Behavior and Training Volunteers
This group of volunteers works closely with our Behavior and Training team to improve quality of life for the homeless animals living at our 2 shelter locations in Northside. Joining our Behavior & Training volunteer team is truly life saving work and will give you a chance to work closely with our dogs as well as advance your animal handling skills!
Volunteer Behavior & Training Opportunities
Playgroup Support
Come and help our team run dog playgroups! Playgroup helps to keep our dog population healthy, both physically and mentally. At playgroup, dogs get the chance to spend some time out of their kennels and run around and have fun with other dogs in one of our large yard areas. Volunteers are a crucial part of keeping the playgroup running smoothly! They are tasked with bringing dogs requested by the Playgroup Lead to and from their pens & playgroup yard. It’s a great opportunity to see our dogs be their joyful and goofy selves!
Yard Maintenance
Play yards are a crucial part of our Dog Care Program! Our play yards act as a space for play groups, training sessions, meet & greets, and so much more! With so many dogs and people out in our yards having a great time, wear and tear is bound to happen. We are looking for some awesome volunteers to help maintain our play yards. Having volunteers help with yard maintenance will go a long way to make our play yards a safer and cleaner place for our dogs, volunteers, staff, and community members!
Treat for Quiet
Help us make our kennel runs a quieter and more calming space for our dogs and potential adopters! “Treat for Quiet” is an awesome training opportunity largely led by our volunteer team! Help shift our dog's emotional response to people approaching or walking by their kennels followed by rewarding calm or desirable behaviors. By doing so we can work to help our dogs present more adoptable behaviors when people walk by, hopefully leading to dogs leaving the shelter faster.
Enrichment
Enrichment is an important part of animal care, it helps to keep our dogs from getting bored and keeps their body and minds active. Enrichment serves as the fun and engaging items that our dogs get to play with while in their kennels including kongs, lick mats, and more! Help make and distribute enrichment for the dogs at the shelter!
Volunteer Feature:
Lisa H.
"I have always wanted to volunteer at the county shelter to help with dogs and promised myself I would do so as soon as I retired. I am stronger than I thought I could be. I’ve learned what I can do well and what is best for me to do as a volunteer. Who knew I’d be so happy cleaning poop off of kennels, sweating through all my clothes walking dogs, or getting sunburned – but I do. I love it! There is nothing like doggy kisses and crying, griping and laughing with the others doing this stuff."