This month, a long-time Collingwood veterinarian will be hanging up his stethoscope, although he may still paw his way back from time to time.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Dr. Sean Lawes, 59, retiring veterinarian.
Q: For how long have you lived in Collingwood?
A: We’ve lived here since I graduated university in 1988. So, about 35 years.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: In Bramalea.
I went to school there for elementary and high school. I went to the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. I did science courses for the first two years and was accepted to the veterinary course at the end of the first year. I was there for six years.
Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a vet?
A: I think I did. I always worked in veterinary practices when I was in high school – I did kennel work. I would go with a large-animal vet when he would go on calls. I got summer jobs milking dairy cows.
That cemented things for me.
I think part of it was because my parents didn’t allow us to have pets when I was a child. I took care of my friends’ pets when they were away.
Animals need us to provide care for them. They rely on us. I think that’s what drew me in.
Q: What made you make the jump to move to Collingwood specifically?
A: When I graduated, I had interviews at different practices around southern Ontario.
Collingwood had this practice – the one I’m now retiring from – was very attractive because of the area for sure. It was a younger area at that time. We recognized it as a great place to raise a family as we were planning to do.
The people who were selling the practice here were very supportive. They hired a classmate of mine also. They owned the Stayer clinic too and I worked at both.
They helped immensely to start my career and I’m glad I moved up here.
Q: Now, 34 years later, you’re retiring. What made you make the decision to retire now?
A: We’ve been planning this for maybe 10 or 15 years looking ahead with our financial planner. I probably would have worked for a few more years but the opportunity came up with the increase in real estate values and the business value. We’ve been really busy over the past three years with COVID-19 and COVID pets, working day in and day out. It’s been very hectic and busy but it’s allowed us to move our plans ahead a bit.
We’re very happy.
Q: Do you have any interesting or funny stories from your time as a vet?
A: There are always funny stories about animals eating things they shouldn’t and eventually passing them. Sometimes, they eat some embarrassing things for the owners when we tell them what we found.
We have excellent patients and great owners. We’ve had so many over three decades.
The great relationships people have with their pets here and allowing us to be part of that was very enjoyable for us, and we took that very seriously.
Some of the after-hours emergencies we can laugh about now after the fact too.
Sometimes people would call us with say, a dog with a broken leg that’s screaming in the background but by the time they get to the clinic it’s running around like a puppy again. Those are the happy ones.
Q: What does the future hold for you now?
A: I’m going to keep my license and I will be filling in occasionally when I’m needed at the clinic here.
I’ll hopefully be doing a lot of travelling and camping. I’ll be doing things I haven’t been able to do for 30 years.
I’ve been working six days a week and on call all the time too, so it’s going to be a big change.
Q: Do you have other hobbies or interests you’d like to share?
A: I like playing tennis. I play soccer in the summer at the Collingwood Soccer Club.
We have a trip planned to Vietnam at the end of November.
I’m going to find more hobbies. There are a lot of jobs around the house that have been sitting there for a few years.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: I feel very lucky to have spent my career here. It’s a great area with great people. I’ve had great staff over the years.
I really want people to enjoy their pets here.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
