Meet the Vets
DR. JAN POL
Dr. Jan Pol was born in the Netherlands on September 4, 1942, and raised on a family dairy farm. He graduated from Utrecht University in 1970 and has been practicing veterinary medicine for over 35 years. After marrying his wife Diane in 1967, the couple relocated to Harbor Beach, Michigan, where Dr. Pol worked for another veterinarian. Eager to work for himself, Dr. Pol and his wife started their own practice out of their home in 1981. The business continued to grow and they, along with their ten employees, have serviced over 19,000 clients since their doors opened.
Specializing in large farm animals, Dr. Pol treats horses, pigs, cows, sheep, alpacas, goats, chickens and even an occasional reindeer. A true friend of the farmer, Dr. Pol works tirelessly to ensure that the diminishing population of family farmers remains in business. Many farmers consider Dr. Pol a part of their family as he plays an integral role in keeping their livestock healthy and their business profitable. With his thick Dutch accent, signature mustache and vintage 1985 “Back to the Future” DeLorean, Dr. Pol is nothing short of a local legend.
CHARLES POL
Born and raised in Central Michigan’s farm country, Charles Pol was his father’s constant sidekick as a child. Starting at the age of 5, Charles began assisting his father at the clinic, helping out on farm calls and was also in charge of caring for the Pol family’s vast array of pets and farm animals. Though Charles enjoyed working with animals, he knew from an early age he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps, and his parents encouraged him to pursue a career he would love. In 2003, Charles graduated from University of Miami. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he works in the entertainment industry.
DIANE POL
Diane Pol was born in Mayville, Michigan, and met Jan Pol when he was a foreign exchange student at Mayville High School in 1961 during her senior year. Though they were only friends at first, their relationship evolved after they spent years writing to each other after Dr. Pol returned to the Netherlands. Dr. Pol invited Diane to visit him and meet his family, and the couple’s relationship became more serious. Though Diane had to return to Michigan while Dr. Pol finished his studies, they eventually married in1967. After living in Dr. Pol’s native country for a few years, the two immigrated back to United States and moved to Harbor Beach, Michigan. Diane received her master’s degree in Special Reading and taught in Lapeer and Harbor Beach Elementary Schools. In 1981, Diane and Jan moved from Harbor Beach to Weidman, Michigan, and started Pol Veterinary Services from their garage. Diane gave up teaching to help run the veterinary office and take care of their son and two daughters. Today, Diane works at Pol Veterinary Services as the office manager and bookkeeper, and she also enjoys teaching Sunday School at her church.
DR. BRENDA GRETTENBERGER
Dr. Brenda Grettenberger was born in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, in 1967. She grew up on a dairy farm and always had an interest in large animals. After graduating from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1992, Dr. Brenda began working at Pol Veterinary Services. At the time, the majority of the business at Pol Veterinary Services was large animal medicine, and Dr. Brenda says it took time for some of the older farmers to adjust to having a female veterinarian. Though she did win the farmers over, the number of the dairy farms in the area began to decline, and Dr. Brenda began to treat more small animals. Like Dr. Pol, Dr. Brenda enjoys the mixed practice and plans to continue working at Pol Veterinarian Services for the unforeseeable future. When Dr. Brenda is not working, she enjoys dancing, reading and training her oxen to pull wagons.
I thoroughly love watching this series and hope it continues. There are very few movies or, shows that I will watch over and over but, this one I have and, I am eagerly awaiting the start of a new season!
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I love this show- clean, wholesome, educational, and want to know what has happened!? There has been no info on weather it is just on summer vacation or what! Please, let us know what has happened!
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Hi, I love watching Dr. Pol on Saturday nights in the ET zone but this weekend, Dr. Pol was not on and when I looked for future shows so I could DVR them, there were none. Please tell me this show was not taken off the air and it is only on hiatus for the summer.
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I absolutely love this show, and think it is one of the most educational and entertaining shows on TV...Dr Pol's true love of animals and dedication to his profession are evident....I wish he could be my vet!
