Guess who scored a new job!!

So as some of you may remember, my husband and I moved to Sydney a while ago and I was super bummed for a couple months because Whiskey and my birbs had to stay in Bathurst while I lived and worked in Sydney and I had to drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back every weekend to see them.

Then we finally were able to bring them home and it was a super happy day.

Well everything turned to absolute crap in Sydney (danny’s new boss managed to con us out of about $5k) and we decided it wasn't worth it anymore and we moved back to Bathurst. Our previous landlord invited us back to our rental because we hadn’t officially moved out yet and she was happy to have us back.

WELL. Right after we decided to move back to Bathurst I applied for a job that was PERFECT for me but I never thought i'd get. I had forgotten i'd even applied for it until they called me on Saturday evening to arrange an interview, and I met with them on Monday morning. The interview went really well but I couldn't help but over analyze it afterwards and after several hours of going over every detail in my head I was pretty sure i'd blew it.

They called me on Tuesday afternoon and told me they'd narrowed it down to two people, and I was one of them (there was approx 33 applicants than had been interviewed), and they asked me for two work related references that they could contact that day. At that particular time I was actually in the hire truck with danny, mid-way through the 3 hour drive to move our crap back to Bathurst. I said I wasn't at home right then but I would get the names and numbers of my references to them ASAP. Charlotte (boss) said that's fine and not to rush. But I was able to sort them out on the road and called her back within 15 minutes with the details.

Didn't hear anything for the rest of that day and naturally my brain had decided that obviously they gave the position to the other person. But I got the call at 10:31am this morning offering me the position! YAY!!!! Charlotte said my references spoke very highly of me (which is always good to know lol!)

So, I am now a kennel and boarding manager at a Golden Retriever kennel facility! It's a live-in position approx 30 minutes out of Bathurst, and the salary package includes a 4 bedroom 2 garage house with all bills included.

The facility houses around 40 dogs (not including puppies under 6 months), and there is approx. 3-4 hours of actual work per day being feeding, cleaning and paperwork. The rest is spent exercising and interacting with the dogs, socializing puppies and working with dogs that need some basic obedience and manners. The property is on approx. 300 acres so plenty of room to take them out for exercise!!

They say everything happens for a reason. I never really believed that, but I am really starting to now. We moved to Sydney even though I really wasn’t into it. Even though it all turned to crap there, while we were away there was a nasty storm here and the huge gum tree in my neighbour’s front yard fell down across my front yard. If we had still been here, my car would have been absolutely totalled (you all know how much I love my car) and we could possibly have lost danny’s car as well.

We move back here and literally the day after we finish moving, I am offered the most amazing job in the freaking world.

Omg you guys, you have NO freaking idea how badly I wanted this job and how happy I was when I received the call this morning!! I nearly cried on the phone lmao and my face hurt from smiling so much!!

I am so happy for you!

Wow, that sounds like an AMAZING job!!! Congratulations!! :D

Congrats Shae :) -does dance- woot 

wow that sounds awesome!!!
obviously this need not be said

BUT
I DEMAND DOGGO PICTURES!!

WHOO! That's awesome, Shae! I'm so happy for you!

But I also second the demand of pupper pics!!

Congratulations!!! It sounds like it was a long journey to this dream job. This is wonderful news! Hope we get some photo updates of the pupperz once you're settled!

That's amazing! The facility sounds really awesome!

So so so happy for you Ash! You truly deserve this :}

I am sooo stinkin jealous of you! Congrats Shae this is waaay awesome!

I saw this on facebook the other night! This is soooo exciting! I cannot wait to follow the journey of your new job!

Super late to reponding to this because of the FB post, but I AM SO EXCITED AND HAPPY FOR YOU!  I NEED ALL THE PUPPER PICTURES YOU LUCKY DUCK!  

That sounds amazing!
Congrats and hope you have fun with all them pupperz!

Second day today! There is SO much work to do because the girl before me let it go so badly. Danny has a pressure washer and once we're settled in and finished moving we are going to pressure wash ALL of the kennels thoroughly. I'm creating my own routine already which is great. I've decided to start feeding them in the evening now that there's security cameras and lights in the main kennel shed, and they're a lot more settled at night when they go to bed with a full belly.

