Animals

A good pet shop will be able to give you advice and there is also The Federation of British Aquatic Societies (www.fbas.co.uk) to help you out.
 

Dog Walking. If you own a dog you will get great pleasure from walking it. You can also walk other people’s dogs, if they are out all day or away, so you could even get paid for your hobby!

However, have you ever thought about walking dogs as a training for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association? You can walk the puppies or do any number of other volunteering roles for them. Look at their website at www.guidedogs.org.uk

Breeding. Committed dog lovers often start breeding dogs when they have more time in retirement. Very often people have a favourite breed and think it would be good to breed them. It can be very satisfying as well as potentially rewarding (there’s no harm in making a bit of money from your hobby!) but it does require a lot of commitment.

If you think you might be interested, take a look at www.thedogscene.co.uk  to get a good start. There are also books recommended on the site that you might like to buy. Or you can, of course, look at Amazon for books.

Similarly, many people like to breed cats. There is the wonderfully named Governing Council of the Cat Fancy ( www.gccfcats.org ) from which you can get help and advice.

Other activities with animals, that might set you thinking on things to do in this area, include:

• Horse riding
• Horse grooming
• Cage birds
• Bird spotting

If you have a particular Hobby or Interest and would like to research and write about it on the web, take a look at our Associate scheme.

Now, take a look through the other pages and see if anything takes your fancy – or something might trigger another inspiration. If you don’t find what you want, however, take a look at the Sports and Activities section, or go to Amazon where you will be certain to find a book on the hobby or interest of your choice
 

Visit our Pre-retirement Courses section here on laterlife or our dedicated Retirement Courses site