible, because I don’t really know what people charge locally for a dog wash in this area,” Thier said. “So I think it’s more accessible, especially if you have a lot of dogs and aren’t necessarily as well-endowed to go to a groomer and spend all that money. Or they just don’t want to do it, which is totally understandable.”
The yearly dog wash is held on the same day as The Great Rover Road Run, a 5K and one mile run hosted by the Hill’s Pet Nutrition company and LSU Vet Med, which people and their dogs can participate in together. The run takes place along the levee near LSU Vet Med, which places it right next to where the dog wash is set up. This event also helps to draw people into the dog wash.
“Doing the dog wash on that day allows us to get more people from the general public to be able to interact with,” Thier said. “Whoever’s running with their dogs– typically what happens is after that, they’ll bring them over and we’ll wash them and kind of get that experience.”
Though this event is generally smooth sailing, Thier did run into a few hiccups along the way.
“Getting people to volunteer has been challenging because there are certain specifications,” Thier said. “So because we’re working with privately-owned animals, we can only have vet students volunteer.”
This is because AVMA, the non-student American Veterinary Medical Association, covers SAVMA students with liability insurance in case they get bitten or otherwise injured while caring for the animals. As such, the volunteer pool is severely restricted.
Despite these complications, Thier is grateful for the opportunity to get hands-on experience working with dogs and their owners in this fun, laid-back environment. He believes that this sort of experience is valuable for all SVM students, who do not normally get such opportunities amidst their demanding classes and heavy workload.
“It’s just fun to get to interact with the owners,” Thier said. “It’s nice to get some experience just hanging out and interacting with the people we’re getting to work on their animals with. Because right now, we’re kind of in a bunch of different classes, so we don’t really get to see that kind of client-facing environment like we will later on.”
