# shelter volunteer question



## Bridget (Apr 5, 2004)

A new shelter has opened in my neighborhood and I plan to volunteer there. But this time I have a particular idea of how I would like to help out. I would like to choose/be assigned one dog and work exclusively with that dog on all issues, including training, grooming, socialization, etc. try to get that dog adopted by taking him out in the community and such and then move on to a different dog. I don't have a problem with walking/caring for all the dogs, but I think my talents would be better spent working with dogs individually. I am hoping for opinions, especially from those who work in rescue and at shelters, whether my idea would be well received or even be allowed if the shelter doesn't have a program such as this? Is it always the expectation that a volunteer will just do general tasks?


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

A lot will depend on their insurance policy and what it will allow. I have seen shelters that allowed just what you're proposing and had great results and I have seen shelters have it go very, very wrong.

The shelter that I worked at would allow volunteers to take animals off grounds only when there was an adoption event sponsored by the shelter and where there was adequate supervision so that all handling and adoption protocols were followed. That is what their insurance policy was willing to cover.

I think you should talk to the volunteer coordinator at this new shelter and make your proposal to her/him. Lay out your dog handling and training experience and discuss what their adoption protocols are and how your intentions can support their program. 

Good luck! 
Sheilah


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

They might have you start with walking dogs or something. Most shelters I know do have volunteers who work on behavior and things but those are dog trainers who the staff knows well, so if it's someone new that they don't know I'm not sure if they would allow it.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

Unless you're planning to go daily or multiple times a day, I can't see how it would be very effective. Nor can I see them letting you take the dog off the property unless you were fostering it.

I would just foster, if you only want to work on one at a time. That's the real way to make a difference to that one dog. Housetrain it, obedience train it, socialize it, have it look and smell nice for potential adopters....housetraining adults is the biggie that helps. That is a HUGE reason for surrendering to the shelter.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

At the shelter where I work that's pretty normal. We have general volunteers that can walk whatever dogs they want and do whatever they want with them. You wouldn't need to ask or tell anyone here that you were going to be working exclusively with a certain dog or anything. I can't imagine why you'd have to do that anywhere else either. If you walk/train the same dog every day it's no different than if you walk different ones.

eta; we wouldn't welcome the idea, but we wouldn't discourage it. To be honest, the volunteers are a joke and do not help at our shelter. They aren't respected and if you gave us an idea like that, while it would help if done right, would probably not mean much and we'd laugh about it.


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## Bridget (Apr 5, 2004)

Fostering is what I would really love to do, but I can't as I don't have room and two of my three dogs are dog aggressive and would make a foster pet's life ****.

Too bad about the volunteers at your shelter not being very helpful. I wonder why.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Also wanted to add, I know some shelters have dogs go to training classes and want volunteers to bring the dogs to the classes (have to commit to bringing the dog to the class each week). Again though I think they only allow regular volunteers who have been there for a while to do that.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Bridget said:


> Too bad about the volunteers at your shelter not being very helpful. I wonder why.


Well, when you're managing an 80-90 dog kennel and you have volunteers constantly not paying attention, asking dumb questions, and getting in the way, it gets really old really quick. We have a few great volunteers, and those are the ones that stay out of the kennels and help with laundry, dishes, etc. The dog walkers/trainers end up training the dogs to jump instead of sit, leave mud all over the floors, put incompatible dogs together, touch puppies, etc. It is overwhelming. DON'T be that volunteer!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

DJEtzel said:


> Well, when you're managing an 80-90 dog kennel and you have volunteers constantly not paying attention, asking dumb questions, and getting in the way, it gets really old really quick. We have a few great volunteers, and those are the ones that stay out of the kennels and help with laundry, dishes, etc. The dog walkers/trainers end up training the dogs to jump instead of sit, leave mud all over the floors, put incompatible dogs together, touch puppies, etc. It is overwhelming. DON'T be that volunteer!


When I use to volunteer at the kennel DJ is writing of, many of the "volunteers" were people who had court ordered community service volunteering sentences. Those were the ones I didn't like to see, unless they were happy to be there, usually they just came in to fill the time commitment but weren't committed to helping the animals. That kennel would let pretty much anyone take out(walk) dogs, and didn't screen them, a few dogs would get away from the volunteers, too. 
They would even let you "check out" a dog for an afternoon outing, my son and his friends use to do it often, and they were only 16.

