Old Dog, New Tricks
Museum Musings
Dr. Vickie Summers, Executive Director
Including my intern years, my professional career has spanned well over fifty years. My license to practice has been renewed twenty-four times every two years since 1979. During each two-year period of licensure, there are minimum requirements to earn continuing education to qualify for renewal. Half of it can be done independently, and at least half has to be live in a classroom setting. It is usually a mix of review learning, knowledge base expansion learning, and outright new topics of learning.
In the beginning, the requirement was to read long detailed articles, take a test on the material, stuff the answer sheet and a check for processing into an envelope and mail it off. We had to keep a list of the course numbers completed to include with our license renewal application. We had to be sure to mail the packet early enough to have the new license returned before the old one expired. Eventually, live programs were developed bringing the requirement for a significant amount of classroom learning. Now as technology has evolved, it is more of a hybrid mix of online self-study, in person classes, live zoom type classes, and opportunities for practical hands-on learning in different areas of practice. I have done special training and certification programs in long term care, compounding, pharmacogenomics, and immunology. The whole time, as my continuing learning path became steeper and more complicated, I have been aging in body and mind. Even now, I am working through my planned course of study to finish by July of next year for maybe my last time to renew. I can still do it, but it takes more effort and energy.
Naturally, at this age, I am really thinking about all that has been put off that I want to do. I’m also thinking about why it is good to finish being in practice while I’m still on my good game, even though my new path may involve a learning curve too. When you’ve been going full steam for half a century, you can’t just turn the key off. As long as there is breath in and out, there are things to learn.
There have been lessons learned in the past couple of years as life involuntary came to a solitary trek. It has been intense. This has forced an evaluation of where I am and where I need to be as I am probably entering the last (hopefully long) phase of my physically independent life. In these considerations, I decided I need a dog for companionship, security, and for staying physically active.
The dogs of our life before now, have mostly been “used dogs”, being strays, adopted mutts, and rescues. They have been almost all older dogs that were way past the puppy stage. No neediness, no chewing, no behavioural or body function training. Older dogs were just the way to go. Even so, I now have a puppy. She’s been under my care for almost three weeks now. It came down to the fact that from experience, an older dog would likely run after my cats, and I do love my cats. A puppy would have to get to know them on their terms, and hopefully there would be harmony from the start.
So here we are. This old dog is once again having to learn a lot of new tricks. There is the mandatory discipline of a new routine with new responsibilities. There is physical soreness, and sleep deprivation. There’s a new appreciation of genetics as I am seeing traits of the maternal Chow, and the paternal Lab. There is the telltale Chow dark tongue, and the Lab love of water that makes my shower longer as it is regularly being invaded. I am somewhat amused that there is a more complete genealogy chart than many humans have.
Several of my wise elders have instilled in me that in order to keep going, we must actively, deliberately keep going. This plays a part in my motivation for embracing my new role in the continuing life of the museum. For years, I have thought about how great it would be to spend time in the museum. Even in this very mature phase of my life, this old dog is ready to learn as many new things as I can. As always, it will be an adventure. Instead of learning requirements, I can do it for fun. A large bonus in the fun to come will be that CoCo and I are in it together. We both have a lot of big lessons to learn.