Several months ago Chloe got interested in doing things for animals. She saved up $200 for the Humane Society last summer and, for Christmas, she requested items for the shelter that she could donate. She was able to donate about $200 worth of toys and food to the shelter!
She also expressed an interest in volunteering there. We finally got our orientation last Sunday and today was her (our) first official volunteer time. Children can't volunteer on their own until they are 16 years old, so I had to be with her the whole time. I wasn't really looking forward to it (think lots of barking dogs, smelly cages, dog hair), but we actually had a great time.
We signed up to do dog socialization which really just means playing with them. We had about an hour and fifteen minutes and ended up spending about a half hour with each of two dogs. The first dog is Sheila a Border Collie mix. She is old enough to go outside so we took her out and had a great time running with her and playing. She's a sweetie, but needs to lose a little weight and get some training.
Then, we decided to take one of the puppies out. They are too young to go outside with all the possible dog diseases they might run into. So, we played with this little guy in one of the "get acquainted" rooms. This is Chevy and he is a Shar Pei mix. He's the softest, cutest little guy you could imagine. While he had some puppy behaviors that need working on, he was so gentle and sweet. I can see getting attached to dogs with this job, so I wonder how this will work out in the long run. We are not equipped to bring another animal into our house because we travel so much. We also have allergy sufferers, so no cats for sure and even the dogs made Chloe's nose itch.
Chloe is very committed to this endeavor, so I will be too! Even though I sometimes think I'd like to spend my volunteer time on other things (and I already do several things that I can take care of at home) I'm glad I have the time to support her in this activity.