Yes!!!

I'm sorry for confusing you. Now you guys probably think I'm a liar or not telling everything.

I felt like what I did yesterday wasn't enough, but now I know that I gotta take it slow. I can't do the big jobs just yet. And even the smallest things I do to help are help and may even be bigger than I realize.

I'm sorry I confused you guys.

In my head I imagined myself: cleaning out kennels, feeding and watering the dogs and cats, evaluating some dogs while socializing with them by doing a temperament test, stuff like that.

I'm okay with it and I'll be going back next Saturday. I wish I could volunteer more than one time a week but someone warned me summer classes are heck and I'll need time to study and rest.

Get rid of expectations. There's tons of jobs that need doing at the shelter, good and bad. Usually temperament tests and such are done by the shelter staff or long term volunteers, not people who have been there for a -day-. They know nothing about you yet. Give it time.

Ok, I see.

Well, cleaning and feeding is probably only done once or twice a day, and it's likely you just weren't around at the right time. Even if you were, feeding in particular is probably not a very good job for a new person, some dogs can get very aggressive around feeding time.

Evaluating and temperment testing is probably the most difficult job in the shelter.... I know, because I do it and I teach others how to do it. Dogs give out a LOT of subtle body language that a lot of inexperienced people (with, like, less than 3 years of shelter experience) might not pick up on. I've seen dogs go from friendly to bite-your-arm-off aggressive in less than a second, and even the most experienced evaluators would have to look at it in slow-motion to figure out what triggered the dog. My job is relatively easy, too, since I'm looking for service dogs; if I get uncomfortable with the dog at any point, I can just put him away and go on about my business. But if you're the shelter evaluator, you have to keep going even if you're uncomfortable, so that you will know for sure what the dog's triggers are and what kind of household would be able to handle that dog.

Evaluating means figuring out more than just "does this dog like tennis balls or rope toys", it means figuring out what will make this dog bite and is he stable enough to go into a family home, or would he put the family in danger.

I've been evaluating dogs for my job for almost 3 years now. In that time I've probably evaluated about 40,000-50,000 dogs. I've also attended several seminars and watched several instructional DVDs about shelter evaluations. And I still don't feel 100% confident about temperment testing.

If you're interested, I'd highly suggest watching the DVDs, "Am I Safe?" and "The Language of Dogs."

YES :rofl1: Are you the new Cesar Milan gonna walk in and do anything you want? :rofl1:

Temperament testing was only done by one person at the shelter I worked at. What the rest of the employees or volunteers said did not matter AT ALL. That's a huge liability issue. They can't have a volunteer doing that

That's a great way to do it. When I do shelter evals, there are often volunteers and other staff that think they have the "perfect" dog for us, but rarely does the dog pass my evaluation. I don't make a lot of friends doing this job.

For my first year practically all I did was pooper scooper and clean kennels. MAYBE take a dog for a walk if I was lucky.

I think most volunteers do less than that for quite a while, they want to see how you are with animals before they give you more responsibility

I started with VERY basic stuff. cleaning cages, puppy play, kitten play.. even though I had LOTS of animal experience on my resume, everyone starts in the same basic spot I think lol
the more I volunteered and more I came back, the more the other volunteers/employees got to know me and trusted me with more

You did a lot more than I did for atleast my first 5 times volunteering.
I wasn't allowed anywhere NEAR the clinic for atleast 8 months..

It was (in order)
- cleanup cages
- puppy/kitten play
- small dog play (at the shelter play area)
- small dog walking
- large dog play

..im still not even at the point where they trust me to walk large dogs. which I agree with, I dont have much large dog experience and I'm not very strong. its a liability.. they have NO IDEA of the behavior of most of these dogs that come in or how they will react to walks

and the only large/small dogs I get to walk and play with are those that the staff has already evaluated and taken out and have proven to be friendly and socialized

Its the end..its about liability and volunteer safety

Im actually quite suprised they let you take part in vaccinations! volunteers who aren't VERY long term aren't allowed anywhere around the clinic here..