DAWG

Two weeks ago, Justin and I attended the volunteer orientation at a local 'no kill' animal shelter. Justin procrastinated the last two years and needed to make up for his honors program volunteer hours. I personally know how much of a pain honors program volunteer requirements can be and I am ashamed to say that when I did honors related volunteer work, I did nothing of importance, was not humbled by the experience and did not enjoy a single minute of my volunteer work. Now that Justin is in need of 20 hours of community service, we decided to spend our time at DAWG by walking, playing and bathing dogs. Knowing my obsession with puppies and dogs and Justin's love for dogs, I knew I that this would be volunteer hours (for Justin) we would very much enjoy.

The orientation was hot, long and kind of boring but once it was over we stayed and walked two dogs, picked up poop in baggies and played with dogs in their yard.

The very first dog we walked as DAWG volunteers was Cookie. Cookie was a larger chihuahua mix with black and white spots. She was my favorite dog there and although I was sad to find her no longer at the shelter when we returned, Justin and I are happy that she found a loving home.

That same day we played with Georgia and her yard buddy. Georgia was very shy and obviously not well socialized with people. It took awhile for her to warm up to us but by the end of our time there we were able to pet her. When we returned today, she did not remember us and we had difficulty getting her anywhere near us.

GEORGIA
Loves: to run over to the opposite side of wherever you are

Today, we walked and encountered a different group of dogs. Justin always wanders over to the big dog section, and I am easily drawn to the smaller dogs. It was fairly warm today so we could not walk the dogs for a long period of time, but after much consideration we took Henry on our first walk of the day. Our first impression of Henry was that he was really ugly. But once we took him out and the wind began to blow his floppy hair in different directions, we quickly realized that we were wrong! Look how cute Henry is. By the end of our walk, he could not wait to get back to the shelter. This made Justin and I question our walking skills and our likeability. What kind of dog at a shelter would rather return to the shelter than go on a walk with two great people like us?

HENRY
Loves: to pretend like he wants to go on walks when all he really wants to do is relax

Justin finally got to walk one of his manly big dogs, a four-month old, 50lbs, pit bull mix named Brandy. She ended up being a great dog and even showed us her tricks!

BRANDY
Loves: to show off her tricks, especially her shake. Will do tricks for a treat!


Last but not least, we went in to walk the dog I had been eyeing since I got there. Buddy the shih tzu was friendly, kept sticking her tongue out and reminded me of our little Poopie back in Riverside. I went in to put her harness on but she wanted to lay back while I pet her and wanted to play with her orange octopus toy. She was definitely my favorite dog of the day. While Buddy and I played tug-of-war with her octopus, a man walked by and became very interested in Buddy. Hopefully the next time we visit, she will have found a loving family.

BUDDY
Loves:her orange octopus. Back off!

It is becoming increasingly harder to leave the shelter without taking a dog home. But I know my time for dog ownership will come soon and Justin and I are getting great practice for our future responsibilities as mom and dad to a very lucky dog someday.