Right after school on Tuesday, February 4, 2019, I took a 30 minute drive to the Laurie P. Andrews PAWS Center with Jose Antonio Reyna to complete our volunteer process.
Dog and Cat Training Orientation
In order to be able to attend a Dog and Cat Care Training Orientation, you are required to go the basic Volunteer Training. You can look more into process on the first part of this series, just click here. Anyway, since the training was right after school, thirty minutes past four, Jose and I got there a little bit late and missed the first chunk of the presentation which explained how to take care of the dogs and how to treat them. Ricardo Ybarra, the volunteer coordinator was really cool and just emailed us the presentation so that we could look over it. When we got there, there were only three more people so it was really easy to engage with Ricardo and it felt more personal. Ricardo continued the presentation and went into cat care, remarking that cat care is basically the same as the dog care. Lastly, Ricardo asked if there were any questions. Once that was done we were ready to get hands-on learning.
After the presentation, we got a tour of the facility and we were shown the laundry and dishwashing rooms and how to handle the equipment. Then, we were taken to a room in the back, where rows and rows of spacious cages take up the space; each one of them has between 2 or 3 dogs. These cages also have a divider that can make one rectangular cage, into two square ones to keep the dogs apart. Also, at the top right hand corner, there is information about every dog that is in the cage; the date they were taken in, their name, breed and estimated age. As we all walked around, the dogs started barking and jumping and basically asking for our attention. Some were timid, while others really went off and ran in circles, barked, and were simply excited.
Once Ricardo showed us around, he showed us how to take a dog for a walk and how to prepare. He picked one person from the group to help him out, and that person happened to be Jose. Since the cage had three dogs, Ricardo needed Jose to go to the other side of the cage and attract the other dogs to the opposite side. Once that was done, Ricardo instantly divided the cage and now had one single dog in a cage. Then, he showed Jose how to open up the lock in a quick manner and enter the cage quickly. Finally, Jose was in and first he let the dog smell the leash and his hand so that the dog could be familiar with him. Finally, the dog was calm enough so Jose could put the leash on him and go to the yard. We all continued to do so and played with the dogs for a while.
Lastly, we were taken to the cat room where we could interact with the cats, but we had to be extremely careful not to scare the cats because they could get sick. Personally, I liked being in the cat room more because the cats are pretty chill. They do not require that much attention. You can literally just sit there, read a book, and let the cats come to you. I know I will be spending a lot of time in that room.
Overall
The Laurie P. Andrews PAWS Center is in desperate need of volunteers, so I really encourage anyone reading this to reach out, attend these orientations, and simply have a good time with animals. Honestly, the staff is really nice and the process to become a volunteer is not that tedious. I mean, they are doing it for the wellness of the animals so that they can be treated with care and respect.
I know I will be spending a lot of time in the center and I encourage you all to do so, too.
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