Surely you can sniff out canine-related calling

Advertisement

Advertise with us

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I love dogs and I’m really into canine care, training and their health. I love hanging out with them. We understand each other. I’m not a big talker with people, but I really enjoy being with my dogs at home, on walks or teaching them tricks and I also watch a lot of dog videos online. I’m not looking to be a veterinarian and I don’t know if I want to be a vet nurse either, but I do know I really want to work with dogs.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/03/2025 (513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I love dogs and I’m really into canine care, training and their health. I love hanging out with them. We understand each other. I’m not a big talker with people, but I really enjoy being with my dogs at home, on walks or teaching them tricks and I also watch a lot of dog videos online. I’m not looking to be a veterinarian and I don’t know if I want to be a vet nurse either, but I do know I really want to work with dogs.

I’m not going to be happy as a regular nurse (which my mother is pushing). Do you have suggestions for me? I’m a person who doesn’t want to learn just by reading books. I like and need action and I enjoy working both indoors and outdoors.

— Dog Lover Needing a Career, Winnipeg

Dear Dog Lover: You might check things out by getting a part-time job at a vet’s office to help you get acquainted with other jobs there. By the end of the summer, by watching and assisting, you might know what you want as a career.

You could also check out animal training businesses, animal shelters or dog-walking operations, for starters. You could also look into volunteering, or even working, at the Winnipeg Humane Society.

Look at the upcoming year as a search for the right fit for you in the dog world.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’m sad to the point of crying that my aunt is leaving her partner here in Winnipeg and moving back to the West Coast. She says she never liked the vibe of Winnipeg and has been wanting to go back home.

She is a lesbian and so am I, and I want her to take me with her, but I’m only 16. My parents say I can go next summer after I graduate high school, but that seems so far away.

My aunt seems to agree with them, although we’re very close and she understands me and knows how much I want out to get out of here and go where she goes.

I noticed this week she’s not really pushing for me to go with her. I can’t figure out why.

— Confused, St. Norbert

Dear Confused: Because she’s going home single, she might want time to meet and mingle and possibly find a new mate. Having a teenager to look after might make that more difficult and she would feel bad leaving you alone when she goes out.

It’s also possible you might feel lost and lonely in a new place so far from home and if your aunt has a job to go to and you don’t, you could be lonely when she’s at work.

Moving somewhere else can seem like a fun idea before you actually get there, but when the initial couple of weeks are up, you can find yourself homesick and want to be back with the group of people who really love you — parents, siblings and good friends. When you only really know one person in a new community, you can end up feeling pretty lonely at times.

I get the sense you don’t want to lose someone close who understands what you’re going through as you grow up. Why not consider contacting the Rainbow Resource Centre (rainbowresourcecentre.org) about their roster of activity and interest groups. The centre offers support for the LGBTTQ+ community in the form of counselling, education and programming for people of all ages.

You’ll definitely make new friends there by taking part in activities and discussion groups. You’ll also find a whole new world of like-minded people who understand you. The bonus in not relocating right now is you’ll still have your family and close friends as a home base.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

Maureen Scurfield

Maureen Scurfield
Advice columnist

Maureen Scurfield writes the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Preview

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Despite complaints from thousands of dissatisfied users, Winnipeg hasn't hit the brakes on the rollout of its new primary transit network. And it appears that ignoring the public response cost Winnipeg Transit millions of dollars in lost revenue and ridership.

Read
Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Bombers offence stalls in 22-19 loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

Bombers offence stalls in 22-19 loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:19 AM CDT

It was a microcosm of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ season to this point: a first half that burned bright only to be doused in cold water.

The Bombers began the first leg of their mid-season gauntlet with a 22-19 loss to the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium in the Alberta capital on Friday night.

Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo orchestrated an eight-play, 54-yard drive that set up a 40-yard game-winning field goal by Vincent Blanchard that snuck inside the left upright with zeros on the clock.

The drive, which was plagued by poor tackling by the Bombers defence, came after Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo tied the game at 19-19 on a 53-yard boot with 1:41 remaining in the contest.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 8:19 AM CDT

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

David Sanderson 7 minute read Preview

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

David Sanderson 7 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Marina Bulan is the founder of Cedarella, a two-year-old venture that turns out eye-catching wood products such as jewelry, kitchen decor, children’s toys and, most recently, metre-high outdoor planters that double as home street-number indicators.

Ahead of immigrating to Winnipeg a decade ago from their native Russia, Bulan and her partner thought it would be prudent to conduct some research on their soon-to-be new home, a city they knew next to nothing about.

Imagine their surprise as they were viewing the 2007 surrealist film My Winnipeg, which comically blends historical facts about our burg with what Winnipeg-born writer/director Guy Maddin has termed “mystical hypothesizing.”

(For instance, there is no proof that, as reported in the award-winning flick, Winnipeg is the sleepwalking capital of the world, and that residents keep keys to their former abodes on their person in the event they turn up there during a bout of somnambulism.)

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Plenty of alternatives to U.S. wines on the shelves

Ben Sigurdson 5 minute read Preview

Plenty of alternatives to U.S. wines on the shelves

Ben Sigurdson 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

In February 2025, Manitoba (and most other provinces) pulled American liquor from store shelves as part of the ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

Then in December, the province followed a similar course to others and put American booze that was already on hand back on shelves, selling off inventory that had been wasting away in warehouses for months, and directing proceeds from those sales to charities.

Lineups sprung up at numerous stores as consumers snapped up bestselling American products — think Maker’s Mark, Jack Daniel’s, Apothic Red and the like. After that initial rush, what was left has been languishing on shelves ever since, with many products eventually being drastically discounted for a quick sale, lest they become too long in the tooth.

I decided early on not to write about/review U.S. products in this space until things were well and truly sorted. But a few months back, I found myself in the mood for a big, oaky red wine and — in a moment of weakness, or nostalgia, or maybe just curiosity — I picked up a $30-ish California Cabernet Sauvignon.

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 5 minute read Preview

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:14 PM CDT

Manitoba government and business leaders are rallying behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to fight back, after a sudden collapse of trade talks between the U.S. and Canada sparked a new salvo of U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods.

On Saturday, after Carney vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs, Manitoba premier Wab Kinew said his government stood “100 per cent” behind the prime minister’s plan to respond to what Kinew called U.S. president Donald Trump’s “unjustified and immoral” tariffs.

“History will not be kind to Donald Trump, so we should never appease him,” Kinew said. “We should fight back, which is what Canada is doing today.”

Kinew met reporters for a brief news conference at the legislature on Saturday afternoon, about an hour after finishing a call with Carney and the other premiers. There was a “really strong sense of unity” on that call, Kinew said, and emphasized that he backs the federal decision to “walk away from what would have been a bad deal.”

Read
Yesterday at 5:14 PM CDT