Bridget, just go to your new shelter and get to know the staff. I'm sure they'll be happy to have you volunteer in whatever capacity you can give them!


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> When I use to volunteer at the kennel DJ is writing of, many of the "volunteers" were people who had court ordered community service volunteering sentences. Those were the ones I didn't like to see, unless they were happy to be there, usually they just came in to fill the time commitment but weren't committed to helping the animals. That kennel would let pretty much anyone take out(walk) dogs, and didn't screen them, a few dogs would get away from the volunteers, too.
> They would even let you "check out" a dog for an afternoon outing, my son and his friends use to do it often, and they were only 16.
> 
> Bridget, just go to your new shelter and get to know the staff. I'm sure they'll be happy to have you volunteer in whatever capacity you can give them!


Yeah, from what you've told me, a lot has changed since the previous director left. We do not have many community service volunteers come in, but those are the only ones that really help, because they have to. Everyone else goes through a few orientations to walk dogs and get familiar with the kennels, but still don't know what they're doing.  No one is allowed to check out dogs or puppies like that anymore, either. They have to be trained foster homes.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

I have one general comment to make regarding the comment above that the volunteers should stay in the back washing towels, etc and stay out of the kennels.

Here's my two cents, well probably more like 5 or 10 because that bugged me enough to wait before replying and then come back to this.

Quite frankly, it's hard enough for most shelters (especially animal control type facilities, vs the small private shelters) to get volunteers. MOST (not all) people who think of volunteering at an animal shelter want to be INVOLVED with the animals. Yes, we here understand there's a HUGE need for cleaning, maintenance, feeding/watering, etc. Behind the scenes type stuff. Most people are going to come to volunteer, be stuck in a back room to clean nasty towels and wash bowls, and then never show up again! If you want to have good volunteers, spend a little time letting them shadow you and HELP TRAIN them so they can be BETTER able and equipt to handle the animals directly.

Then YOUR time could be better spent doing all the crummy jobs that you're trying to get people to do for free, when you're getting paid to work there. I'm sorry but the average citizen isn't going to come back again and again to do the crummy work and not feel like they're actually helping,since they don't get to see the puppies snuggled up on their clean blanets and they don't get to see the happy well fed and watered dogs go for walks or training sessions or to meet potential adopters at petstore adoption events.

That's reality. People can argue it all they want, but the above is reality. And until workers start treating their volunteers better, it'll never change.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Rerun said:


> I have one general comment to make regarding the comment above that the volunteers should stay in the back washing towels, etc and stay out of the kennels.
> 
> Here's my two cents, well probably more like 5 or 10 because that bugged me enough to wait before replying and then come back to this.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry, but I think you misunderstood. We do not ask the volunteers to clean and such, unless they ask or are part of community service. The general volunteers here just walk dogs, but when they ASK if there's anything they can do to help out, it's always laundry, dishes, etc. That's just what we need the help with, we can't help that. From trial and error, we have learned that they don't want to clean up poop or pee from the kennels, so we really have nothing else to ask of them.  And the volunteers that do come in and ask to do extra work, keep coming back and helping out in the kitchen so that we can devote our time to letting the dogs outside and cleaning up after them to keep the kennels clean. Sometimes we'll ask volunteers to walk certain dogs to help out so that we can clean their messes up, but other than that we don't make any requests.


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

Unless a shelter has unlimited funding to pay employees for EVERYTHING that needs to be done, a volunteer force is the life-blood of a shelter that does more than spray down dirty kennels and tosses food in once a day.

I went from a volunteer to a paid employee at a shelter, and for the first year my office was just off the hallway the kennel rooms opened from. Although my work was strictly with the foster program, because my office was so close to the kennels I was often asked by volunteers for ideas on how they could best spend the next two hours.

It took no extra effort to note to myself which dogs could use some extra attention when I walked through the kennels. So even though I could have used a volunteer in my office making copies and filing, I knew that they were there to be with the animals and I would refer them to the older, depressed Sheltie who really needed some quiet attention. Or the crazy Lab that needed to run and fetch for an hour in order to show well in the kennel.

