Volunteering at a dog rescue centre

December 22, 2008 3:45 AM

Wanted: Your experiences of volunteering at a dog rescue centre. I'm thinking of taking it up.

I'm seriously feeling the lack of dogs in my life. I grew up with 4 dogs (though I only trained one) and would love to get one but my personal circumstances (time, lifestyle, flat size) mean that I don't think I will be able to for some time.

I think it would be good to volunteer at a local dog rescue centre to increase/improve my experience with dogs so that when I DO get a dog I'll be a better owner. I know that they look for dog walkers and dog socialisers. But I have no experience dealing with frightened or aggressive dogs. The dogs I grew up with were all happy and gentle. Also, I am not exactly in peak physical condition. I can walk for long stretches, but not run; and I don't think I'm strong enough to restrain a large dog if necessary. Other than that, I know that I am good with dogs. I know basic training.I'm firm but kind and all that jazz. Most dogs I've met seem to like me.

Most charities ask for a commitment of about 6 months so I don't want to go in blind, as it were. What have your experiences of volunteering at dogs' charities been like?

posted by Ziggy500 to Pets & Animals (11 answers total)

I volunteered at the Humane Society in high school. Mostly worked with the dogs, because the cats were so easy to take care of, they basically didn't need any help.

The dogs were nice. I didn't encounter any aggressive ones. I did walk one that was almost as big as I was once. And I had to clean up the feces, which was pretty gross (still have an image of the ones with worms in them). And some of the situations were sad, like dogs who had come from abusive homes and who were scared. But it had its moments. I helped give some cute little black puppies a bath one time. They were adorable and squirmy.

I have never heard of minimum commitments. The one I was at was glad to get any help that they were offered.

Overall, it was a positive experience and I'd recommend doing it. I don't see why not.
posted by wastelands at 4:33 AM on December 22, 2008

I've volunteered at a few, most recently the San Francisco SPCA. They asked for a minimum of 3 hours a week for 6 months. There was a 2 hour introduction class before you could even register as interested, and then another 3-4 hour class before you could start working with animals (in this case, walking "easy" dogs). As you took most classes - at your own pace and desire - you could walk more "difficult" dogs: behavioral problems, larger, sick, etc. You'd never be asked to handle a dog you didn't feel comfortable with, though staff would be encouraging if they felt you were capable.

I wouldn't worry. Regardless of the specifics, any proper organization will have staff that will understand how to have you best help. There will be a continuum from roughly wastelands' experience to mine, but hey, what's the worst that will happen? Go for it!
posted by kcm at 5:39 AM on December 22, 2008

I've also volunteered at animal shelters, and as a first step I'd recommend that you look up a local one and read through the volunteer info on their website. Usually they have it lined out, and that will give you a good idea of what they do and expect. When I did it, we first had a 2 hour informational session. If, after that, you were still interested, you filled out some forms and took a 4 hour orientation/training session. After that, you were either on your own or could shadow another volunteer if you weren't comfortable with being alone.

Time commitment was up to you. They typically wanted you to work at least one scheduled two hour shift per week, but they were perfectly happy with any help they could get. We did not need to be in peak shape. Exercising the dogs consisted of putting them on a leash, taking them out of their kennel and then letting them loose in a fenced-in dog run. If they pooped, we had to scoop it up. If they pooped in their kennel, we also needed to scoop it up. Some of the dogs had to remain on leashes because they'd recently had surgery or for other reasons, and those dogs we would take out to the dog run and just walk them around a bit leashed.

We also had two seperate dog areas: one for puppies and small dogs, and one for the larger dogs. People who could not physically handle the larger dogs would work in the small dog/puppy kennel. Puppies under 6 months old were not even allowed out of their cages (germ/disease concerns) so interacting with them consisted of giving them toys and petting/playing with them while they were in their cages. Because they could not go out, their cages had to be cleaned frequently. The larger dogs could be a handful, but I never encountered an aggressive one. Our shelter did not accept all incoming animals (it had a no-kill policy) and I have a feeling that very aggressive animals were just not admitted. Some of the large dogs will just seem to be a complete handful because they're cooped up in a little kennel most of the time, and when they finally have a chance to get out they just go nuts with excitement. If you encountered an animal you were not comfortable working with, then do not work with it; talk to a staff member or leave them a note expressing your concerns with that animal so that they can find out if it is normal behavior.

Also, there will be people there interested in adopting the animals. If your local shelter is like mine, you will spend a lot of time talking to these people because the shelter is so short-staffed. It's nice, though, to be able to talk to someone about an animal you've spent time with and see them go home together. Animals got adopted a lot faster than I thought they would; the main problem I had is that I thought I would want to take all the animals home--and I did want to--but I usually didn't have a chance because the dog pool would be pretty different from one week to the next. I mostly worked with the small dogs, though; the larger dogs probably stayed a bit longer.

But yeah, it sounds like you'd be a good fit for this kind of work. Your local shelter should at least have volunteer info or training sessions, so you could go to one of those and learn all about specifically what your shelter does before making any kind of commitment. They do want volunteers desperately, but they also don't want anyone there who shouldn't be, so they make this info available to you without you needing to make any sort of commitment.
posted by Polychrome at 7:18 AM on December 22, 2008

Well the Missouri Humane Society doesn't have a fenced-in exercise yard, which I think is odd because they brag about being one of the biggest and best HS facilities in the country. But they told us dog-walkers that they wanted us to train the dogs to walk on a leash, "to make them more adoptable." I felt that if the dogs only got out of the kennel for a few minutes each day, they should be able to run, really stretch their legs and burn up some energy, so I would run with as many dogs as I could, on a leash, until I was exhausted.

