u/Critical_Motor9081

Hello! My husband and I are looking to add a dog to our family next year once we have a house with a fenced yard! We’re considering between a borzoi and a silken windhound. I’ve met a few Silkens and have also met a bunch of borzois at a dog show. After meeting the borzois we fell in love! All the dogs we met were sweet, goofy and seemingly really chill. The Silkens we met were sweet but didn’t seem like they were as curious about us or as obviously goofy as the borzoi were but maybe that was just the specific ones we met. We had a sweet borzoi walk right up to us wanting pets and it was so cute😭 I love that they kind of have cat-like personalities and are a little more independent but still sweet and affectionate. They seem so silly and would make us laugh every day. I like their size and love the idea of a big snuggle buddy. They’re also just beautiful strange looking animals and I adore their look. Love that they seem really chill as well.

We have an indoor cat and the reason originally I had looked at Silkens was because they seem a bit more biddable than borzoi and maybe more likely to do well with our beloved cat. However the borzoi stole our hearts. We’ll also be first time dog owners and so we want a dog that would be good for us, maybe a bit smaller and more manageable. But from what we learned it seems borzoi are pretty chill dogs and though maybe obedience competitions won’t universally be their strong suit, they generally learn what your boundaries are and go along with your lifestyle. I also really would love an affectionate dog but do like that borzoi are a bit more independent. But off leash sounds more manageable with a silken. I’d love to meet more Silkens but we just don’t seem to be super close to any of them.

I guess all this to say, if you were between the two breeds at any point and chose borzoi, or if you’ve had both, why did you make that choice? What is it about borzoi that made you decide they were right for you over a silken? What do borzoi lovers generally think of Silkens?

Hi! I currently work in software and I honestly don’t love it and have been slowly exploring a career switch. I’m 28 and don’t have any children yet but I’ve always been really fascinated by pregnancy, birth, postpartum and honestly womens health in general. I probably would have loved to be an OBGYN if I could have afforded that much school and had even an ounce of aptitude for science.

I was talking to a friend about her birth experience and she mentioned she loved having a birth doula, and said that she could see me being one.

After looking into it, I think helping birthing people and their partners by being an advocate and a calming presence would be fantastic and fulfilling for me, however the idea of being on call all the time and not having a consistent salary fills me with a bit of dread. 😅 I also kind of get a little overwhelmed at the on ramp of having to market the business and network enough to find clientele. I could absolutely see being an employed hospital birth doula as an option but not sure how many jobs there’d be available near me.

So I was exploring other somewhat related fields and I could see being a postpartum doula I dont know how I’d feel about needing to be in other people’s houses for long periods of time (please correct me if I am misunderstanding the postpartum doula role). And it seems like a lot of postpartum work is helping care for the newborns which sounds lovely but maybe not what I’m looking for so much. Though I have a lot of experience in infant care.

So that brought me to childbirth education. I feel like childbirth education would be FANTASTIC for me. I love talking about what I already know about birth and women’s health. I am an engaging communicator and a warm presence. I really enjoy teaching people new things (I’m the fun fact queen in my friend group lol) and it would make me feel so fulfilled to give couples and birthing people clarity and reassurance and possibly make birth feel less frightening. However, it seems like there aren’t a ton of jobs in this realm either? I see there’s a way to become a hypobirthing teacher which is flexible and often remote but that also requires marketing and doesn’t seem to be enough to pay rent at least starting out. I live in Omaha Nebraska and it seems I’d have to move unless a job somehow opens after I get all the required certs. So my questions are: those of you in this field or related, how did you get into it? How much do you make doing it? What’s the job landscape looking like for this? Do you run your own business or do you work for a hospital/birth center? Also, would me not having children yet inhibit me from the job? I know that might be silly but I understand people might want to learn from someone with firsthand experience. My husband and I do want children just not for a couple more years.

Sorry for the many questions. I think I just feel excited about the prospect of a job for the first time in a while and I’d love to gain more insight. I plan on seeing if my friend can get me in touch with her doula so I can speak to her too. I also hope I don’t sound too ignorant, it’s possible I might need to do more research.