Dog Wellbeing Technician

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave

Real Living Wage Employer

Flex pot – flexible benefits

Buy/sell annual leave

Discounts and cash-back

Excellent pension scheme

And lots more!

Job summary

Guide Dogs in Belfast is seeking a Dog Wellbeing Technician to care for dogs, uphold welfare standards and provide specialist health care. You’ll apply expert knowledge of health, behaviour and positive handling to support dogs and colleagues across our community.

This full-time role is 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, on a rota covering 8am–6pm. Some lone working, reception duties and money handling are also involved.

Qualifications

• A qualification in animal care or equivalent experience in the field.
• Able to manage physical tasks and walk long distances with dogs.
• Travel requirements and, if no full UK license, plan alternatives.
• Experience in kennel-type environments, paid or voluntary.
• Experience supporting a customer-facing organisation.
• Solid understanding of animal wellbeing principles.
• Basic health and safety and safeguarding knowledge.
• Understanding of dog care principles and health conditions.

Responsibilities

• Manage care of a group of dogs in accommodation, meeting routine needs.
• Follow national dog wellbeing practices and provide specialist health care.
• Monitor dogs' wellbeing, identify concerns and escalate as needed.
• Support behaviour development using guide dog handling techniques.
• Lead and support volunteers; provide input on their preparation and development.
• Maintain accurate records and interpret health data for trends.
• Transport dogs regionally for health appointments.

Skills

Animal care qualification

Physical stamina

Drive / travel

Kennel environment experience

Customer service experience

Animal wellbeing principles

Health and safety awareness

Dog care health knowledge

Job description

Pawsome Careers - Make Every Day Meaningful

Come and join us as a proactive and purpose‑led Dog Wellbeing Technician and be part of something life‑changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.

As a Dog Wellbeing Technician at Guide Dogs, you’ll play a vital role in ensuring the highest standards of dog health, wellbeing and specialist care. The Dog Wellbeing Technician will be an expert in canine wellbeing and husbandry, with strong knowledge of dog health, behaviour, welfare standards and positive handling techniques. You’ll use your expertise to make informed decisions, identify and upscale health concerns, and coach colleagues and volunteers in best practice dog care. Our Dog Wellbeing Technicians play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.

Based at our Belfast office, this is a full‑time role working 35 hours per week. You will work alongside one other Dog Tech, Monday to Friday, on a rota that covers the hours between 8am and 6pm. There is an element of lone working in the role, and other duties can include welcoming visitors in our reception area and money handling.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for managing the care of a group of dogs in a dog accommodation area, ensuring their routine husbandry needs are met.
• Work in line with national dog wellbeing practices and procedures, including the provision of specialist health care.
• Monitor and maximise the wellbeing of dogs. Identify health concerns, make appropriate decisions and elevate in a timely manner.
• Support the development and maintenance of the dog's behaviour using current guide dogs handling techniques.
• Lead and support volunteers in dog wellbeing and fostering to complete their role and tasks to the best of their ability. Provide technical input to support their preparation, performance and development.
• Maintain accurate and up to date records. Interpret health data and identify concerns/trends within the local dog population.
• Transport dogs across the region for health‑related appointments with internal and external bodies.

You

You’ll have a person‑centred, expert and optimistic approach to your work, grounded in a strong understanding of animal wellbeing and dog care principles. You’ll enjoy working in a kennel and dog accommodation environment, supporting colleagues and volunteers, with a dedicated focus on dog health, wellbeing, behaviour and positive handling techniques, whilst being committed to delivering the highest standards of care. You’ll act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.

Skills and Competencies

• A qualification in animal care, experience or equivalent relevant work‑based experience.
• Able to undertake physical demands of the role, walking distances unaided and able to handle and walk with a range of dog breeds, ages, sizes and temperaments.
• Able to meet the travel requirements of the role which involves transporting dogs on a regular basis. In the absence of a full valid UK Driving License, you will be expected to demonstrate how you will fulfil this aspect of the role via alternative means.
• Experience of working in a kennel type environment - paid employment or voluntary.
• Experience of supporting a customer serving based organisation.
• Proven understanding of the core principles of animal wellbeing.
• Demonstrable basic understanding of health and safety and safeguarding.
• Proven understanding of dog care principles and health conditions.

We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.

• 26 days annual leave. After three years of continuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Flex pot - equal to a proportion of your annual salary to use on our wide variety of flexible benefits
• The option to buy and sell annual leave
• Discounts and cash‑back scheme
• Excellent pension scheme (We will match your pension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
• And lots more!

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Behind Every Guide Dog Is Someone Like You - We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole self to work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it.

Safer recruitment

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.