Murray dogs found themselves pampered and cleaned at Murray State’s Animal Health Technology/Pre-Vet Club’s Doggy Day Spa Saturday.

The club, which holds multiple spas a year at the A. Carmen Pavilion, gave students the opportunity to practice their skills on community dogs.

The club offered services such as bathing for $7, nail trims and ear cleaning for $4 or a combination of all three for $10.

The Murray Humane Society was available to microchip dogs for $10 each and provided canine DNA testing kits for $60, which allows owners to discover the breed mix of their dogs.

Senior Claire Crocker, president of the club, said she believes the experience the spa provides students will be useful in their careers.

“A lot of your routine care in clinics on the frontline of veterinary medicine is that you have a lot of nail trims, you have a lot of ear cleanings and you need to be able to show someone how to trim nails and clean ears,” Crocker said.

While the day is mainly run by students, advisers and professors were available to help and organize the event.

Certain classes within the AHT/pre-veterinary program were required to attend, but this, Crocker said, gives students an extra opportunity to continue to practice what is taught in labs.

Doggy Day Spa is held two to three times a year by the club. Animal Health Technology day, also known as AHT Day, is held by the club in the spring.

AHT Day provides all the services of Doggy Day Spa along with fecal testing, heartworm testing and feline leukemia testing.

Dog owner Dannie Hill and her miniature Aussie, Ty, enjoyed the services provided as newcomers to the event.

“Ty had a bath, his nails trimmed and his ears cleaned,” Hill said. “He just wants to play with everybody.”

Dogs such as Ty, who sported a new bandana after the event, had a chance for their owners to purchase many different collars, leashes and harnesses.

Custom peg ID tags were also available for on-site engraving starting at $3.

Angel Clere and her labs have been in attendance at the event for a few years and spoke highly of the students and their work.

“Everybody’s been really helpful,” Clere said. “They will come out to your car and find you and let you know when they’re ready.”

The club is holding the next spa in November and profits from each event will help fund the club and its students and help to provide gifts for the program.

“We use the funds we get from Doggy Day Spa to send students to conferences throughout the year so they can get more experience in the veterinary medical industry,” Crocker said. “We also purchase things for the program. We try to raise enough money to buy one big gift a year.”

Crocker said the club bought a refurbished ultrasound machine last year for the program as a gift and tries to give back as much as possible.

The club works with the Humane Society throughout the year, and the Doggy Day Spa funds help students stay involved and active.

Said Crocker: “Every Doggy Day Spa helps us raise money to use elsewhere in the club, for our students, for the community and stuff that we do throughout the year.”

Story by Mary Bradley, Contributing Writer