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Love the show. Dr. Pol is a credit to his community. The man works endless hours and for a man of his age, I like to see anybody else keep up with him..........Once again, love the show.........Hats of to Dr. Pol
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I watch every episode -- even reruns. This is my favorite show. I look forward to new episodes and hope to watch Dr. Pol and staff for many years to come.
Dr. Pol:My bestwishes to you.I watch your show and trynot to miss an episode, not even a repeat; it is one of the best shows on TV.I wish I could find a REAL veterinarianaround here (Greensboro NC).I justreturned from trying out a new vet and I was told that I ask too manyquestions, so after they got me for the maximum $$$ (based on the"standard of care"), she did not want me to come back.During the visit I was asked to step out ofthe exam room.The breeder that I boughtmy dog from told me that being asked to "step out of the room" was asign of their incompetence, so I would not be returning to this vetanyway.The vets here are lazy, mostlyworking short hours with many vacations.With the prices that they charge (based on the "standard ofcare") it's no wonder they only have to work part time.Since I have lived here (10 years), I havehad 5 dogs. Three of the dogs were done in by the vet at young ages (based onthe "standard of care").Thevets here are so busy counting dollar signs that they have no room in theirbrains for sound decision making.Bigbills equal "standard of care"......and if they kill your dog, it isfine with them because they have followed the "standard ofcare".I have not found one vethere that can diagnose anything, cure anything, or care about anything excepthow much money they can extract.I lovethe way you explain things to your clients and I love that you coach yourclients on animal care.The vets heredon't tell you anything.I have to pryinformation out of them and when I ask questions, they tell me they are"offended".The VeterinaryBoard needs to WAKE UP and not give a license or certification to all theselazy vet school graduates with no common sense, no morals, and no ethics.You are breath of fresh air and give me hopethat there are still some hard working vets out there that care about givingcommon sense medical care.I love youDr. Pol.I was sorry to read that youhave to waste time fighting to keep your license.Unfortunately, the ignorant lazy vets havetaken over the industry (like most other lines of work).Best wishes.I look forward to more episodes.
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My husband and I stop in to say "Hi" to the whole staff. They all never meet us before, but what a wonderful welcome and hospitality and tour they all gave us. Dr. Pol is genuine and funny as appears on television. Thank you Dr. Pol for the pictures. Also please know there is a need for old ways of vet service and i am so thankful that you are willing to share your knowledge. Blessed be to you and your staff. Sheila and Mike Ragan.
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We Love Dr Pol. What a wonderful Vet. We watch him every chance we get and sometimes watch his shows a few times over. Dr Brenda, Dr Sandra and the whole staff seems to be very nice and it is great how they pitch in and help each other for the good of the patients. We love them. Thanks to you all for wonderful heart warming shows... I love the family get togethers and how they include each other in everything. What great people they are... I just wish there were more like them.
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I see in Dr. Pol, shades of James Harriot ( All Creatures Great and Small ). A country vet doing the best he can for all animals in need of his services. Some of his treatments may appear archaic! Do they work? yes they do! Veterinary clinics, in these modern times, seem to be run as corporate businesses! just out to make the almighty dollar and never mind the personalization with pet owners and their beloved pets! When I read the comments about Dr. Pol, that other vet's have made, I can not help but see green eyed monsters full of jealousy. Envious of his practice and the number of clients he has. Wish we had his kind in my area of the country! I do hope his series stays on the air and I wish him all the best.
I also see shades of Dr. James Harriot! Dr. Pol, staff and family are a joy to watch. I always wanted to be a veterinarian but life had different plans for me and I became an RN instead. I so look forward to his series because I live vicariously through Dr. Pol, and Dr. Brenda. I too, smell jealousy coming from the other vets! I really hope he comes back soon!!
