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.