I got tired of doing that pretty quickly, and stopped going. If they had a fenced-in exercise yard, I'd probably still be there.
posted by Restless Day at 8:01 AM on December 22, 2008

My wife does this at the ARL shelter in Boston. They don't have a minimum time commitment but there is a mandatory class you have to go to for like 1 hour or so before you can walk dogs. Most shelters will not let volunteers walk dangerous/aggressive dogs, in fact at the ARL you can't take any dog out until it's been evaluated for walking and "stickered" to show how difficult it is to walk (green = easy, red = advanced walkers only). So I wouldn't worry about the aggressive side of things. And the color system at her place makes it easy to chose dogs you think you can walk. Fearful dogs just need you to go slow and be reassuring, which just requires patience. Peak physical shape is also not necessary, as usually the dogs just need a walk around outside to go the bathroom and get a bit of exercise, no running required.

One note though, she started doing this years ago because she was in the same situation as you, always had dogs, really missed them, but couldn't really have one. 6 months later, she had a dog (she rearranged stuff for the dog so it worked out well), so keep that in mind, it's hard not to get suckered in by all the dogs when you really like them.
posted by JonahBlack at 8:08 AM on December 22, 2008

I've volunteered for the Humane Society shelter. One challenge is a good number of the dogs won't find homes, no matter how nice they are. I found it hard to not constantly be thinking that dogs I liked, especially the older ones, might eventually be euthanized.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 9:07 AM on December 22, 2008

Oh yeah, what JonahBlack and M.C. Lo-Carb! said, emphatically.

I found at HSMo that they generally prefer women volunteers, due to the probably-accurate assumption that abused animals are abused predominantly by men and therefore are fearful of men in general. I think they let me volunteer because of my work experience as a veterinary technician . . . but ultimately the volunteer coordinator would ask me to walk the biggest and strongest dogs because I was the biggest, strongest volunteer.
posted by Restless Day at 9:39 AM on December 22, 2008

There's a huge difference between volunteering for a rescue and volunteering for a shelter. The main one is that "Rescue" organizations generally take in only certain animals, and the rest go on to a shelter environment where if they are deemed to be not-adoptable they'll be put down.

I currently volunteer with a limited intake rescue that will only take in animals that are in danger of being put down and that are (or will eventually be after behavior modifications or medical care) adoptable. They'll only put an animal down if the animal's quality of life is very low and can't be improved with medical care.

The rescue I'm with now has policies and procedures for everything and really stay within their limits. This is the kind of rescue or shelter I would look for. Ones who will take in anything and really try to push animals on people end up having problems that will stress you out -- rebounding fosters, dogs that seem adoptable at first but really have HUGE problems that can't be easily fixed and that newly adoptive families may not want to treat (leading to dumped or returned animals...) and other general pains that should be avoided with a good dose of policy and procedure.

My main problem with volunteering for the shelter that put animals down was seeing how many GOOD dogs were put down because they were of an unpopular breed or color and the shelter had limited amounts of space. The shelter would push dogs on people too (since space was limited and they might be put down soon), so there were a lot of dogs that rebounded or weren't well cared for. After a while, I couldn't go in anymore, because I would notice which dogs I'd gotten to know and like that had just "disappeared" after a week without any adoption applications...
posted by SpecialK at 9:49 AM on December 22, 2008

I volunteer regularly at the Seattle City shelter, for much the same reason you're interested: I grew up with dogs, but my current living situation doesn't allow for me having a dog. The Seattle Animal Shelter is pretty good, particularly for a city shelter.

It's been a wonderful experience for me. I've definitely become much better with dogs of all types and temperaments, and am much more comfortable with dealing with aggressive or frightened animals. I started just walking dogs -- a good volunteer program in general will just start you walking dogs (or working with the friendly cats if you do the cat side of the shelter) to get your comfort level up and your experience up. As your experience builds up, you'll be able to handle bigger and more active dogs much easier. You'd be surprised how much, in many cases, just being the "boss dog" and having the right type of harness matters more than being able to physically overpower the dog.

Definitely read the volunteer page of the shelter you're interested in, in as much detail as possible. And think about about euthanasia and how you feel about it. As SpecialK mentions above, "rescue" orgs tend to be very different from shelters -- they can pick and choose which animals they take. Some are restrictive enough to be "no kill" (which, from the point of view of working at the city shelter, can be kind of annoying 'cause we have to take the ones they refuse).

Regardless, it's been a great experience for me. I highly recommend it.
posted by croctommy at 11:30 AM on December 22, 2008

I volunteered at the humane society here in Ohio. It was easy work. We'd come in once or twice a week and take the dogs out for a few laps around the building, and if we felt like it, we could take them into the run and play ball for awhile.

The organization was very flexible, and didn't make a fuss if we didn't make it in as much as they hoped. They were just happy to have the extra help, and the dogs appreciated it too.

We weren't involved in any other part of the operation. Just walking dogs. No cleaning-up, poop-scooping, rescuing or anything else. Just walking, petting, and playing with dogs.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 12:32 PM on December 22, 2008

(Jonah's wife here). One more note, the "dogs will be euthanized" statement really depends on the area you are in. I grew up in IN and that was a problem, however, in MA (Boston in particular) the dog overpopulation problem is not so bad, so at my shelter we only end up putting dogs to sleep if they are very sick, or bad behavior problems (aggressive/vicious dogs). So depending on where you are, the dealing with euthanasia part may not be as big a deal.
posted by JonahBlack at 1:12 PM on December 22, 2008