I'm Going To Be A Volunteer At Our Humane Society!

[KikiDeAnime]

As of December 1st 2018, I'll be a volunteer at our Humane Society.
I'll be helping out at our nearby Petco taking care of the adoptable cats!
With me taking care of the cats at Petco, I'll be away from my own two cats. I don't really like being away from them but until I get a job, I want to get as much experience with different things. Luckily I still live with my family so my cats will be taken care of while I'm gone for 2 hours a day for 6 months.

I'm excited to be doing this volunteer job. I've always wanted to volunteer at the humane society but until recently I knew I wasn't ready. There were a lot of things I needed to learn and take care of first before I could make the decision to volunteer. Mainly I needed to learn to control my anger issues first.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is improving my social skills as I will have to talk to customers about the cats there. Due to a past incident, I've never really been social until my church's college group helped me open up to people and make new friends. Currently being 21 and having friends is a great thing! But I do still lack a lot of social skills.


If any of you have volunteered at humane societies, let me know below! I'd love to hear your stories!

 

[DobieLover]

I have not had the opportunity to volunteer for any animal charity but did volunteer for an environmental conservation center when I was in college.
I'm happy you are so excited to be helping out animals in need! Congratulations.

 

[N F C]

Good for you! I've done some volunteer work but not at the humane society. You should have some interesting experiences there. I hope you'll share some stories with us!

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I volunteer at our local Humane Society. Ours is a no-kill shelter, and they frequently get overloaded with cats and dogs. Because of my work schedule, I can't volunteer on a regular basis, but I go in when I can. I play with the cats (large open rooms where cats run free), walk dogs, and answer questions. It is so much fun! On weekends, I take my ten year old to play with the cats.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I did volunteer work at the San Diego Humane Society in the early 2000's ... LOVED IT I will never understand why those that volunteer think that PLAYING with the animals is what they're there for No one wanted to CLEAN, which was my favorite thing to do. Majority rushed thru the cleaning to get to the playing, I took my time and made sure everything was disinfected too. It was a "job" and went there 7 days a week until I had to find a paying job. Then ended up at PetCo, again cleaning cages was not everyones favorite so I volunteered to do all the cleaning but that wasn't to be, we had to "share".

 

[drumstick diva]

The more you use your social skills, the sharper they will become.

 

[N F C]

Have you started your volunteer work by now? Hope it's going well for you!

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I did volunteer work at the San Diego Humane Society in the early 2000's ... LOVED IT I will never understand why those that volunteer think that PLAYING with the animals is what they're there for No one wanted to CLEAN, which was my favorite thing to do. Majority rushed thru the cleaning to get to the playing, I took my time and made sure everything was disinfected too. It was a "job" and went there 7 days a week until I had to find a paying job. Then ended up at PetCo, again cleaning cages was not everyones favorite so I volunteered to do all the cleaning but that wasn't to be, we had to "share".

They don't let volunteers clean at our humane society. When I did my training, they said that due to the "dangerous" nature of the cleaning solution (bleach), only paid workers can do it. I thought that was a little extreme, but maybe they had someone complain in the past. I can wash dishes, and scoop poop.

 

[JedJackson]

That is excellent. Congratulations on your new opportunity. I hope it goes well and you make the most of it, because speaking from experience, volunteering can definitely lead to good jobs.

As far as social skills go, remember that we are all just people, and we are all flawed. It helps to think of this in frustrating or scary situations. Just be yourself and I am certain you will do well.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Have you started your volunteer work by now? Hope it's going well for you!

At the orientation, the lady said that those who were going to help out with the cats needed to take a cat handling class which I'm waiting for her to email me about since I have to sign up. After the class, I'll be shadowing a mentor.