Ep. 102| What My Rescue Dog Can Teach Us About Thriving in Vet Med (Instead of Pushing Through)

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My sweet new rescue dog, Hayden, is doing so well learning how to walk nicely on a leash. And he was doing great on a recent hike...until he wasn't. That moment is a mirror for what happens to us in veterinary medicine when we push past our limits: the more we skip water, lunch, bathroom breaks, and brain breaks while juggling nonstop decisions and emotions, the faster our “survival brain” takes over and we lose access to the calm, logical version of ourselves. In this episode, you’ll learn:

• the four hidden “capacity” buckets that fill up during a shift
• why “just push harder” backfires
• how leaders and mentors can build new-grad capacity in a way that supports the entire team—without burning everyone out
• an important perspective to keep in mind when a dog seems like it's misbehaving

Transcript:

Let's talk about what dogs can teach us about optimizing our performance in Vet Med. So this is for you if you have any role in Vet Med, maybe you're a leader or a new grad. And it is also for you if you own dogs, because there is a lesson in training as well.

I recently adopted a new dog, Hayden.

He came from a rescue and he is so sweet and so friendly. And so this month has really been all about working on training him and he's doing really well. So one reason we got him is that we have a Frenchie. He's not like a super great walking and hiking buddy. And so I was really excited to have a dog where I could do dog things and we could hike and walk together.

A Simple Dog Training Moment That We Can Apply To Humans In Vet Med

So we've been working on walking nicely on a leash and he's been doing great. We started out maybe like one mile walk in the morning. Really lots of treats and he had been doing great. And so now we go for a two mile walk in the morning. He's great. He's right with me. He's very engaged. He's the kind of dog that wants to do a good job and

so I'm also starting to take him hiking. And so last weekend we went for a hike and it's maybe like a three and a half mile hike. And so in the car, he was already a little bit more engaged. He was interested like, where are we going? And starting on the walk, he was a little bit more distracted than he normally is, but in general, he was good.

But I'd say getting into like two miles into this hike, suddenly he wasn't really listening. He was pulling on the leash and I realized he might be thirsty. So I gave him a bowl of water. He was very thirsty, drank that down. And once we had addressed that need, he was back to being pretty engaged, but then maybe two and a half miles in, he kinda switched.

It was like he was pulling on the leash. He didn't care about treats, he wasn't listening and what had happened there. So normally we go max, like two miles in the morning in a place that he is used to. So now with this hike, it took more physically to have gone those two and a half miles compared to a typical walk in my neighborhood.

He was in a new environment. So many new smells. And so he had reached his capacity at that point. His body and nervous system were just like, this has been too much stimulation. It's time for us to refuel. We're getting tired, and there was a switch where he just couldn't.

It can be easy to get frustrated with dogs thinking, oh, why aren't you listening?

But it made so much sense. It was like his amygdala was taking over and it wasn't that he didn't want to be good, it just was that that was really hard for him. This is not unlike us in vet med, and life.

Why Performance Breaks Down (It’s Not a Motivation Problem or Lack of Abilities)

So you may be thinking, okay, we're not dogs, right? We're humans. We're able to have this executive functioning, but we are wired quite similarly in that we also reach our capacity when we maybe have too many things that we've been thinking about.

If we are sacrificing basic necessities, eventually we reach this point where we start to lose that executive functioning, our ability to think logically and to show up as our best selves and our survival brain starts to kick in - the more primitive part of us, and that's where maybe at the end of the day, you notice that you have a short fuse.

Maybe things are causing you to feel flustered or anxious that normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. Maybe you are not educating clients in a way that typically feels good. Maybe you say things that you regret or clients are irritating you more than normal.

That's not because you are not great at what you do. It's not because you don't care. It is just biology.

What We’ve Normalized in Vet Med (That Leads to Burnout)

It is a sign that something has happened in your day that has just brought you to your capacity, and now you are switching more into that primitive part of your brain. And when we look at what we have normalized in Vet Med, this is so common.

We aren't necessarily setting ourselves up for success to be learning and to stay engaged because how often are we working through lunch, not giving ourselves a brain break, forgetting to drink water, not even going to the bathroom, right?

How often are we trying to make a million decisions at once and multitasking and not having brain breaks?

This is important for us to be noticing- we do all have this limit. And Vet Med can start to feel really draining, or we can start to feel like we're not very good at our job if every day you're going past that capacity, so by the end of the day you're not really able to show up in a way that feels good.

The Hidden Conditioning: Why “Push Harder” Backfires

And so much of that is because of this really tragic message that we receive, that we are conditioned to go by from hustle culture, diet, culture, vet med. That really teaches us that success equals no pain, no gain, right? Pushing harder equals more success. That really isn't true.

We're taught to just push through and ignore our bodies, and yet our body is the one thing in this world completely devoted to taking care of us.

So of all the things to listen to with compassion, it should be our bodies, right?

The 4 Capacity Buckets That Impact Performance in Vet Med

And so how can we be in vet Med, acknowledging that, just like the way our patients are, we have limits and we have needs, and how can we be creating environments that honor that and that think, how can we make it more convenient to have time to eat? what boundaries can be in place?

How can we make sure that you're not feeling totally overwhelmed because we can think about four different categories that contribute to that capacity.

1. Physical - which can be, food, water, brain breaks, fresh air.
2. Cognitive - So cognitive overload. Are you having to make too many decisions? Just not understanding. Of course, we're using our brains so much during the day. Especially if you're learning too.
3. Emotional, that is just a part of vet med. It is a roller coaster of emotions throughout the day. And so are you having a pop-off valve?
Are you having any time when you either are getting to pause and actually release those emotions? Or are they all just bottling up?
And then 4. environmental - thinking about are you in an environment that's really loud? What are you seeing? What are you hearing?

