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I’m currently a full time student for premed, so I can’t take a class in the hospital in the mornings. I was wondering if I could take a class online and volunteer at the local hospital for my on hands training skills.
If you have any answers, ideas, anything, it will help. Thank you.

Best to discuss this with your faculty adviser and the hospital personal office..

What do they do with the dogs? Do the volunteers only get to walk them, play with them, and pet them or are they also asked to bathe the dog?

Every shelter has different policies, so the best way to be sure is to call up the shelter.

That said, in my experience there are tons of different types of jobs for volunteers at shelters. These include, feeding, cleaning cages, bathing, walking, grooming, and even holding the animals for photos for the online adoption site

Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and shelters are always in need of volunteers. Don’t expect to get involved in everything right away, but the sooner you start volunteering the quicker the shelter gets to know you and the more things you will be entrusted with.

Good luck!

I’m going to be spending 5 weeks working at Dogs Trust next year.

How hard is it in general to cope with the state of some of the dogs and the horror stories? Bearing in mind that my eyes often well up at Animal Cops Houston?

Cruelty cases are not as common as those shows make them seem, unless it is a very high volume shelter with an active investigation unit (for example, the Houston SPCA re-homes more than 5,000 cats a year). Normal smaller shelters or those without investigation units (investigation units at shelters are rare) see few cruely cases at all, usually less than a handful a year. Volunteers are generally not permitted to handle animals involved in cruelty cases until after the court case, and only urgent treatment for life-threatening issues can be done prior to ownership being awarded by a court if the owner did not voluntarily surrender ownership.

You are likely to see a lot of animals surrendered for stupid reasons. The ones that stand out most to me were the pair of russian blue cats surrendered because the owner redecorated and they didn’t match the new color scheme (I did the intake on that one), and the 10 week old Yorkshire Terrier surrendered because they carried him around and held him for the first week they had him, then the kids got bored and they were annoyed by the crying when they put him down.

What I find most difficult are the animals put down for essentially someone’s stupidity. For example, a shelter I volunteered at several years ago had a beautiful little Staffordshire Bull Terrier that had been seized as part of a cruelty case. The dog was required by law to be confined to its kennel until the case was heard by a judge and the dog’s ownership was decided. She could not be walked, and workers could not enter the kennel with her in it (she had to be shut into the outdoor portion prior to cleaning the indoor portion and vice versa). The dog was very sweet, trying to lick everyone’s hands through the chain link, and constantly begging for attention we could not give her, though many volunteers would sit outside the kennel and talk to her. This arrangement continued for around six months before the court case was finally decided and she was awarded to the shelter. The day that happened, an idiotic newer teenaged volunteer decided to walk her. She took her on a VERY short walk (think five minutes’ worth), and took her back to her kennel. The dog resisted going back in- she’d been in this kennel for SIX MONTHS and got five minutes of freedom, of course she didn’t want to be put back. Rather than having some patience or asking for help, the teen grabbed her roughly and SHOVED her into the kennel. The dog (understandably) snapped at the teen. Skin was not broken, but the shelter had a zero tolerance policy for any display of aggression. She was euthanized the next day, which happened to be a day I volunteered. To see such a nice dog lose out on a chance of a home due to the stupidity of a kid was the hardest day in my many years of volunteering at shelters.

I am going to Africa next year to volunteer for at least 6-8 months at a school for the handicapped. I would like to look for affordable travel medical insurance for volunteers, because obviously I won’t be making much money, and I have limited funds. If I get sick while volunteering in Africa and I need medical assistance, I want to be at the best hospital available and I want my insurance to cover the costs. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

FrontierMEDEX offers various travel medical insurance policies. You can view them at www.medexassist.com. You can also call 1-800-732-5309 and they will walk you through all of the policies and options to choose the right one for you.