Does it exist anymore?

[Shetlander]

If you like hangin' with puppies, consider volunteering at a shelter or pound.

They have puppies pretty regular. You can wallow to your heart's content. Pups is pups. Cute, funny, puppy-breath - all that.

 

I'm not crazy about puppies, myself. I just like to be active in the choice of my companion for (hopefully) the next 15 years. My next dog will likely be a rescue adolescent or young adult and I plan to be active in that choice as well.

[arf2184]

Since I have never volunteered for a shelter (hangs head in shame) I'm curious, why is it proving difficult?

 

I too found it not quite as simple to become a regular volunteer as you might think. It was over a month between the time I went in to the local Humane Society and said "I want to volunteer" to the first day they actually let me come in and start walking dogs. First there was paperwork, then a group volunteer orientation...which was canceled, rescheduled, and then full...in the end they had me come in for a one-on-one orientation only to have me wait around for nearly an hour because they forgot a school group was coming in at that time. Then I was rushed through the basics. When I actually did start volunteering it became evident that there was a lot left out during my rushed orientation. I think there was just one person trying to do everything and poor organization slowed things down quite a bit. I didn't mind the wait though and thoroughly enjoyed my time spent walking and playing with the dogs and helping the occasional person who came in looking for a new pet.

[Heather Rae]

I too found it not quite as simple to become a regular volunteer as you might think. It was over a month between the time I went in to the local Humane Society and said "I want to volunteer" to the first day they actually let me come in and start walking dogs. First there was paperwork, then a group volunteer orientation...which was canceled, rescheduled, and then full...in the end they had me come in for a one-on-one orientation only to have me wait around for nearly an hour because they forgot a school group was coming in at that time. Then I was rushed through the basics. When I actually did start volunteering it became evident that there was a lot left out during my rushed orientation. I think there was just one person trying to do everything and poor organization slowed things down quite a bit. I didn't mind the wait though and thoroughly enjoyed my time spent walking and playing with the dogs and helping the occasional person who came in looking for a new pet.

 

I've noticed that some of the rescues around here are poorly organized, I realized that this is probably because it runs on volunteers and most volunteers have families, day jobs, and dogs of their own. But sometimes its down right ridiculous, I've been to adoption events where no one seems to know anything about the dogs the people who do know for some reason are never around in a place that only has thirty people. This is actually where I think I'd be the most helpful. For being young and inexperienced, I'm surprisingly good at organizing and anticipating issues and neutralizing those issues before hand. The problem is of course getting in and hoping someone likes my ideas.

[puppytoes]

There are shelters around these parts where you actually have to pay a fee to become a volounteer. I think it depends on where you live. Even in these tough times, i believe that our local shelters and humane societies fly dogs in from rural communities because demand outstrips supply (i rarely see intact dogs so i think that most family pets are spayed/neutered so there are less oops litters than other places). I guess it is the same with volounteers. They want to know that you are committed before they invest time in training.

 

For a while i lived in a more rural community and at the local shelter there, I was practically given keys after a couple of weeks because i was capable and pretty much willing to do anything. Hang in there, you'll find some dogs that will appreciate your effort!

[stockdogranch]

Yes, hang in there. Too few people trying to do too much, which is probably the case with most rescue organizations. I know since you live so close and are so willing to commit to helping, they will love you and your help. Just keep bugging the gal in charge (a friend of mine), and let her know you are really serious. Meanwhile, I'll see if I can put in a word for you,

A

[Heather Rae]

Yes, hang in there. Too few people trying to do too much, which is probably the case with most rescue organizations. I know since you live so close and are so willing to commit to helping, they will love you and your help. Just keep bugging the gal in charge (a friend of mine), and let her know you are really serious. Meanwhile, I'll see if I can put in a word for you,

A

 

Thank you very much. I'm going to an adoption event hopefully I can talk to someone about volunteering there.

[MrSnappy]

I work for a shelter (as my job) and I run a rescue (as my passion), so allow me to give you some insight from both perspectives.

 

At the shelter, we are very limited by a number of logistics like the fact that there is way more for the staff to do than we have time for in a day, generally, so organizing volunteers can be challenging simply because we have to find time to do that. Orientations are necessary before people can start volunteering and finding time to even hold an orientation is difficult. And finding the right volunteers is more of a challenge than you might think, because frankly a lot of people come in with ideas about how things should be done and unwillingness to accept the fact that things are done a certain way because it makes the most sense for the staff and the shelter. I find a lot of volunteers walk into the shelter and want to start right away and are dismayed to find out there is an orientation and reference checks and training, as though their good intentions should override policy and procedure. Sadly, many shelters don't have the resources for a volunteer coordinator, which makes volunteer recruitment and retention more difficult, and it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle.