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I am amazed at the stupidity of some people! Dr. Pol's show is one of the best on TV right now. We are preparing to raise beef cows and Dr. Pol has given me many tips, and many laughs. Sterile proceedures in a barn? Yeah, give the cow a pain pill. The writer of that should come out and try it. Don't they see him giving spinals, he couldn't even work on the animal without it. Yeah, intubation during a short surgery, put the animal at further risk when they ordinarily jump up after, and would be out for much longer. These people should work in a vet office to see how things are done. Dr. Pol tries to give quality care at an affordable price, what you people expect you would need health insurance for all animals, and how many can afford that, and how many animals would get no car at all. As far as rubber bands, this has been used for as long as people have been keeping animals, a tried and successful method. People please don't comment if you have no idea what you are talking about. Please keep Dr. Pol. Thanks, Maggie
Dr Pol,
I saw on one of your shows that you still declaw cats. Why do you do that? Teach the people to clip the cats nails instead of pulling them out. I think it's really terrible that things like this still happen. Every vet should stop declawing cats because it's cruel to the cat. How would you feel if i pulled out your fingernails because i think you don't need them? Would you pull out a dogs teeth because he's chewing on the furniture or declaw him because his nails make so much noise on the wooden floor? If people don't want to teach their cats how to use a scrachingpole then they are not catworthy in my opinion. I always liked your shows but now that I found out that you declawing cats you really lost a lot of points and I know for sure that I would never come to your practice just because I know you declaw cats. So please stop the old practicing and start teaching people.
Greetings from a catlover from the Netherlands
Dr Pol I read about your Probation and I wish people could understand that your only human & not a robot and unfortunately we human make mistakes .
I was just watching one of the episodes of the show and was wondering why you would try to help a cow to birth for about 2 hours when you could deside to let the cow have a C-section?
is this because of money issues or something else?
Love the show by the way.
I was just watching one of the episodes of the show and was wondering why you would try to help a cow to birth for about 2 hours when you could deside to let the cow have a C-section?
is this because of money issues or something else?
Love the show by the way.
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I enjoy this show and having grown up around some dairy farms know that things are dealt with differently from just having house pets. The episode that many had comments about where the mom and son brought in a dog that was ill and mom chose to not have some surgery done because she said it was coming out of her son's college money was the client's decision. Not Dr. Pol's.The son didn't say "go ahead and use the money". So what Dr. Pol did was just use basic level of care because they weren't going to spend money on surgery.Dr. Pol did a necropsy and found it had swallowed a toothpick.
I'd like to add that our daughter at age 2 was bitten in the face by a dashshund and needed stitches.We had to take her to a plastic surgeon. At the hospital I was told that they had to make a call to the police to report it.She's almost 40 years old today and still has the scars.
I do not think the dog was put down but put in quarantine for 10 days. The owner also had small children and I've always wondered if the dog bit one of their kids.
Wish they sold Dr. Pol t-shirts, too!
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I just watched another episode where Dr Pol recommended that a very sick, and in pain, dog be placed in a kennel and recehcked in the morning. In both cases the dogs were dead the next morning. For him to say there was nothing that could be done is ridiculous. At the very least the dogs could have been euthanized. Instead they died alone and in pain. I understand that the treatment of farm animals is different than pets. Farmers always have the bottom line in mind and if an animal has outlived it productiveness it's a liability. Also, they need to be worked on in less than ideal surroundings. But if Dr. Pol is going to work on small animals, he needs to adjust his treatment. I love this show because it does highlight large animals, which most other shows don't. But please stay away from true pets.
@Dawn Santarlasci I think you may have taken those items you mentioned out of context. If a Vet said to me, there's nothing that can be done. I assume sugeries, medicine or any type of treatment will not save this animal. He is offering to allow the animal to stay, not saying if it stays there it will live. If a customer leaves a pet instead of taking it home or putting it down runs the risk of loosing the dog anyways. Those 2 dogs were going to die and very sick. So the owners MADE the decision to leave their pets there and not put them down or take them home to die with family. Doc Pol is a straight shooter and they may have cut the scene out of respect for the family of the option of putting the animal down. My dog recently had a very big surgery and I was offered to let him stay there or I could come and get him. A lot of pet owners can't stand to see pets suffer or be in pain. But I wanted him home and they got many calls from me with questions! Doctor Pol wouldn't do anything to keep an animal in pain! He saw my dog 6 times in 14 days and never charged me a dime! He can't make people put down their pets, He makes the kind offer to those type of owners who can't stand to see their pets like that for them to stay at his office and they say yes! So please consider it is the decison of the owner of where a pet passes and how.
