Apr 26, 2024

In honor of Volunteer Appreciation Week, we asked a volunteer, Anish
K. to share their own personal experience as an APA! Volunteer. Anish’s
APA! Volunteer journey began 1.5 years ago!

It’s blissful to write about the emotions I experience when I visit APA!. I always visit on Wednesdays for the Total Obedience Program (TOP) and Canine Good Citizen (CGC) classes and stay on to walk dogs until closing time. In addition to Wednesdays, I also make it on one or both days of the weekend to walk dogs. The excitement usually starts the previous day – when I start dreaming about meeting my favorite dogs and spending time with them. *Mental Note: Make sure I have enough treats before I head out, or else the pups aren’t going to let me in! If it’s a Wednesday, I make sure I wrap up work by around 4:30 and make my way to APA!. If it’s the weekend, the hardest part is to get out of bed, but trust me, it’s totally worth it.

The doggos’ welcoming barks amp up the environment as I approach the kennels. The barks can feel overwhelming and at first, intimidating, but they are excited to get out after all! As I got to know the dogs more, the barking became less intimidating I can say that it’s only their excitement and their own sweet way of saying “hi.” <3

Now, comes the toughest part. I firmly believe every volunteer experiences the same emotions. There are a bunch of doggos that need to get out: WHO DO YOU PICK TO WALK FIRST! To address this very challenge, APA! has clearly laid down guidelines that volunteers need to first pick the “walk only” dogs vs. those that can go to play group and to focus first on those that haven’t gone out yet.

I sign the dogs out on the whiteboard, and make my way to their kennel. Usually they’re at the door waiting to greet me, especially if they’re my favorites. If they are sleeping in the bedroom, I make small sounds to announce my entry. They spring out of sleep and come running out to the door to greet me. I summarized this in a small sentence but that joy of watching a dog running up to say hi and being excited to meet you – that’s satisfaction and gratification right there. I walk them to the play yards and first let them sniff around and give them time to finish their “business.” A few of them are done with their business right after we get to a yard, some of them even on the way to the yard. But some of them need to completely sniff the place out and find the right spot. A few dogs are also so scared from all the noises in the shelter environment that it requires several minutes of relaxation. I’d be so curious about what goes on in each of their minds.

I let them choose how to spend the majority of their time out of the kennel — whether getting out their zoomies or going in for cuddles (now we’re talking MY TYPE!). It’s incredibly adorable when dogs put their legs on you and just wait for you to pet them while they watch the world. These are moments that define why I do what I do. Then, if the mood is right, I work dogs on basic obedience skills. Then, we make our way back to the kennel. Sometimes, I spend some time in there to help them decompress, and then I go on to walk the next dog. I also take the opportunity to clean up the kennel if it is messy.

Once all of the dogs have been walked or I’m out of energy, I will go spend extra time with some of my buddies in their kennels. How each of the dogs react in these moments is very precious. My favorite Bubbles, Mellie Mel and Mamselle (now adopted!) park themselves cozily with their heads on my lap. It’s an amazing emotion of having won the trust of dogs to the extent that they’re comfortable going into deep sleep on your lap in a stressful shelter environment. Love and compassion can help them relax, decompress and feel secure. Bubbles doesn’t even let me look at my phone when she’s relaxing with me — both of my hands need to be massaging her and she’ll doze off in a minute or two. The moment I stop massaging, she’ll wake up, look into my eyes and give me a nudge with her snoot, which translates to: “what makes you think you can stop those massages?” Each of them have their own cute way of showing us their love, and everybody needs to experience it, unconditional bottomless pit full of love!

And then, I leave with hard feelings (thinking, “how quickly I can get back to see them!”), which is usually not too many days at a time, but yeah, I’m human – I have FOMO! Especially with this active and vibrant community posting a lot of pictures on our volunteer Facebook page, it’s hard not to miss the doggos! I’m not sure if I did enough justice expressing what I feel and experience on a typical day. So, I urge everyone to come experience it yourself! We help them, they help us. Join us and experience the love! Over time, I have made so many good friends and met so many people – it’s so relaxing and inspiring to meet this community of people who give their everything for the well being of our doggos. A big shoutout to my fellow volunteers and good friends.

Source: Austin Pets Alive