Having some doggone fun
If you have a dog in your family, you probably know how important exercise and entertainment are to your pet’s well-being.
Dogs in local animal shelters have an even greater need for exercise and human contact to help them manage the stress of their displacement.
Responding to a plea from the Spokane Humane Society, a small but dedicated group of volunteers gives those dogs the exercise they need and love.
Susan Moyer has been walking dogs for the Spokane Humane Society for almost two years.
New to Spokane, she was looking for a way to become involved with her community when an ad for the Parade of Paws, the Humane Society’s spring fund-raiser, caught her eye. Parade of Paws is a walking/jogging event that allows people to parade their dogs, or dogs from the shelter, on a four-mile circuit.
“I’m a jogger myself – well, now that I’m older, it doesn’t look much like jogging – but I thought: I can do that,” Moyer said.
Her jogging partner that first day was a shelter dog that ran the entire route with her and stole her heart. She went back to the Humane Society regularly to see how the dog was doing.
By the time Moyer’s canine buddy was adopted, the weekly visits to the shelter were part of her life’s routine.
“I stopped going for about five months when I took a job in Idaho,” Moyer said. “When the job ended, I went back, and the dogs that were still there remembered me. It was really amazing.”
Moyer likes the large outdoor area that the Humane Society has available for walks. She takes three to six dogs out per day and walks them for 25 minutes.
“We talk while we’re walking. I ask them how things are going and who has been adopted. Sometimes they engage in the conversation, sometimes they don’t, but I talk anyway.”
To some people, an animal shelter is depressing. The sight of so many dogs locked in cages, and the thought of their fate if not adopted, keep many people from visiting.
Amanda Lukenbill, one of the younger dog walkers, has a different perspective.
“People ask me how I do it, but for me it has had a positive personal impact. Dogs accept you as you are, and that helps people come out of their shell and blossom,” she said.
Lukenbill is a 10th-grader at Lewis and Clark High School, who started looking to volunteer when she was 14.
“Many places don’t let you volunteer until you are 16, and I didn’t want to wait,” she said. “My mom had to come with me when I started, but when the staff at the Humane Society saw that I could handle the dogs alone, they let me come by myself.”
Lukenbill is at the Humane Society every Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. She walks 12 dogs each day and mixes training with the walks.
“I think it is very important for the family that adopts them to have a dog that has been started on his training.”
The more information a family has about the dog it wants to adopt, the more successful the adoption will be. Although many dogs come to the shelters with little information, the dog walkers get to know them.
Jennifer Dammel is a dog walker at Spokane Regional Animal Protection Services. Every Saturday morning she, Tammy Frear and Mags Shaffer walk every dog at the shelter and take their pictures to post them on www.petfinder.com.
“I try to get to know the dogs when I’m walking them. That way when people come in looking for a dog to adopt, I can tell them what I know and help them determine if the dog is right for their family,” Dammel said.
How well they walk on the leash, if they know commands or if they play too rough for small children are all things she watches for.
If you have a passion for dogs, immersing yourself in a dog-filled environment poses some risk. Single-dog households are the exception among the volunteer dog walkers.
County regulations and someone else in the household to help you set reasonable limits is helpful. Moyer’s husband does that for her, and she is thankful or her house would be overrun with favorites she brought home.
Moyer already has two Lab mixes at home, and Lukenbill’s three dogs were all adopted from the Humane Society. Moyer also has many favorites at the shelter.
“I particularly like to take out the new ones who seem to be anxious and frightened about their new environment,” she said. “It helps to calm them down.
“When I walk a dog like that, sometimes I have to come back more often to see how they are doing.”
Local animal shelters rely heavily on volunteers to get things done that the staff is unable to do.
Both SCRAPS and the Humane Society have 120 to 150 names on their volunteer lists. But many don’t come back after their orientation, said Diane Rasmussen, volunteer and outreach coordinator at the Humane Society.
“I am very honest about the potential emotional toll this type of volunteer work can take on people,” Rasmussen said. “I tell them that, in order to manage that, you have to think less about how you feel and more about how good you’ve made the dogs feel even if it is just for 15 minutes.
“Currently about 20 people come to the shelter with any regularity.”
Rasmussen added: “We need about 60 regular dog walkers in order to get the number of dogs we have adequately exercised and socialized.”
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to volunteer time for a good cause, becoming a dog walker may be right for you.
It requires no particular technical skill, just a few hours a week, the ability to put something else’s feelings ahead of your own, and an indifference to Spokane weather.