Jessica Collier

Journal Eight

Well, I have finished all of my hours so I have not been going to the shelter as much as I had been. I would like to go more but I am getting really busy with end of the year stuff. This week was pretty much the same as all of the other weeks. I cleaned out the puppy kennels and played with the puppies. There was one puppy that was coughing while I held it but I just could not tell the employees because I knew that they would put it to sleep. I already did that once to a puppy and I could not do it again. It made me feel terrible because all he needed was some medicine for the kennel cough. I am not sure if that was the right thing to do. There was one puppy that got adopted while I was there. One employee told me that it had been adopted once already but the people brought it back when they found out it had some sort of infection. I thought that was kind of strange because they had already gotten the medicine and everything for it. They gave the medicine to the new owner so she did not have to go to the vet and buy it.

I think that a lot of gossip must run through the animal shelter. I had not really noticed it before but this week I paid attention and a lot of the employees were talking about one another. I also found out that another volunteer had been talking about me. I know that gossip happens but I think it is good to keep it out of the work place as much as possible, especially an organization that focuses on helping the community. I guess I am not a fan of gossip but I do still enjoy volunteering. I have gotten to know the employees and I feel like I belong.

I really liked going to the shelter at the beginning because they had a lot for me to do. Now it seems like they do not have any work for me to do. I am not sure if they have more volunteers or if they are getting all of the work done before I get there. I like to stay busy and feel like I am needed. Lately, I have been feeling in the way and not very helpful. I think I will go back to the shelter in the fall and volunteer because I do enjoy going for the most part.

Jessica Collier
Journal Six

This week I decided that I should donate to the humane society. I brought in some bleach and newspapers. Those two items are very important to keep the shelter clean and running. They go through a lot of bleach with doing laundry and disinfecting the kennels. I think that bleach is one item that most people do not think of donating. Last week I heard the employees saying they were out of bleach and they were arguing over who was going to buy some. It is not an expensive product so I thought it would be the perfect thing for me to donate. I had wanted to donate something so this was a great opportunity. The employees were very appreciative when I brought it in.

There was not a lot for me to do this week. I mainly cleaned out puppy and cat kennels, fed the cats, and played with the puppies. There were other volunteers there so I was not able to play with the puppies in the kitchen area. I instead had to hold the puppies while walking around the shelter. This made me feel like I was in the way because there is not any extra room for someone to stand. Almost every inch of the shelter is occupied with supplies or people working. I did not feel like I accomplished a lot this week with helping the animals since they seemed to have everything under control without me. I did clean a little bit but it was not for the animals. I washed the employees’ dishes just so I did not feel useless. I do not know if they noticed but at least I was doing something.

Week Five

This week I went to the shelter with Crystal on Friday night. When we got there they asked us to clean out the puppy kennels. This is always a fun job. It is difficult getting the puppies in and out of the kennels. When we got to one kennel we realized that there was a red liquid all over the bottom of the cage that smelled terrible. The puppy looked awful. It was just sitting with its head down. Normally, the puppies go crazy and get really excited when you open their door but this one acted sick. We went and got an employee. They immediately told us to stay away from it and went and got a carrier to put it in. Of course, this means they were going to put the dog to sleep. It made me sad but I know that it had to be done to keep the other animals healthy. They sprayed the kennel with bleach and told us to not touch it. After we finished cleaning the kennels we got to take the puppies outside to play in a fenced in area. This was a lot of fun. The puppies seemed to really enjoy. The smaller puppies didn’t know what to do so they would follow me and Crystal around and wine. They were pretty pathetic in a cute way.
I cannot believe how much I enjoy going to the shelter each week. I have volunteered at shelters before but they had so many volunteers there wasn’t much work to be done. This shelter is different. There is always something to do. Even some of the jobs are dirty or sad it is still fun to go. I just kind of ignore the bad parts and focus on the good. Helping getting a dog adopted is the best feeling. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something and that I am important volunteer.dark/thumb.jpg

