And I couldn’t be happier.
Dr. Jan Pol is a Dutch-born vet who practices in rural Michigan.
He has a mixed practice that includes dogs and cats and livestock.
I really liked this show when it came out last year.
There just weren’t enough episodes!
Dr. Pol is the sort of country vet that used to be quite common in this country.
They worked largely for farmers, and because they tried to stay up-to-date on the latest animal husbandry practices, they could impart lots of practical knowledge onto producers. This practical knowledge increases both the welfare and productivity of livestock.
Some people have complained about how graphic this show really is.
Well, actual agricultural enterprises are not always clean affairs. Prolapsed uteri in cattle are not the pretties things to see.
But they happen whenever people breed cattle.
This show really makes you appreciate all the hard work that goes into livestock management and production.
It makes you understand where your meat comes from. It didn’t start out in a plastic-wrapped container at the supermarket.
There are very few reality shows about rural people and what they actually experience. Some of them are cartoonish, encouraging the reality “stars” to act like a bunch of backwoods hicks for ratings.
I can’t stand these shows.
The Incredible Dr. Pol isn’t one of them.
The farmers are portrayed as thoughtful people who actually do want what is best for their animals and their enterprises.
Dr. Pol comes across as a caring, well-educated professional. He also understands the importance of being economical in his advice.
His livestock clients need to spend money and resources wisely. They can’t waste money on a procedure that might not work or wind up costing more in the long term.
And at 70 years old, he’s awfully fit!
And if you see what he does, you can see why. He has to manhandle all sorts of recalcitrant livestock on a daily basis!
Dr. Pol will make you appreciate agriculture and veterinary profession even more.
So I am very happy that The Incredible Dr. Pol is returning to Nation Geographic Wild this Saturday. The second season premiers on that network on the 25 at 10 PM.
I’m very glad that Nat Geo Wild has chosen to renew this show for a second season.
There just aren’t that many good reality TV shows.
And the ones about rural people are often just caricatures.
This one is not.
This one shows rural America as it is.
It’s not perfection.
Farmers don’t always have it easy.
But without them, we’d have no civilization at all.
The farmer is at the foundation of our advancement as a species.
And people like Dr. Pol try to make their jobs easier and more efficient.
That’s the real message from the show.
And why I’ll be tuning in this Saturday.
When does the new seaons actually start? Okay, I can google it but thought I’d ask. I missed pretty much the entire first season. It didn’t seem to pop up much on TV when I was looking for it. YES, so nice to see rural folks represented by a good, intelligent, old school man. This is MY kind of reality show! Not to mention I have a lot of respect for the Dutch.
Comcast has been running last year’s reruns on their On Demand–I’ve been getting my fix that way.
The complaints that I’ve heard aren’t about how graphic it is, but how a lot of his small animal techniques are out-dated and sometimes needlessly dangerous. For example, performing a femoral head osectomy on a dog using only injectable anesthesia, no mask, no gown, no heart monitor, no intubation, and no IV fluids. Besides the extra risk to the patient, it furthers the feeling among the public that vet medicine hasn’t come very far in the last 30 years, and should be “cheap” compared to human medicine.
Thing is, this is exactly what a lot of rural vets are still doing. It’s interesting, and I have mixed feelings about it.
It depends upon what the state professional standards are.
If he’s not breaking those, then I’m not going to judge.
I’m not a vet, and I’m not going to try to attempt to practice it on here, based upon what I see on TV.
This is a small practice. Rural Michigan isn’t exactly Beverly Hills.
So if he can do it, well, I’m not going to throw a fit. It would be better than the dog getting no treatment at all.
Small vets in rural practices can’t afford the cutting edge appurtenances available to the big consolidated urban practices. Should we, as we did with rural butcher shops and other similar businesses, legislate them out of existence so that 1) the rural folks have to do w/o a local vet; or 2) a big biz vet practice takes over? Guys like Dr. Pol remind me of the old-time family doctors who made house calls and had a good grasp of their patients’ overall health. They might not have had all the bells and whistles, but they knew their patients and they knew when to call in the specialists. Lets not make the mistake of Walmarting vet care.
I accidentally posted a reply to this on one of your earlier Dr. Pol articles. I’m very glad the show is coming back.