Trying to volunteer...

[Erin]

So since I got Hershey from a shelter - I've been looking into shelters in my area to volunteer at. Most seem to be the sort to have foster homes and not an actual shelter. Sadly, at this point, the size of my house precludes getting another doggie, even to foster!

So I went in to our local Human Society today. Walked in the door, and there was a woman at the desk talking on the phone. She doesn't even look up from her conversation, but just says, "We're closed!" And I say, oh, sorry - and start to walk out the door. And then she says, "Can I help you with something?" and I say "Well, I was just looking to see if I could volunteer here or what kind of help you need." And she says "Oh. We're Closed." and walked away.

Huh? Do you want volunteers!? Apparently not...

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, and maybe she was having a bad day - I wrote my contact info on a piece of paper and left it on the desk :o)

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

WOW Erin...where did this happen? They should be ashamed of themselves. Even giving her the benefit of the doubt and than to snub you that is so wrong. I don't get how these places claim they want help and their are people out there willing to work hard for them giving time and donations...they say they are advocates...lol...and than they turn around and treat you like dirt. It just amazes me the ignorance in this world, Sorry to say but it sounds like a few shelters here in PA...stuff their staff would pull and a few other people I have ran across in my life time. Congrats to you being a bigger person and not backing down on your desire to help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The woman you spoke to was probably a volunteer herself, lol, or a minimum wage employee working for the state or county. Or she may have been doing community service. Shelter work is often handed out as "punishment" to people on probation. The person at the front desk is rarely the person in charge. There is usually a person in charge of volunteers who you can call or email to ask about volunteer opportunites. If they have a website, you can try that.
Look on Petfinder for a list of shelters and rescue groups in your area, and contact them. Petfinder has a tab at the top of the main page where you can search by location. Private rescue groups that don't have a physical shelter and use foster homes still need a lot of volunteer help besides fostering. You can offer to help with local adoption days (picking up & driving dogs to the events, "handling" a dog at the event, distributing information, etc), collecting and picking up donations of food, towels, etc., helping with fund-raising events, working on newsletters, sending thank-you notices & emails for donations, checking references on adoption applications, answering phone & email inquiries about available dogs...the list goes on. There are lots of ways you can help homeless dogs, and thanks for wanting to do so!

[Kyoko]

May be they had a long day and was ready to go......How far are you from Pittsburgh?
Animal friends is always looking for volunteers, and have various jobs for them. Some, you can even do it from home!

[Cami Jacobs]

You can also go to the closest PetSmart and contact the rescue that has cats at the store. Usually this rescue will bring dogs in on the weekend. They will also probably be working mostly in that area. If they pull their animals from a city pound they can also walk you through the volunteering process there and it will be a more inviting experience. Down here in Houston we have a rescue group who works very closely with the city pound and has orientations every weekend for people interested in volunteering. Remember your city pound is usually very different from your humane society. The pound usually doesn’t advertise very well, is run by the city, and probably has a much higher kill rate. www.petharbor.com might help you find the city pounds in your area. PetHarbor uses chameleon which most animal shelters use as their database so it is updated automatically. I know a lot of animal shelters around here don’t use Petfinder as well as they should.

[Karen & Lucy]

I would think that any shelter would jump at the chance to have a volunteer help them out. I thought they were all short for help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

State, county, and municipal shelters are run by the particular government agency, and have paid employees who may or may not care about animals at all...they could just as easily have been assigned to the sanitation, streets, or parks department. These type of shelters, which often practice euthanasia, sometimes don't want any "outside" help. The word "Humane" attached to their name doesn't mean much. But in any case, as I explained above, the receptionist at the front desk is not usually in charge of volunteers or anything else, lol.