 

At the rescue, as much as I value my volunteers, when I come home from work, tend to my 5 dogs and then deal with 20 or 30 emails from foster homes, potential adopters and people desperate to surrender their dogs, requests for information on volunteering tend to drop down the priority list - same problem as the shelter environment ... I need the volunteers, but lack the time to effectively recruit them. Also, and I'm sorry to say this, even when I strive to respond to their emails asap, I would say more than 70% of them are never in touch again. I guess it's very easy to send an email saying you would loooove to be a foster home, but too much work to fill out a fostering application and agree to a home visit with a foster mentor. It's pretty easy to become sort of bitter and/or jaded about volunteer inquiries, and while I try not to be, my enthusiasm for responding to people I'll probably never hear from again has waned over the years. I also find that most people who want to foster actually want to line-jump the adoption process, not volunteer, which is pretty disheartening.

 

The other thing I really don't enjoy is folks who volunteer with the express purpose of imposing their ideas of how things should be on the rescue, especially people who haven't worked with rescue before but are full of plans for said rescue. It's just a caution for anyone who has big plans for a rescue they haven't worked with before. A good rescue will be open to your ideas, but a good volunteer won't walk in and try to restructure everything too - a balance on both sides is necessary or it just causes bad feelings for everyone. I think that's why so many rescues fall apart; too many cooks in the kitchen, no dishes getting produced because everyone's fighting over the menu. I am fortunate that I share my rescue responsibilities with several like minded people, but it took a few years to get them all in place.

 

As for the original topic of picking puppies - the only puppy I ever picked was Dexter, and that's because nobody else picked him. The first time I ever saw him I thought he was ugly, with that black mask, and he had kind of a Roman nosed look - several of the pups did, but don't now (maybe their little faces were squashed in Tess' wee belly). In the end, he turned out to be a really awesome dog and many of my friends said they knew I would end up with him. I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out (except for maybe during the period where he ate my underpants - I didn't like him too much then). The pup I liked initially, I don't like so much now that he's grown up.

 

Dexter's puppy temperament test said nothing except "BIG PERSONALITY" in big bold letters on it. I've never put much stock in those tests, but boy was that ever true!

 

RDM

[Heather Rae]

I work for a shelter (as my job) and I run a rescue (as my passion), so allow me to give you some insight from both perspectives.

 

 

 

Mm, yes I see what you mean. I wonder if finding one friend or one volunteer to do nothing but recruit and organize volunteers would be beneficial even though initially you might feel like you need them in other areas. Another thing that might be incredibly beneficial is to have orientation online, with a quiz at the end. Although a lot of people lack the know how to set something like that up, although finding willing volunteers at colleges, particularly junior colleges, is not so difficult if you remind them that having some working sites under their belt is very impressive on resumes and some will want to because they simply love dogs. Even just putting the word out the in person or online looking for a volunteer webmaster to help save dog lives would do relatively well. I know a lot of people want to help but don’t have money to donate but do have skills. I understand it's hard to retain volunteers though, but you might be more successful with someone who can give them a clear idea what they will need to do to become a volunteer, what will be expected of them, the general rules of the place, and a volunteer contract should help discourage those who aren't really that interested and help those who are interested stay interested because they are getting a quick response. In fact having all of this available on a web page isn't terribly difficult even if you don't have a lot of experience with page building. After the volunteer has completed the orientation quiz and emailed the volunteer coordinator and everything looks good the coordinator could set up a date to meet with them and talk with them, and basically check them out.

 

Another thing I think would be helpful is to have an email address dedicated to interested fosters. Say you have two volunteers who say they will commit time to just interested fosters. Both of volunteers (of course who have to be very understanding of your idea of a good foster home) would have access to this one email account and reply to those who are interested and basically have the same set up as the volunteer coordinator. Only after they've been screened by one of those volunteers and they clear them do you get an email saying you have someone who's ready to foster. Then you and them meet, part for a double check and the other part to have them actually meet some dogs they could foster.

 

Although I'm not all-knowing about the rescue thing it seems some compartmentalizing would seriously help. One person receiving all the emails from every Jack and Jane about everything, of course they aren't going to be able to handle it.

 

Even if it were one person running what I imagine would have to be a very small rescue could do a much more efficient job by depending more heavily on technology available and breaking there emails into different groups by addresses like all volunteers should email volunteers@bc.net all fosters email fosters@bc.net interested adopters email adoptions@bc.net. Of course this will require you to check many emails, but how many of us don't already? But then you can think. Okay I have four dogs and this is all I can handle I have no one interested in adopting currently let's check out the Fosters email. Or "Agg, I have three million willing adopters and four million fosters, I need to make those wait and find volunteers to help me organize these two." Then those who have emailed all the necessary stuff to the volunteer account, can even be easily spotted and should be handled even before you take on more adopters or fosters because a good structure and if you can manage a good team is seriously important for any business.

 

Also, as someone who desperately wants to volunteer it would be incredibly helpful to know what You as a rescue or shelter needs help with. Just posting someone where on a web page saying: Need one person to pick up dog poop, three people to transport, two people to wash dogs. I could say, Hey that’s me, I can pick up dog poop no problem. Look here’s a link to where I’ll be needed and what I need to do to volunteer. SO easy!

 

I dunno, feel free to correct me because I am learning and youth is often full of arrogance.