@Dawn Santarlasci Then I believe that an animal passing away from it's owners during the night would be the owners fault. They should have taken it home or put it down that day. He's offering a service to customers, not making choices for them giving them options. Over all it's the owners decision on what to do. The dogs passing away would have done it there or at home, or the owner could have put it down. But as humans we become bleary of the standard and quality of life. THEY chose to leave the animals not Doc Pol demanding it. We had a dog we KNEW was sick and dying. We spent our family time with him, and had Doc Pol come put him down. Hey, he could have lived for another month? But as a responsible and loving pet owners we put him down before he was completly misea
I think people have to realize there is more to the treatments then the parts shown. From what I have seen of Dr Pol he has more compassion than to "just leave them to die alone and in pain". I am sure he did more than what they showed on the series...
Please do more supportive care during your surgeries, IV fluids to support blood pressure and protect the kidneys. Maybe go to the CE's that the board is enforcing. It helps when you feel a little burned out and it updates your medical practices. I would like to see animals intubated/ extubated during surgeries that take more then 5 minutes. Please just update your standard of care. I love this show and all the staff, but sometimes it's cringe worthy at best. I've worked in this field for 30 years as well, and you have to evolve with the times, regardless if the economy is bad. Offer the "Gold Standard" and work from there. I don't want your show to get cancelled. I love the James Harriott feel you all bring to the show. Please, please.............bring up your standard of care.
Please do more supportive care during your surgeries, IV fluids to support blood pressure and protect the kidneys. Maybe go to the CE's that the board is enforcing. It helps when you feel a little burned out and it updates your medical practices. I would like to see animals intubated/ extubated during surgeries that take more then 5 minutes. Please just update your standard of care. I love this show and all the staff, but sometimes it's cringe worthy at best. I've worked in this field for 30 years as well, and you have to evolve with the times, regardless if the economy is bad. Offer the "Gold Standard" and work from there. I don't want your show to get cancelled. I love the James Harriott feel you all bring to the show. Please, please.............bring up your standard of care.
I just love your show, your information, your care for animals, large and small. may you continue in your success! Dr. Pol and Dr. Brenda are unique in their care for the animal BEFORE the monetary reward. Thank you for being you.
I have been watching your show for several weeks now. Absolutely love it. You guys are awesome at what you do. Amazes me the energy that you manage to keep up. I have been rescuing animals since I was about 8 years old. You name, I will save it; raccoons, oppossums, skunks, groundhogs, birds, reptiles, etc.. Wish I lived near U guys though.
I have had horses most of my life, & used to work training thoroughbreds at the race track. Miss them so much. Enjoy all of your shows, they are so informative. Thought I wanted to raise cattle until U showed me how many problems they have. My Aunt & Uncle raised Dairy Cows in Amish Penn. Hard Hard work. God Bless U all
I am Dutch as well and I love this show especially because of his accent. I immegrated to America with my family after first living in N.Z for 3 1/2 years. And I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world, oh I live in Oregon. Ilove this show and I got my 87 yr old mother to watch it as well.
Hey, you need to update the "Meet The Cast" page to include Dr. Sandy, and that Charles lives in Michigan and helps Dr. Pol now. I LOVE this show as do millions of others. PLEASE KEEP IT ON THE AIR!
How about a huge promo in NYC. Let us know what it's like to be on a farm DR. Pol, have you ever been here?????
Love the show, learned a lot from the Doctors Pol & Brenda.
With some editing of the graphic procedures, it can also be great for classroom kids.