Jessica Collier

Journal Four

I felt pretty stupid this week while I was volunteering. When I got to the shelter I started doing some laundry. I had to wait for a load to dry before I could fold it so I decided I would clean up a little bit and sweep. I wanted to do a really good job so I was moving things to sweep behind them because I decided that it doesn’t get done that often. I pulled a huge tub a dog food away from the wall and started sweeping behind it. When I looked down I realized I had swept up a dead mouse and I screamed. The other workers asked me what was wrong and I had to explain. One woman told me to get used to it because they have a lot of dead mice. I really didn’t want to scream and look like a dork but it happened. I guess I am going to have to work on my fear of mice. I was proud of myself, though, because I did sweep it into the dust pan and put it in the trash all by myself! After I finished sweeping and doing laundry I cleaned some cat cages. They are much easier to clean since they use a litter box so it wasn’t too bad. After I finished that I walked some dogs and played with some puppies. It was interesting walking the dogs outside because they leash they gave me was really short and it didn’t have a handle. I had to hold on really tight and run when the dogs did because I couldn’t hold them back very well. I guess it was good for the dogs and me though. We both got some exercise.

I also finally found their mission statement. I must be blind because it is framed right up on the wall, “to promote the humane care and protection of all animals, especially those abandoned, neglected and abused and to prevent cruelty and suffering.” I think that the humane society does the best they can to accomplish their mission. The facilities aren’t great but it is what they have to work with for now. They do take in every animal that is brought to them and they take them for free most of the time. They are supposed to charge people if they drop an animal off but if a person cannot pay they take the animal anyway. They do not turn away any animals and all the animals get a least a week to try to be adopted.

Jessica Collier

Journal Three: 2/12/07-2/17/07

This week was terrible! When I got there they told me to go into the back and bathe some dogs. I did this but it was terrible because there is no heat back there. I felt bad for the dogs because they were soaking wet and cold. I bathed them as fast as I could and rushed them to the special dryer they have. After that I cleaned out nine puppy cages that were in the back. While I was cleaning out the cages a woman came out from where the full grown dogs are cussing up a storm. I wasn’t sure why she was cussing until she threw a dead dog on the floor in front of me. I didn’t know what to do so I tried to ignore it and continue cleaning. She finally went and got a trash bag and threw the dead dog in it. I guess the dog had died during the night. After I finished cleaning the puppy cages they had me do laundry. My hands were so cold by this point because I had gotten them wet bathing the dogs, using a rag and soap water to clean out the cages, and now putting wet laundry into the dryer. I am not supposed to get cold because I have raynauds (poor circulation in my hands and feet) but I did not want to complain because I wanted to help as much as I could. They had a little space heater so I would go stand by that for a few minutes every half hour or so. I could not imagine how cold the dogs were tough because they were getting their kennels hosed out and they were soaking wet. This shelter needs a new building and heat really bad.

The whole time I was working this one woman that works there kept saying that she needed this man to get back from Pet’s Mart because they were running out of room. This is the man that puts the animals to sleep. It bothered me that she kept saying that. I didn’t want to think about which ones they were going to choose to put down. I asked her how they decide and she told me that after a week they decide whether a dog is adoptable or not. If they decide that they are not adoptable then they get put to sleep. A week is not a long time.

I was talking to my mom about all of these problems after I volunteered and she told me that I should write to the Joplin Globe but I guess the city of Joplin already knows about these problems. I found an article online that the Joplin Globe had written about the shelters problems. Apparently, around 70 percent of the animals they receive get put to sleep. Here is the link to the article: http://www.joplinglobe.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_040231822.html

Jessica Collier

Week Two: 2/4/07-2/10/07

This week was very interesting for me. I actually got to do some dirty work at the shelter. I went with Crystal Boles this time and we got to clean out the puppy cages. This was a very messy job. A lot of the dogs have problems because they eat different foods all the time since their food is donated. So, you can imagine what we had to clean up. They didn’t really tell us how we were supposed to clean the cages so we kind of had to figure it out on our own. We made quite a mess with the shredded paper that we put into the kennels. We probably cleaned about ten puppy kennels. After we did that we held some puppies and decided to explore the back part of the shelter. In the back they keep the full grown dogs and puppies that are not up for adoption yet. There is no heat back there and it is not really clean. Some of the walls are falling down too. Crystal and I saw a mouse run into the wall. I hate mice so it was very difficult for me not to scream. This made me sad. I can understand putting full grown dogs back there because they have big coats to keep them warm but the puppies don’t. They do not even put blankets or dog beds in their cages. All they get is shredded paper for warmth. They have blankets and stuff but they do not but them in their kennels. They keep them on shelves so I do not understand why they don’t put them in with the dogs.

