MBOU said:When I say doss, if anything like my Nat. Dip, I did it when I was 16... I started the two year course with 150 odd people, only 3 of us were 16, the rest were between 18 and 25, few had managed to achieve a levels if they had even finished school.... ended up doing Nat' Dip purely because it seemed an easy option. Most were what I would refer to as 'bunny brushers' as it was about all they were capable ofcouldn't do much more around the high heels, make up and fake nails!!
I mean... of my class of 20 odd, to achieve pass in the Livestock Handling you pretty much just had to show up (which many didn't achieve), then to achieve Merit... you had to round up the motley collection of goats and sheep into a pen (this pretty much involved carrying the two arthritic goats to the pen as they could hardly walk whilst the others all followed you hoping for food... and to achieve Distinction, all you had to do was put a head collar on an incredibly tame and old goat that couldn't move away from you had it wanted to and to lift up one of its feet...
I can count the number of people who got Distinction on one hand.... bit scary really but pretty much summed up my course! Cant actually think of anything I learned there!
That said... made some great lifelong friends and went on to work with several of them in various LFS lol.
Sparsholt sounds a much better choice for studying from what I hear but was too far for me to go.
That said. I would honestly advise you to do a business degree of some sort and get a part time job in your LFS, then if you are smart, make contacts, talk to company reps, make friends, get numbers, learn what does and doesn't sell (pretty much everything said on forums is irrelevant when it comes to a business!), learn from the insidelearn about many more different types of fish, even get to know customers!! And all the while. talk to other people who have set up their own business and specifically LFS type shops and see how they did it, see if they would be willing to share a business plan with you etc.
That's what I would honestly do, that said, to have a LFS, you do need an animal related course under your belt as well... but doesn't have to be a huge course, I know a few pet shop owners caught out by this change in law who went to study two days a week on a specific pet management course specifically to get/keep a pet shop license.
Aye - seeing as I work in one of my LFS' anyway that's one ticked off the list. Been asked to apply for my local Maidenhead Aquatics also but this will be done after my maternity leave.
I like the idea of the course as you can get really good credit with OATA also which is great for the punters.
I guess just have to see what's down the road - I've yet to check out more about the course in greater detail, so we will see!
