Work One Day in Their Shadow…

As a volunteer to the shelter I started just like everyone else; overwhelmed.  Immediately I saw opportunities to improve cleanliness, chances to simplify and streamline processes, and ways it could become a better place.  Just like others, I questioned why some things were they way they were, what the right answers were areI received various ones from various people, and why, why, why so many dogs end up here?  But I was determined to learn and understand more about the shelter because someday, I want to start my own dog daycare, but for now I just want animal welfare in KC to be drastically better than the status quo.

After volunteering for three days I started asking what else I could do, what else I could help with, and what could I do about the blisters on my feet?!  Understandably at first the staff was hesitant, imagine how many volunteers come in for a few days, weeks, even months, and then are gone forever.  The staff is so busy there’s only so much time they can invest in ‘helping volunteers understand.’  But I kept at it, I kept going, kept asking question, and kept trying to learn how things were done so I could support wherever possible, and maybe make some suggestions.

Now, after two and a half months, I have to draw back significantly on the time I spend there.  I have to go back to my ‘real job’ much earlier than I’d planned.  But in the time I have been there I am so grateful the staff allowed me to work a few days in their shadows. 

I understand how hard Courtney works on a given day to get through all the medical evaluations, give all the medications, shots, and assessments she can, along with all the vet appointments she takes during a given day.  It’s no wonder she’s so slender, she never sits down, she never rests, and she is forever full of energy for these dogs and gives 200% of that energy each day.  When she’s not there on Thursdays, we all miss her presence.

I see the frustration Sam works through dealing with the myriad public who call and take 20 minutes of a 30 minute phone call to talk about themselves, their dogs (living and deceased), and then say they might come to the shelter if we just get a purebred Pomeranian between 1 – 3 yrs that is good with dogs, cats, and already housebroken.  Then she picks up the phone again or answers  an email and starts over with another person to get a foster, an adoption, to get another dog out of the shelter.  I don’t think she’s had a day off for two weeks!

There were two days I helped Ashley intake all the dogs Animal Control brings to the shelter with barely complete reports to their origin, and then she has to shuffle dogs, find kennels for them, input their information to PetPoint, and post their kennel cards.  I don’t understand how one person does all she does, I know she needs at least two other people in her role to handle everything that comes in.  She also has to help compile the euthanasia list (she’s not the final word), it’s the only way she can make room for more dogs coming in every day.  That’s the job she faces five days a week.

Each day Mark, Zach, and Deena clean the kennels, and clean the kennels, and clean the kennels.  Sometimes they start when it’s still dark out, the dogs are always barking, and the urine and feces never ends.  I’m sure they’d like to get to know the dogs, to play with them or walk them, but there isn’t time.  With over 80 kennels, they have to clean them thoroughly every day (with the help of janitorial staff), spot clean them again at least once that day, and in some cases twice that day depending on the dog, the diarrhea, the vomit, the spilled water, the blood.  They often see the worst side of the dogs, the sickest and messiest sides, and they will come back the next day and face it all over again in addition to doing the mounds of laundry, and cleaning the rest of the shelter.  So if the women's bathroom is out of paper towels, it's not that they've neglected it, it's rather than they haven't had a minute to do it yet.

As volunteers who give hours of our lives we have to remember the lives who make a living at the shelter, that coming in every day isn’t a choice, it’s their job.  When we judge, question, or criticize, we have to remember some of them are doing the best they can with the time they have, with the insufficient supplies or inadequate work processes in place.  We also have to wonder what it would feel like if someone came into our workspace, into our cubicles or shops, and judged, questioned, or criticized what we did.  How would we feel?

I encourage every volunteer to take one day off in the next three months, and on that one day off volunteer to shadow one person at the shelter through their entire day.  Get to know them and ask questions to understand the ‘why’ and when there isn’t a ‘why’ but ‘just the way things are’ so you know what they face every day.  When we’re all on the same page, then we can begin to fight the same fight to get all these dogs out of the shelter and into loving homes; it’s what they want too!

(Note: This isn't to say improvements can't be made, they can, but we need to work together and fina common ground.)