to those who work/have worked at animal shelters.... - Page 2

Angela, i live in louisiana....washington parish...in a little town called franklinton....ever heard of "washington parish free fair"? thats what we're famous for, people come from around the world to it, 2nd largest free fair in the world...we're also famous for watermelons--washinton parish watermelons-r suppose to be the best.....

deeswolf-thanks again--i was kinda expecting that anyone just starting out would get the grunt work---i think its that way with any jobs but as long as i get to know the people and im learning something + get to help the animals, i really would'nt mind..

~julie~

Julie,

Not to sound like a jerk but please check into a LOT before considering starting a rescue. A friend of a freind started a rescue. Had experience with dogs. Adopted the right dog to the wrong people. (She read the dog well but the people were undercover assholes.) So, they put the dog in a no win situation with a crapload of kids during a birthday party. The dog bit. The new owners sued. And last I heard she was still in a legal battle not to loose everything.

Please get very reliable advice.

Dawgs

dawgs--OMG-- that is something to consider, havent even thought about that part of it...if i ever do seriously try to do this (which i am actually excited about the idea, we really need something like that around here, been trying to figure out something to do with my life and this might be it!), i will keep that in mind tho, thanks. i do plan to do tons of research first tho, heck, im researhing now huh? lol--but i will do some serious digging into it..thnx for advice

~julie~

Julie,

    I manage a shelter in Oregon,  I can tell you it will be the most frustrating thankless job you will ever do,  You will want to pull out your own hair,  rip other peoples lips off, cry, stomp, scream, laugh, and die all in the same day....

   Of course the reward is the animals,  They depend on YOU to make the right decisions for them,  hard as we try sometimes the right decisions are the hard ones....  As DeesWolf said,  NO shelter even the "No Kill" shelters don't euth.  "No Kill" shelters advertise that way to make themselves "Look Good" and make municipal or other animal rescues look bad, so the "No Kill" shelters get all of the donations of course,  what most idiots don't know is that the if they read the "Bi-Laws" of that  "No Kill" shelter they will find where they are allowed to euthanize for reasons such as DeesWolf stated.   Here I am not bound by any "No Kill" claims,  however we do not euthanize for space here eigther,  Only for Temperament, Health, or serious physical injury.

  But when people ask "are you no kill"   I tell them NO we are NOT a No Kill shelter,  and neigther are the NO Kill shelters...  I explain to them if they read the Bi-Laws they will find they have been deceived.

  I don't know of any shelter out there who would NOT appreciate your help as a volunteer.  Maybe the following things will help you....

Continued...

If you go in asking to volunteer let them know you have animals at home,  Let them know of your skill level when it comes to infections diseases, precautions awareness, practical medical treatment expeirience levels, evaluations skills (can you read a dog ?) ,  Customer service skills, and office skills,  and most importantly let them know your willing to be a sponge...

My best advice for you is DO NOT go in there with any great expectations or ANY presumptions at all,  if you do...  You will be dissapointed, or otherwise unhappy with what is REAL and what is Your idea of IDEAL.    

Here we perform the ACO "duties" (NO I am NOT the actual certfied ACO)  we are contracted with 3 cities to perform the "Duties" of ACO,  we also accept animals from 3 counties, and I serve as the animal crimes investigator and court leason for 2 counties.   I am the on site euth tech.  I perform animal care such as administering medications when needed, caring for wounds,  I also groom animals that come in needing clipped and cleaned up.   We provide flea and tick treatments, deworming, vaccines,  general hygenic, nails, ear mites,  We treat things like embedded collars, vehicle strikes, (so long as nothing is broken) skin abraisians/wounds we see alot of fighting dogs here.

The duties you may be performing could be far and wide,  from cleaning, excercise, feeding, evaluations, socializations, basic training OB, medical assistance (when needed), special care cases, office duties (adoptions, investigations, phone consults, transactions, intakes, licensing, to Fund Raising)  Or you might be assigned to a specific job duty for long term or maybe just until you know that job in and out, and then they may move you onto something else,  Each place will be different in terms of what they Need, Want, Desire, from you.