All of these things can trigger us and add to our capacity. Just like my dog was like, there are so many smells and that was eventually overstimulating for him. So you can start collecting data on what are those things throughout your day that are filling up your balloon so that eventually you reach capacity, and what could you adjust?

Mentorship in Veterinary Medicine: How to Build (Not Overwhelm) New Grads

So one way that we could really be proactive in keeping this in mind is for new grads when we're thinking about mentorships or even internships, they're not always thinking about how we could be supporting instead of overextending.

So it's not unlike having a new dog, right? I have this new dog ready to learn, eager to please it's kind of like a new grad.

But imagine if I just took him and day one we went for a hike and I expected him to be great. That would've been so overwhelming because we needed to build his capacity, right?

I needed to start with him just getting used to our home. That was a new thing. Then getting used to our route, my neighborhood, the routine that we had, understanding how he was supposed to be walking with me and

now what I'm able to do is I can start going for farther walks here, and that's gonna help to prep him for a hike to be able to be more engaged.

And so the same thing with new grads and with mentorships. How can you help to build their capacity? Starting out like day one, letting them get used to the environment, letting them get used to pims how they're doing records, the people, the flow, because that way the next day that's gonna be familiar and that's not gonna add as much stress.

Why Learning Requires Safety Before Adding Pressure

And then going to maybe seeing appointments with someone, and then maybe you're starting to just see wellness visits and that may feel more safe, and making sure that there's plenty of time to be doing that, and then that's going to help to increase that capacity.

So now that feels more routine, and then you're gonna be able to start seeing more of those tricky or complex cases and shortening the appointment time.

The big thing I wanna emphasize is during this time, especially when you're learning those physical factors, those basic necessities are going to be extra important because they are going to help the brain and body to be in a space where you can learn.

Sometimes I think it's easy to think, oh, this is an eager new grad and they should scrub into this surgery, for example. Maybe they're not gonna have lunch, but this is an opportunity to learn. We really should be questioning that because it is so important to have lots of brain breaks during a day when everything is feeling new. In order to be learning, you have to be in more of that grounded state.

And so really thinking how can you prioritize blocks just to digest everything, blocks to eat and drink so that we are setting everyone up for success.

Supporting Your Team Without Burning Everyone Out

And along the same lines, and when we are thinking about mentorships, it is easy to just think about the mentee or the new grad and to not think about the rest of the team, and that's really important too, because it's not just stressful for the new grad, having someone new and who's trying to learn a lot of the times that is adding stress to the rest of the team too.

Not in a bad way. It can be really exciting, but it adds more. It's like for maybe the mentor, they are trying to see their appointments and they're also taking that extra time to be educating and answering questions. For the techs and the assistants, they're really trying to help the new grad more as well.

And so that's adding stress or filling up everybody's capacity.

So as a profession, we need to start thinking, how can we be proactive in setting everybody up for success? How can we acknowledge that we are adding more demand and what can we adjust so that we are really supporting everybody Because this is temporary.

Everybody's going to be increasing their capacity. It's going to be becoming more familiar, but there needs to be this transition point and pushing harder is not going to lead to faster results.

Just like I could have tried for that last mile with Hayden, my dog, I could have tried to make him listen and to be with me, but he just wasn't able to, right?

He wasn't in that mind space where he could really learn anymore.

If You’ve Been Feeling Overwhelmed, This Might Be Why

And so in order to avoid frustrations and to really help to move towards sustainable success and thriving in vet Med, let's instead think about how we can be having compassion for the way that our brains and bodies work. So I would love to hear if this resonates.

Let me know if you have been feeling frustrated or like you're not doing as well in cases as you wish you did, or you're having a tough time, there's a big chance that this is why, right?

That there's in your day things that are filling up your stress balloon, leaving you to be at capacity and that are just making it hard to show up in a way that feels good.

And of course this is all about I'm talking about VetMed, but it absolutely applies to outside life too. Everything is connected.

Want to Apply This in Your Own Life and Practice? Start Here

If you are wanting to dive deeper into this, and you are a veterinary practice or a leader you are interested in applying this to your practice, then check out my masterclass called The Simple Leadership Strategy to Reduce Overwhelm and Recession Proof Your Veterinary Practice.

I break down how you can be listening to the body, recognizing subtle signs of a stress response, and then using that to create a proactive culture where everybody is working as a team and setting everybody up for sustainable success and decreasing overwhelm. You'll be able to look at practice stressors and move towards creating strategic solutions. I'll leave the link in the show notes.

And if you want more in-depth support, that's where my coaching program, the Aligned success reboot comes in. This is a six month integrative mind body coaching experience and community for driven professionals who want to thrive in their career with less hustle and overwhelm.

If you wanna feel confident and amazing in your body without habits that are feeling restrictive or like a chore, and if you want more time and energy for you without the guilt. If you want to learn more about that, I'll leave the link in the show notes. You can learn more about it and then answer a couple of questions and we can start a conversation to explore if it's the right option for you.

A Final Thought (For You and Your Dog)

So I'd love to hear from you. Are you sometimes feeling like Hayden and just not able to show up in the way that you want to anymore.

And also hope that you are keeping this in mind if you have a new dog.

Just remembering that they want to learn. And so anytime your pet is seeming like they aren't listening, if it's they're frustrating, then getting curious about what maybe is missing, why is it understandable they're acting that way, and what do they need to be set up for success?