Mixed Animal Apprenticeship

Experience a veterinary apprenticeship at the longest-standing mixed animal veterinary clinic in Western Colorado. Open since 1936, Glenwood Veterinary Clinic has served clients throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and surrounding area, seeing patients of all shapes and sizes while building meaningful relationships along the way. This program is a position designed for new graduates looking to sharpen their skills and develop their craft working with all species under strong mentorship. Our goal is to provide training encompassing high-quality care, thorough client communication, and the tools needed to succeed and find longevity as a mixed animal general practitioner. We pride ourselves on working together as a team, enjoying each day and new opportunity, and instilling modern medicine into our deep-rooted cowboy culture.

We as a team recognize the changing landscape of veterinary practice and as a result the change in post-graduate training. Many internship programs have become an opportunity for large practices or academic institutions to take advantage of young veterinarians’ willingness to work and eagerness to learn, sacrificing time, learning opportunities and mental health in the process.

Our goal is to build a more sustainable program that provides opportunity for mentorship, knowing that this means something different to each individual who comes through our doors. The apprentice position is designed to be different from a traditional internship by providing as much guidance as a new veterinarian may need or desire, without the grueling lifestyle classically associated with being an intern, allowing room for growth and confidence-building, and is flexible for each apprentice.

We are working to prioritize work-life balance and mental health in conjunction with providing training opportunities in all the areas an apprentice is seeking guidance. All of our veterinarians can attest that the first 6-12 months out of school are truly spent learning, sometimes the hard way, which is often just experiencing the difference between Ivory Tower medicine and Real Life. We want to be there to help in this learning phase, knowing that nothing speeds up experience but support during that time is what makes it worthwhile.

While historically the clinic has seen a large majority of equine cases, over the past three years the patient distribution has become more widespread among companion animals and livestock. We aim to provide a positive learning experience through exposure to a diverse caseload encompassing sports medicine, herd health, ambulatory practice, and internal medicine and surgery in most species. We see regular appointments and emergencies during business hours, in addition to providing after-hours large animal emergency services 24/7. This position serves as an excellent opportunity to strengthen communication, diagnostic and critical care skills while building clinical competency.

Diagnostic modalities include: in-house blood work machines (CBC, serum biochemical profile, T4, SDMA, Cortisol, PT/PTT, progesterone), in-house urine/fecal analyzer, in-house and mobile digital radiography, ultrasound, 1-meter and 3-meter video endoscopes, pathologist-reviewed cytology.
Treatment modalities include: Shockwave, class-4 laser, IRAP, Pro Stride, PRP, ProVet, and medical manipulation (chiropractic). We aim to offer acupuncture services in the near future.

Housing close to the clinic and benefits are provided. Benefits include a health and wellness stipend, which encompasses health/vision/dental insurance, gym membership if desired, membership to the local hot springs or a ski pass, access to other therapies as needed or desired, CE stipend, state license reimbursement, AAEP and AVMA membership, liability insurance reimbursement, and stipend for clothing/scrubs.

Currently we have 4 full-time mixed animal veterinarians. Normal business hours are 8:30am – 5:30pm Monday-Thursday and 8:30am – 5pm Friday. The apprentice will spend equal time working closely with each clinician, assisting with ambulatory and hospital appointments in addition to emergency and inpatient duties. For the first two months, an apprentice can expect to be on call nightly. This will ease into a rotation starting in the third month. After a period of time, the apprentice will transition to taking primary emergency call duty and seeing routine appointments with backup by senior associates always available. There are also increased earning opportunities throughout the duration of an apprenticeship (emergency fees, production).
We don’t want to see James Herriot and mixed animal medicine go the way of the dodo bird, and we know that emerging veterinarians are looking for different paths for training. Glenwood Veterinary Clinic aims to be on the forefront of changing the veterinary landscape for the better.