My Life As A Yorkshire Vet: Matt Jackson-Smith to launch first book with insights into his career as Yorkshire vet such as moments grappling with ‘imposter syndrome’ and an experience with an XL bully dog

Matt Jackson-Smith grew up on a farm and spent his childhood around animals of all kinds which inspired him to become a vet.

While at school, he said he didn’t have a natural gift for science and had to work extra hard at the core subjects, though he did have a natural talent for creative subjects and through his work on The Yorkshire Vet, Matt was able to explore that side of him.

He began journaling in 2017 which ‘ramped up’ at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the rest is history.

Matt will be launching his new book My Life As A Yorkshire Vet at White Rose Book Shop, Thirsk on Thursday, October 10, 2024 and will be available to buy in Waterstones, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Amazon UK and most local bookshops.

“I’ve got a few years worth of ‘Covid’ journals, ‘TV experience’ journals, ‘life’ journals and ‘vet stories’,” Matt said.

“I picked out a few of the vet stories and then expanded them into prose and little short stories, which I really enjoyed doing. I always liked the idea of turning [my experiences] into a book.

“It’s very much relatable in the sense that this is our job and this is what we do, we have good days and bad days.

“I’m taking you through my good days at work and I’m also taking you through my bad days.

“There’s also a human element that I want to get across in the sense that as vets we are privy to people’s personal lives, their emotions and vulnerability, we are quite honoured to see that.

“We see so much of that and what that teaches us about human behaviour, emotion and how people think.”

When discussing some challenges he encountered while writing the book, Matt said that certain topical subjects were difficult to navigate.

“Alf Wight didn’t start writing until he was 30 years into his career, I’m only 10 years out, so some of the stories need time to mature,” he said.

“There are some stories out there where you’re going back in time and there are some stories which are topical.

“As a vet we do deal with controversial topics, for example I put in my book a few [experiences] I’ve had with XL Bully dogs and pitbulls.

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“Everything in there, even though it has been 10 years of my career, is still quite recent. It’s making sure that everything is put in [a sensitive way].”

In his book he goes into detail about his emotions dealing with XL Bully dogs.

“I got my tranquiliser gun licence five or six years ago,” Matt said.

“One area where I've used it [most often] was when I was dealing with dangerous dogs. I had to help the police dart what looked like a pitbull and how that situation came about.

“I experienced it from a professional point of view, from the police point of view and when the police told me about the background about how the lady had lost her arm due to this dog, she was at the hospital, and we had to put the dog down, you can appreciate it from the owner’s point of view as well. It’s almost like you’ve got [various] mindsets you’re going into.

"There are so many bully dogs out there that are absolutely lovely animals but I shouldn’t ignore the fact that it’s an XL bully dog because at the end of the day, let’s not beat around the bush, a lot of these attacks involve those kinds of dogs.

“Do I think that it could be managed differently? Yes. Do I think it’s unfair that all XL Bully breeds have been tied under the list? I think it is because there are some lovely dogs.”

The humour side of the job was also a challenge to portray in the book, Matt said.

“[For] anyone who is in the vet profession, like vets, medics, dentists etc, there’s a lot of what we call gallow’s humour,” he said.

“It’s an emotional job, you really have to have a quirky sense of humour to get you through.

“In some books like ‘This Is Going To Hurt’, some bits you laugh out loud then think ‘oh my god, I can’t laugh about something like that’, and I think unless you’re in the industry, you don’t fully understand that.

“I [wanted to] make sure the entire book is relatable and yet I can get those really important stories across.”

In the book, Matt also touches on his struggles with imposter syndrome, which is the persistent disbelief that one’s success is deserved or has been earned through one’s efforts or skills.

“Naturally, we were all going into this profession because we want to cure everything, we want to fix everything,” he said.

“So if something doesn’t get fixed or [an animal dies] then we would blame ourselves and it takes a while and experience for us to realise that we’ve done as much as we could. As much as I’d love to be, I’m not Superman.”

Matt explained what he hopes this book will achieve.

“I’d like to think it will do some real good for the veterinary profession because the vet profession is under a lot of stick at the moment, the industry, the cost and stuff like that,” he said.

“There’s a big difference between the veterinary profession, which we all do and love, and the veterinary industry which is under scrutiny. It’s showing the general public that it is split.

“The vets care and we like what we do. Yes, there are a lot of vets leaving the profession left, right and centre, and I don’t want people to be put off by that.”

The book launch will take place at White Rose, Thirsk, at 6.30pm and tickets are £5 (redeemable against purchase of the book on the night).