There will always be things on the show that people will not like, but, if it helps just one animal to survive this world and inform people better about their chrges
then it is worth continuing. It is a learning experience for all
How about a compaign to promote the show. I ran across it by accident.
I want a Dr. Pol t-shirt. What about it NATGEO. A good way of advertising the show, don't you think.
kind regards
Errol
I love seeing you treat the animals on your show, Dr. Pohl. But I'm always concerned when I see you performing surgery on an animal where there is no sterilizing going on. And it also seems that you don't give painkillers to an animal in pain. It kills me to see a cow or horse suffering like that. Won't you please give painkillers? Thank you.
@Barbara Holtz i dont think that he isnt giving animals medication, i think a lot of times since things are edited for the show they just dont show all of the things done in every procedure
@Paul Doolittle @Barbara Holtz I too believe there is more going on off camera. As you said the shows are edited and somethings never shown...
The euthanasia performed on that animal should have been the last option exercised instead of the first. This is not open for decussion. Of course no child should be exposed to a dangerous animal; however, the case was not made that it should have been put down. Several other options easily could have chosen.
I would have never euthaniszed this animal without considering other options. This one case alienated many, many folks.
@William Fielding As I have said before.... People need to realize this is TV and the shows are edited and many things are not shown on TV... So Give this Wonderful Vet some Credit. He wouldn't have as many patients if he was Cruel and INHUMANE.... He is a Favorite and Notable Vet for a reason and not using sterile procedures and not giving care to what is done for his patients he certainly wouldn't be on TV nor have a series and a following if he was a Terrible, Uncaring, Cruel Vet.... Think about It....
ditto brad's comment ! I believe another home could have been found for the pet! so loving and trusting and to have been put down without a thought. some one would have taken it I am sure of it. Dr. Pol could have gotten the word out.
Hope the owner reads all the comments and wishes he'd done better, for the dog still had several good years left....
Goodby Dr. Pol show, it was great up until last night I'll not watch again.
People like you judge even though you don't know the whole story.
My parents were in the same situation when my niece was three. My dads 12 yr old dog bit her in the eye and his insurance company said to either put the dog down or they would drop the insurance on his farm.
The hospital called the police and charges had to be filed.
A new home was NOT an option because nobody wanted a dog that had a history of biting. Therefore the dog had to be put down.
You really think they are going to go into the entire story on the show? I don't think so!!
Use your heads people!
I have been a big fan of dr. pol and watch every week...until tonight when a man who had a 13 year old dog that had bit his grand daughter in the face had dr. pol come out to kill it. The dog was healthy and happy,wagging his tail and playing...til they took it into the barn and killed it. All he had to do was keep the dog in a pen or fenced area while his grand daughter was visiting. I will no longer watch dr. pol,that was just wrong i dont care how you try to justify the killing of that little dog.
@Brad Button I'm sorry I totally disagree. Sometimes there just isn't an option. You first off don't know the whole story and secondly I don't think this Vet would just put an animal down just for the heck of it. You don't know the whole background behind this one particular story. And you feel keeping a dog in a pen or a fenced area is fair to the animal. You don't want to watch him anymore... that is certainly your option... I know I try to look at the situations on the good side instead of berating someone without know the WHOLE story.
@Brad Button You guys need to get a life and know what life is like in the real world, and you don't need to be a farmer daughter for that, you just need to use your brain and a little common sense. It'a always up to the owner of the animal, not the vet. That's just not the vets job, and it shouldn't be. If any vet tried to do such things he wouldn't be in business very long.
Yeah...but many posters here are liberals/obama voters...and they want to be able to decide and tell everyone what they can and can't do.
teary and tom in tenn. you both need to go live on a real farm for a while and learn about life. you are pitiful.
We love Doctor Pol show and hope you keep it comming.
To leah mallory:
Please don't ask this show be taken off, as we love it and alot of people do. If you don't like it do what I do when football comes on, turn the channel. If your neighbor is going to put a rubber band on his dog, that is HIS fault and maybe you should do something about that.
I have learned alot from doctor Pol and its certanly humorouse. please keep him on!
