Time Sheet Entry #5

Volunteer Hours: 1.5 hours

Total Volunteer Hours: 9.5 hours

Drive Time: 40 minutes

This Thursday was a short evening like the one I mentioned a couple weeks ago. The potty list looked good, most of the dogs had been out during the day, so I only worked with three dogs.

This week we had the usual group back and I ended up doing more teamwork than last week. I helped distract dogs so that another volunteer could take one out. Sometimes the dorms are hard to get in and out of if there's three or more dogs or if a particular dog wants all of the attention and tries to get it by misbehaving.

At the same time, there is something fun about having three volunteers in a dorm, two distracting dogs while one tries to grab the one that hasn't got out yet and run. I really like the sense of solidarity we have as a group, where we all know we've been there when some things don't work out the way we'd like to.

This was one of many weeks where I've been asked by a fellow volunteer to go into the gear closet and find a harness that will fit a dog they're planning on taking out. I may feel a little too much pride when I get it right on the first try, but I try very hard to get it right the first time so that we can do more at the shelter.

This is also the first week we've had JD & Mamas, a bonded pair, in the indoor dog park together. They're hilarious. They both play fetch and they don't fight over toys. JD chews ropes in the slowest, most exaggerated manner I've ever seen. Mamas takes a tennis ball in her mouth, rolls onto her back and moves her body back and forth like a gleeful slug. It's one of the most entertaining dog idiosyncrasies I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.

If you guys are curious, we have a camera in the dog park. It's right at the top of the adoption page I keep linking to my blog. Which I will do again, right now, along with the dogs I hung out with this week.

JD & Mamas, Sassy, & Coco

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