There are several different breeds. Golden retrievers of course, cavoodles, labradoodles, kelpies, springer spaniels and border collies. We also have a cocker spaniel and some spoodles.

A couple of the border collies are a little shy so I need to work with them and try to get them more people-friendly. There's one female, maddy, who I ABSOLUTELY adore and she's probably the most shy lol. I've been thinking about getting another border collie in the future because we plan to be here for a long time and we have a TON of space and huge runs with high fences now and my bosses don't care how many dogs I have as long as they're vaccinated and desexed (that could get dangerous LMAO), but if I can't get maddy to the point where they would be comfortable placing her in a home (some of them are rescues) then I might just ask if I can keep her if I can get her friendly with Whiskey, danny and myself.

Also I asked jess and lucy (2 of my bosses, it's ran by 4 sisters) if I might be allowed to get a horse some time in the future, partially because it would be an excellent way to explore the property. I kind of expected them to say "we'll talk about it in the future" or something along those lines but their reply was "of course, this place is basically yours now. You can get a hundred horses if you want to" haha. So green light on that as well!

I freaking love it here you guys. It's so peaceful and calming and this house is just amazing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job. I love all of the dogs and even though it's going to take a bit of hard work I can't freaking wait to get this place in tip top shape and show my bosses that they made the best decision by choosing me!

 that's so exciting Shae! I'm so jealous happy for you!

Here's my girl





In the beginning she was very shy and timid and we were worried that if we let her out without a leash or tether, she'd run and we'd be forever chasing her. However this morning I got her out and brought her down to the backyard (we get a huge, fully fenced backyard for ourselves) to introduce her to whiskey and let her hang out so she could get used to us. 15 minutes in and I let her off the tether because I was confident that she would come when called and not run. She didn't disappoint!



♥

AAH THAT SOUNDS SO PERFECT YOU NEED A PON. 

Also do you get to keep the collie? She's lovely! 

Link Tree

She's made a huge turn-around in her temperament, all she needed was some attention (the girl before me never spent any time with any of them), but i've told the girls how much I like her and they said they'll just keep her on the property. So she isn't going anywhere :D

I'm pressure-washing the kennels today and tomorrow. Oh my god, you guys, it's so bad. There are 16 kennels in the main shed and today in the span of 6 hours I got 8 done. I only stopped because if I kept going the rest wouldn't dry in time and would still be soaking wet at feed time (which is in an hour). I'll be doing the rest tomorrow. Hopefully it won't take AS long tomorrow because i've already bleached and hosed 4 of the remaining 8, those will just need to be hit with the pressure washer to get the buildup off. There's only 4 that haven't been started.

But omg. If the girl before me had been doing it properly every week the buildup (of poo and mud) would not be this bad. This is 3 months of complete laziness and neglect.

I had my 4th boss lady come by tomorrow to check up and go through a couple of things (like entering microchip details into the database, that kind of thing) and she was THRILLED with what i've done so far in the 2 weeks i've been here. Almost all of the dogs are back to a healthy weight and the stragglers are almost there. Coats are shiny, ears are clean and everyone is getting properly rotated for exercise. 

I can't wait to show them photos of the kennels once i'm finished tomorrow. The ones i've finished look great.

Once i'm done with the kennels tomorrow i'm going to do what I need to do with the dogs and then come inside, tidy up a little (haven't even had time to think about the dishes today!) and then i'm going to spend the afternoon drinking wine and entering chip details into the database. There is like 40-ish forms that the girl before me was supposed to submit but didn't so now it's my job, but that's actually OK because I don't mind having a chill computer work afternoon.

It's taking some good old fashioned hard work to get things right but i'm slowly getting there.

Still loving it!!

Edit: Oh, we just got two new miniature poodle puppies in yesterday that I get to name! :P I'm not much of a poodle fan but boy they are cute haha.

Sounds as though you're doing a great job Ash! And you sound SO HAPPY which is so great to see! Ps. Did you introduce Maddy to Whiskey?

That is so amazing. I am truely happy for you!
Youve had some bad crap in the past and it looks like its finally looking up!
Congratulations!