If a shelter has volunteers that aren't being utilized or directed as well as they could be, it sounds more like the system for training and supervising the volunteers needs improvement. 
Sheilah


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

sit said:


> If a shelter has volunteers that aren't being utilized or directed as well as they could be, it sounds more like the system for training and supervising the volunteers needs improvement.
> Sheilah


Tell me about it! We have no supervision of volunteers at all. In fact, the entire adoption program and front desk is "staffed" by volunteers. The only area the paid employees work is in the kennels, cleaning.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I think the shelter you work at DJ is in need of the hands on organization.
It is a beautiful facility and has record numbers of dogs getting adopted, but the way it is run is beyond my comprehension. I think the ones they appoint to the board are people with business experience but not common sense dog handler day to day experience.
I was frustrated there, and would have loved to help(as I'm sure you do too) with the organizing of properly training volunteers so the dogs are set up to succeed. Providing updated folder of info on the dogs and properly evaluating them was not done and it was so frustrating to me.
I knew every dog when I helped out, and was surprised at the placements when approved for adoptions, it was all about numbers and $ because the new facility was so needed. Maybe it has changed in the last two years, I sure hope so!


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> I think the shelter you work at DJ is in need of the hands on organization.
> It is a beautiful facility and has record numbers of dogs getting adopted, but the way it is run is beyond my comprehension. I think the ones they appoint to the board are people with business experience but not common sense dog handler day to day experience.
> I was frustrated there, and would have loved to help(as I'm sure you do too) with the organizing of properly training volunteers so the dogs are set up to succeed. Providing updated folder of info on the dogs and properly evaluating them was not done and it was so frustrating to me.
> I knew every dog when I helped out, and was surprised at the placements when approved for adoptions, it was all about numbers and $ because the new facility was so needed. Maybe it has changed in the last two years, I sure hope so!


I totally agree about the way it's run. The dogs are being evaluated pretty well right now (not sure about how it was before), but communication is what's lacking between the intake team, healthy kennel attendents, volunteers, and front desk, resulting in numerous issues. The volunteers are screened, trained, and informed about the dogs with issues, but there's just got to be a few dumb ones in every group of 20-30. Over the winter we were averaging 60-100 new volunteers a week through 3-4 orientations a weekend and it was rediculous. 

NOW, it seems we're* pushing adoptions to cover the debt that is this building, and dogs are getting brought back more regularly. It is just a big cluster... well, you know what. Stuff has changed and it's running better as far as the dogs are concerned, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. 

_*some volunteers that think they know what's best and go against the discretion of the actual employees that know the dogs._


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

I don't think so much that there are "dumb ones" in each group of volunteers coming in. But rather a case of volunteers not being properly trained and SUPERVISED throughout their time at the shelter. 

I am admittedly biased toward volunteers! They deserve to have a strong advocate within the system they give so much to.
Sheilah


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

sit said:


> I don't think so much that there are "dumb ones" in each group of volunteers coming in. But rather a case of volunteers not being properly trained and SUPERVISED throughout their time at the shelter.
> 
> I am admittedly biased toward volunteers! They deserve to have a strong advocate within the system they give so much to.
> Sheilah


Well, they are all trained well, but supervision is lacking, I will give you that. I still can't excuse them for leaving chokers on dogs in cages, not listening or reading signs when we ask them to clean up their mud, putting dogs in the wrong cages, and petting puppies. Not reading signs is a big issue with the volunteers for some reason, even after they're harped on about it during orientation and we have to ask them numerous times about stuff.


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

Well, there are many things your shelter can do to make life easier for the staff and volunteers! If so many of the volunteers are having a problem, I think maybe their training isn't all that good to begin with. And, as you said, supervision seems to be very, very limited and that is never a good thing...for volunteers OR staff.

Maybe your shelter could call a meeting of the volunteers, make it mandatory if they want to continue to give of their time, and discuss with them the problems and how best to address those problems. 

60-100 new volunteers per week is an astounding number. I don't think they even get that kind of public response at the SF-SPCA. Even considering how many never come back after the orientation, that is just incredible support from the community. Seems like such a waste not to use all that as completely and as positively as possible.
Sheilah


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