Time Sheet Entry #2

This Thursday started off with half and hour in traffic on 101, so total travel time this time around was 60 minutes.


Actual time spent at the shelter was an hour and a half, all of the dogs had been taken out at least once and the potty list looked really good, so I only did three dogs, which are listed below and once again, I encouraged you guys to check them out at the link below too.


Some of you may be wondering after my long spiel explaining how dog TLC works why I was only there for an hour and a half. I'm there for the dogs, not to log as many hours as I can like its a contest. When the dogs are taken care of, my job is done.


I am excited at the possibility not explaining the nuts and bolts of the job in detail as I did in my first post, but going into why I find it rewarding and talking a little about the dogs. We get a wide variety of dogs, but usually, the ones that I get to know are pit bulls and Chihuahuas. And neither breed gets much love in the public imagination. When I first started out and the vast majority of green dogs were Chihuahuas, I was terrified of stepping on them. I was also kind of like 'Chihuahuas, really? They're yippy dogs'.


What I grew to learn was to stop caring about the breed. Obviously you have to be aware of the breed and know what breed of dog you are going to be walking, but not focusing on the breed let me love their individual personalities. Every Chihuahua has a different personality, even if they're all brown Chihuahuas in the same dorm room. They're unique and different. Same goes for pit bulls.


Part of what makes it fun and rewarding for me is the opportunity to learn about their different personalities, because they can behave differently on a walk versus in our indoor dog park or in their dorms. And that's incredible to watch them change based on their environments. Some dogs are really shy in their dorms and you have to go slow with them and build up their trust. They can also be jumpy on a walk. But then they just come alive in the dog park, running around carefree and it's like they've become a whole new dog.


http://peninsulahumanesociety.org/adopt/dog.html

Chai & Buddha / Rambo / Splash & Coco

Total Volunteer Hours: 3 1/2