When we were getting ready to leave we asked one worker if he liked his job. He said that he didn’t like it that much because he is the one that has to put the animals to sleep. I do not think that anyone could do that job and be a happy person.

Jessica Collier

Week One: 1/28/07-2/3/07

I am volunteering at the Joplin Humane Society. I went there a week ago to sign some papers and set up my volunteering schedule. My first impression of this organization was not very good. Before I even walked in the front door I could smell the stench of dogs and cats. It did not appear to be very clean to me when I went inside but I was only there for a minute so I did not want to start judging too much. The next afternoon I went back to start volunteering. When I first got there they asked me why I was volunteering. I explained to them that I was there for a class at Missouri Southern. It seemed like they wanted to make sure I wasn’t there for other reasons such as community service for getting in trouble. I was told that I could take the puppies out and play with them in a small room. The room was tiny, dirty, and there were bugs crawling around. I was not too impressed but after a few minutes I forgot all about that because the puppy I had out was so scared. I immediately jumped into action and tried to comfort him. After a few minutes of me holding him I put him on the floor to explore. Of course, he had to do his business all over the floor so I had to clean it up. I soon realized that all of the puppies do this when I sit them on the floor. I played with the puppies for two hours that evening and I cleaned up a lot of their messes.

That night I thought about how the volunteering had gone. I wished that they had given me more to do. I don’t mind cleaning or doing dirty tasks. Doing more activities actually makes the time go by faster. I decided that the next day I would try to talk to the people who work there to see if there was more that I could do.

The next day when I arrived I was surprised to see so many people stopping by to drop off donations. I did not realize how many donations animal shelters get. They received newspapers, dog and cat food, and bedding for the animals. I was also surprised to see so many people cleaning. I thought that no one cleaned there but I realized that the animals are just really dirty and it is hard to keep the shelter clean all day long. I talked to the people that work there more and I realized that all they really want me to do is play with the puppies. I did that some more but this time I took the puppies out of the little room they had me go in before and I visited with some people looking to adopt. I was so proud of myself because I actually convinced one couple to adopt a puppy. I told them that I had played with it the day before and that it is really sweet. I did have the problem though of people thinking that I worked there. They would start asking me questions and I would have to explain that I didn’t know anything because I am only a volunteer.

This experience has been pretty good so far and I am looking forward to going again. One man at the shelter said that I was probably looking forward to getting all of my hours in as soon as I could so I didn’t have to come anymore. I told him that I actually enjoyed coming and that I didn’t mind getting messy. I am not sure he believed me but hopefully I will be able to prove that to him in the next seven weeks.

response paper

Response to Stereotypes Presentation
I learned many things while researching stereotypes in the media. This topic has always interested me so I was glad that I got to do a presentation over it. I think it is interesting to explore how the media affects our everyday lives because we do not normally think about this. The media is all around us affecting most of our decisions and yet we do not realize it. I learned so many things while researching.
I wish we had more time to present we had researched to the class. I learned so much but I felt that I was not able to go into detail and explain the things that most interested me because of the time limit. If there had not been such a short time limit I feel that I would have been able to go into more detail and the class would have appreciated my presentation more. I felt like I was only able to discuss the basics of stereotypes in the media. It may have been a better idea to discuss the basics in a couple of class periods before we started our presentations. That probably would have made the presentations more interesting and understandable.
The discussion after our presentation did not seem to go very well. I was not sure where the discussion was supposed to lead to. I think we may have needed a little more guidance in leading the discussion. I also think the class should have been more involved in the discussion. That would have made things more interesting and enjoyable. I think the discussion may have gone better if we had a more controversial topic. More people would probably join in the conversation and stated their opinion. There is not much to debate about stereotypes. I think that for the most part people would agree that stereotypes exist and will never go away.
Overall I think we could have done a better job with our presentation if there were a few changes made.