Hey Smogoff! I recently saw the bouncer at a bar and candy store threads, and it reminded me of the fact that I don't have a job. But that reminded me that in place of a job, I spent a little bit of time volunteering at an animal shelter instead. To be clear, this is a pet shelter and not a wildlife shelter. I'd like to first answer a few preemptive questions...
Why did you start?
I started because I am a HUGE animal person, especially with dogs. There's also cats at this particular shelter, but I didn't interact with them very much because handling them feels so different from dogs. My high school forced you to get 50 hours of community service per year, so 200 in total across the four years, and I felt having a consistent way to get these hours would be nice. Plus volunteering at a shelter just sounded fun in general because I like animals.
What was the shelter like?
There was a main room where they sold toys, leashes and the like, and a few other that sort of branched off of it. They had a vet there as well, a room for puppies and kitten, a room for cats, and the room for adult dogs down a hallway. The biggest draw for this shelter to make it stand out from the rest was its focus on the aforementioned puppies and kittens, though. Most shelters that I've visited have a few as an afterthought, but this one had more puppies than adult dogs, which I haven't seen otherwise. There's also a staff only hallway with five or so cubicles that weren't always used, a room for washing stuff and unfolding newspaper, and a storage room with a bunch of food for the animals. There were also a bunch of volunteers there, I met my friend Jake there who is still one of my best friends to this day.
What do you typically do when you volunteered there?
Because I was a minor throughout all the time I volunteered there, I mostly was stuck in the room with puppies and kittens. Not that I was complaining. I mostly just did whatever smaller stuff was needed there. As you'd imagine, the animals there had to be kept in cages, and since the babies aren't house trained yet, we'd have to line up old newspaper along the floors to make sure they wouldn't make a mess on the floor. The cats had little newspaper litter boxes but that's beside the point. When they went on the newspaper, I'd take out the newspaper and replace it, and when they went on the floor of the cage, I'd have to get newspaper to make sure the entire floor was covered and I'd have to wash that part of the floor. I would also refill their water bowls if they were empty, but never had to feed them, since this was always done at a specific time with specific amounts. The people who had full-on jobs there would do this.
I also had to directly interact with customers pretty often, mostly answering whatever questions they may have had. They were able to get out the animals from the cages themselves, so I didn't have to worry about that. I didn't mention before but there were three play rooms where one person or party at a time could put one of the animals on the floor and play with them without having to hold them, and I'd often have to mop up afterwards. There was some other miscellaneous stuff I had to do, like taking out the trash if it got too full, unfolding newspaper, cleaning their water bowls, or rarely, bathing the animals themselves. There was often just nothing for me to do since there were so many volunteers and most of my time was spent in a different room from the newspaper and trash, so I would sometimes be able to hold a puppy while I waited to spot something to do.
Shifts normally lasted only two hours, and I had taken only one per week. I started by having them on Tuesday, but this shifted to Thursday pretty early on for a reason that I can't remember. Since I had high school then, and this place was only five minutes away from there, this would normally be immediately after my high school finished on that given day of the week.
Why did you end up leaving?
I had stayed there for a good three years, but life ended up getting in the way. I had started college right out of high school, and since that was directly next to my sister's high school, I had to drive her home. That would be a 30 minute drive home, another 30 minute drive back to the shelter, and then another 30 minute drive home, on top of the usual two hours it'd take for me to have my shift as well as the high school getting out at around 3:00 PM. That's a lot of additional driving and a lot of time spent, and as much as I loved it there, I just felt it wasn't worth it at that point.
I'm not going to tell any stories just yet but I'm sure I'll have a bunch to share, whether prompted by a question or otherwise. Please feel free to ask questions, whether it's because I missed something or you're just curious! I have plenty of things to share.
Why did you start?
I started because I am a HUGE animal person, especially with dogs. There's also cats at this particular shelter, but I didn't interact with them very much because handling them feels so different from dogs. My high school forced you to get 50 hours of community service per year, so 200 in total across the four years, and I felt having a consistent way to get these hours would be nice. Plus volunteering at a shelter just sounded fun in general because I like animals.
What was the shelter like?
There was a main room where they sold toys, leashes and the like, and a few other that sort of branched off of it. They had a vet there as well, a room for puppies and kitten, a room for cats, and the room for adult dogs down a hallway. The biggest draw for this shelter to make it stand out from the rest was its focus on the aforementioned puppies and kittens, though. Most shelters that I've visited have a few as an afterthought, but this one had more puppies than adult dogs, which I haven't seen otherwise. There's also a staff only hallway with five or so cubicles that weren't always used, a room for washing stuff and unfolding newspaper, and a storage room with a bunch of food for the animals. There were also a bunch of volunteers there, I met my friend Jake there who is still one of my best friends to this day.
What do you typically do when you volunteered there?
Because I was a minor throughout all the time I volunteered there, I mostly was stuck in the room with puppies and kittens. Not that I was complaining. I mostly just did whatever smaller stuff was needed there. As you'd imagine, the animals there had to be kept in cages, and since the babies aren't house trained yet, we'd have to line up old newspaper along the floors to make sure they wouldn't make a mess on the floor. The cats had little newspaper litter boxes but that's beside the point. When they went on the newspaper, I'd take out the newspaper and replace it, and when they went on the floor of the cage, I'd have to get newspaper to make sure the entire floor was covered and I'd have to wash that part of the floor. I would also refill their water bowls if they were empty, but never had to feed them, since this was always done at a specific time with specific amounts. The people who had full-on jobs there would do this.
I also had to directly interact with customers pretty often, mostly answering whatever questions they may have had. They were able to get out the animals from the cages themselves, so I didn't have to worry about that. I didn't mention before but there were three play rooms where one person or party at a time could put one of the animals on the floor and play with them without having to hold them, and I'd often have to mop up afterwards. There was some other miscellaneous stuff I had to do, like taking out the trash if it got too full, unfolding newspaper, cleaning their water bowls, or rarely, bathing the animals themselves. There was often just nothing for me to do since there were so many volunteers and most of my time was spent in a different room from the newspaper and trash, so I would sometimes be able to hold a puppy while I waited to spot something to do.
Shifts normally lasted only two hours, and I had taken only one per week. I started by having them on Tuesday, but this shifted to Thursday pretty early on for a reason that I can't remember. Since I had high school then, and this place was only five minutes away from there, this would normally be immediately after my high school finished on that given day of the week.
Why did you end up leaving?
I had stayed there for a good three years, but life ended up getting in the way. I had started college right out of high school, and since that was directly next to my sister's high school, I had to drive her home. That would be a 30 minute drive home, another 30 minute drive back to the shelter, and then another 30 minute drive home, on top of the usual two hours it'd take for me to have my shift as well as the high school getting out at around 3:00 PM. That's a lot of additional driving and a lot of time spent, and as much as I loved it there, I just felt it wasn't worth it at that point.
I'm not going to tell any stories just yet but I'm sure I'll have a bunch to share, whether prompted by a question or otherwise. Please feel free to ask questions, whether it's because I missed something or you're just curious! I have plenty of things to share.