Keep your chin up,  Go in with an OPEN mind and NO expectations, and I think you will find that Volunteering in a shelter can be very rewarding for you.  Certainly it WILL open your eyes wide up and probably have you reconsidering opening your own rescue.  Let me assure you that shelter managers or in your case owners ARE on call 24/7   and it will NEVER END.

Whatever you do,  DON"T forget your family !!!!    DO NOT let this job/position take ANY time from your HOME life,  Home needs to be Home, and work needs to be work,  I have learned that in the most difficult way possible !!

Good Luck to you,  I know most any shelter would be happy to have such an enthusiastic individual added to they're volunteer staff.

 echo---thanks for the info, good info---i plan to go next week (if i find time-knds back in school but both have dr visits next week that can somtime turn into multi visits) but as soon as things are settled with them, and they are in school regularly, i will have my long boring days back ---all by myslf...lol...i will keep yall posted of the outcome...again thanks so much...

I have worked at an animal shelter some years back and think that it is something most should do at least once.  It is a very eye opening experience indeed to see what really goes on there.

I wanted to work there because I wanted to be near animals and to do something where I actually felt like I was "helping".  Well, you need to be not only a compassionate, loving person but someone who can be very strong and resilient when it comes time to euthanize these animals.  There is not room for all of them.  So many come in sick, injured, aggressive, fearful, lame, old, etc.  I agree with one of the above posts that said there is no such thing as a complete "no kill" shelter except that they might send the animal(s) in question to another facility to be put down when it is time. 

I cleaned cages/runs, walked animals, fed & watered, did the in/out processing paperwork, adoptions, vaccinations, etc.  But, when it came time to euthanize them, I struggled with this.  I wanted to be able to do it because it was what I "needed" to do to work there.  And, when you saw how crowded it would get as the animal control officers would bring in one dog/cat after another, you knew it had to be done.  The animals come in faster than the people to adopt them.   But, when it was time to do the deed, I failed miserably.  I quit that night and called back to work because I could not do it.  How can you look into the eyes of these animals and tell them you have to do this for their own good?  I thank the people that are able to do this.  But, what sickened me the most was how the bags of animals would sit in the room until time to be incinerated.  Sorry.  It's a harsh reality but, it is real.  At least it is not a painful way to go.  And then, there's the incinerating part itself and lastly, cleaning the ashes out.

Shelter work is not easy work and anyone that can do this work and does do it, my hat is off to you.  I realize someone has to do it, as sad as it is.

You know what I've often times thought of doing if you really wanted to work with animals is the animal taxi thing.  There are so many elderly people or people that work such odd hours.  You would have to have a van or something similar with room for dog crates, etc. but, you could taxi the dogs to the vet, groomers, park for a walk , etc.  You could also have it set up where you could pick up pet meds, dogfood from the store, etc for them.  Just an idea I've kicked around many times.  You could even incorporate some dog walks, etc into this and feeding/watering pets while owner is away. 

great ideas gsdfanatic, i dont know if i will be able to handle, i guess i will just have to test myself to see....i may be able to depending on the circimstance, there have been times where i have seen dogs/cats hurt badly and thought, someone please put it down now and get it out of misery, but i don't know if i can actually be a part of doing that.....if all else fails , i will think about things like you are suggesting...i just want to do something with dogs....something to help, and helping the elderly or sick at the same time would be great to...

Another idea then would be to get your dog trained/registered as a therapy dog and go around to nursing homes and places where there are children (if allowed) that are sick for pet therapy days.  I currently work at a retirement home and we have Wednesdays as pet therapy days.  The residents truly look forward to these visits as they are not allowed to bring their furry companions with them when they come here and many really do miss that.

gsfanatic-would you mind giving any info on what i would need to do, to be able to do that?