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

Time Sheet Entry #4

Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Total Volunteer Time: 8 hours

Drive Time: 40 minutes

Last night was one of those tough nights that ends up working out. Usually, there are four or five of us regulars that come in on Thursday nights to do the potty list. This time around, we were down to two. Also not in our favor, was how few dogs had actually gotten out earlier that day and how long the potty list was that week. So we got ourselves ready for a long night and the possibility we wouldn't be able to give all the dogs at least something.

But then the cavalry arrived. Three other volunteers showed up and we actually managed to fill up the board for Thursday. Every dog had gotten something by the time we were done. It was a great feeling going from a low to a high. But more often than not, we can ask other volunteers to show up and they do. We're independent most of the time, but we know how to work together with as many as three other people and how to network. There have been times in the past where I've been called in to fill in for someone else in their usual time slot because they're sick or out of town. It's really nice to be able to rely on other people who care as much as you do about the work we're all doing.

I did four dogs this week, which will be listed below along with a link to the adoptable dog page and the other half of their bonded pair. Seriously though, check them out.

Mamas/JD, Elsa, Chai/Buddha, Boots

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

Blog Topic #5

I found an article about Virginia's legislature, specifically, their House of Delegates, approving a bill that would protect people who disapprove of same-sex marriage. This would allow, if they were say restaurant owners, to refuse service to a couple and not be punished for it.

Now this did not pass in the House of Delegates with an overwhelming majority, several Republicans in the House paired with Democrats, so the total votes lined up as 53 in favor to 46 against. Given that the governor of Virginia is a Democrat, this bill will likely be vetoed. But the fact that it is in play and can get through a chamber in a bicameral legislature hones in on the fact that the fight for same-sex marriage isn't completely over. The federal government and many states have affirmed it, but other states are still fighting against it.

What I found very interesting about the article is part of the argument against the bill employed by the Democrats of the House: "House Democrats urged their colleagues to vote down the bill, saying the measure would give taxpayer-funded groups a broad license to discriminate and hurt Virginia's reputation nationwide." This seems big to me, this acknowledgement of not wanting to go backward, it does hearken back to a Jim Crow South, and not wanting to make those mistakes again just against a different group. I just find it a rather enlightening viewpoint.

I posted a link to the article below, in case anyone is interested.

http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/house_oks_bill_seeking_to_protect_same_sex_marriage_foes432

Time Sheet Entry #3

Total Volunteer Time: 5 1/2 hours.

Travel Time (Thursday 2/11) - 40 minutes

I spent two hours yesterday evening at PHS getting dogs out for their night bathroom break. Tonight was a surprisingly regular evening. I took out three dogs, all the dogs had gotten out and we just had to focus on the potty list which also looked really good.

Though one of my dogs, Rambo, hadn't had a walk yet that day, which struck me as odd, because while he is a bigger dog, he's very gentle and stays by your side on the walk. He doesn't pull. So I took him for his thirty minute walk and he was piece of cake. He gives little bunny kisses because his lower jaw is a lot shorter than his upper. It's adorable.

My brother and I took out a bonded pair, two dogs that are very close either because they came in together or because they've bonded while at the shelter and must be adopted together, Mamas and JD. Mamas is this tiny blue heeler, so this itty bitty black herding dog. JD is this giant shepherd. But they came in together and need a loving home. They are also a breeze to walk and they also give kisses. JD being a shepherd, his are a little wet and undignified, whereas Mamas, having a tiny mouth, has very soft, little kisses.

The four of us that do doggies on Thursdays ended with one of our favorites, Coco, in the indoor dog park at the Lantos facility on Rollins. It's beautiful. Coco is a long-legged brown Chihuahua who is extremely affectionate once she knows you but it does take her a little while to warm up to new people. She's hilarious, she'll run all over as fast as her legs can carry her and then suddenly jump on someone's lap and sit there as long as they pet her.

Blog Topic #4

Subsidiarity is essentially having the goal that the lowest level of government possible, should be the one in charge of whatever service it seems best suited for. It doesn't mean that everything should be dropped as close to the local level as possible, only the things that the local level is deemed to handle better than a higher level of government. It isn't a political idea in essence, it's more of a 'keep government as close, and therefore, directly responsible to and in contact with the people it is actually affecting as much as possible' idea.

Subsidiarity could easily be seen as the logic behind devolution - transfer of power/responsibility to a lower level of government. Why would a government want to devolve? According to subsidiarity, it is because a lower level of the government itself can more easily and effectively handle the issue than a higher one. Which would beg the question, why keep that power/responsibility that a higher branch isn't so good at with the other responsibilities that it actually does well? It would make more sense to give the one it isn't so good at to a lower level and not have to worry about it on top of the stuff it actually can do. Win-win all around.

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

Time Sheet Entry #1

My volunteer work at the Peninsula Humane Society is as a purple dog TLC volunteer. Let me explain what that means. TLC (Tender loving care) is a group of volunteers that work with cats/dogs, usually one or the other at a time, socializing, exercising and hanging out with the animals at the shelter. I originally worked with cats when I was in high school. I have since moved on to doing the dogs. The dogs are color-coded so that volunteers and their various skill levels are prepared for a dog. It goes green, yellow, and then purple.

Green dogs are coded for new volunteers and volunteers who haven't either: completed three months as a green or taken later classes to move up a color code because they like the greens. Green dogs tend to be small with no behavioral issues. Yellows are small to medium-size dogs usually that may have a behavioral issue or may just be a little bigger and stronger and requires someone with a little more experience. Purple dogs can be of any size, but are usually physically strong, larger dogs that need some basic training. Green volunteers can only take out green dogs, yellow volunteers can take out green and yellow and purple volunteers can take out an animal of any color code.

In addition, I am part of a group of volunteers that come in on a certain day of the week and time of day to potty-break dogs that are house-trained. I am part of the Thursday night crew. We get the dogs out between 5-8 so dogs that hold their business are not waiting to relieve themselves until the next day.

Potty breaks tend to be short walks, just so the dogs can do their business, instead of thirty minute walks where we are trying to exercise them. They are still enough time to get to know a dog and socialize with them. The main idea is that for two or more hours, you are there for an animal. You are focused on giving a particular animal care and attention and that is your primary focus. It isn't about you, whatsoever. It's about the dog.

Thursday 28th of January: two hours of TLC work potty-breaking the dogs.

I got out four dogs last night. And because I love them and am fairly certain they are still up for adoption, I am going to attach the link to adoptable dogs to this blog. I encourage you to check them out because they're adorable. Here are the names of the four I got out.

JD / Rambo / Daisy / Pepper

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

The way PHS keeps track of whether or not volunteers are volunteering is through another website, my volunteer page, where you report your hours, they check to see if you've actually signed any dogs out that day, and then they approve your hours. It's a private site so I don't know if Professor Andrews, you would like me to login and show you my hours, or have me ask for physical sign-off.

Though if we are adding hours of travel, it would be a total of forty minutes roundtrip.