Volunteering with a Dog Rescue Group

Volunteering your time to help a dog rescue group can be very rewarding. There are many choices of groups available to volunteer for: your local animal shelter or humane society, local dog rescue league, animal sanctuaries, or more specifically a rescue for a particular breed such as Brittany rescue, Golden Retriever rescue, Pug rescue, etc There is sure to be a group that fits your needs and all can use volunteers. There are many different ways you can volunteer. For shelters and sanctuaries you can help with the physical needs of the dogs such as feeding, walking, cleaning kennels and cages, bathing, grooming, and playing with them. Most breed specific dog rescue groups, as well as some other groups, utilize the foster home system. This means you open your home to a dog in need and provide for it until it is adopted to a new family. You work on socialization, housebreaking, crate training, and basic obedience while the dog is with you. This gives the dog a chance to spend time in a home environment and for you evaluate the dog's personality to determine what sort of home would be the best match for the dog. If you are unable to foster a dog there are any other ways you can help out. Rescue groups need help from people that can go to shelters to pick the dogs up and deliver them to a foster home.

Sometimes the foster home may be many miles (or states) away and it may take several drivers driving a "leg" (usually an hour or so) to deliver the dog safely to foster care. Sometimes the rescue group just needs somewhere near the shelter to evaluate a dog's temperament and to be certain it is the specific breed they work with. Most rescue and adoption groups require home visits prior to adoption. This is another area that volunteers are needed. Usually they will have a list of criteria for you to go over with the potential adopters. You also will take a look around their home to make sure the environment is a good match for the dog they are interested in adopting. By Kelly Anderson