Adult Dogs.....

As of mid 2013 Tim and I have been volunteering a shift a week at the local SPCA. We both love animals and decided to take on this commitment as part of a leadership/volunteering award given by Victoria University. In short, you volunteer and participate in leadership while you're working towards your qualification and then receive the reward, via special ceremony, before you graduate. Since we don't have enough to do already it seemed like the perfect thing to pursue. :)

Tim started with Adult Dogs and has enjoyed every minute of every shift. I don't know how to describe it but he has some sort of connection with animals. They absolutely love him and become attached rather quickly. I remember visiting my favorite jewelry store in Bozeman, Alara, where the owner's pooch would accompany her to work. A big golden doodle she took it upon herself to greet every customer immediately when they set foot inside the door. We walked in and the pup ran up to Tim and within seconds was glued to his side accompanying him as we walked around. There's just something about him and critters, especially dogs, so it's no surprise that he wanted to work with them at the SPCA.

I've worked in Vet Care taking care of animals who are new to the center and need to be separated from everyone else to make sure they aren't sick. These critters reside in Quarantine until the vets decide they can moved to the main animal areas (Cat Run, Dog House, Puppy Run or Bunny Bach). We also look after any animal that is injured or recovering from surgery. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in Vet Care because there is such variety. One week we gave seven French Mastiff puppies a bath. Another time we took a turtle outside for his daily allotment of "sun time". While turtles are notoriously slow he tried to make a break for the tall grass at every opportunity. :) Just last week I was given the task of feeding a kuehne kuehne (coo-knee coo-knee) piglet. Oh. My. Goodness. One of the nurses pulled a huge bag of milk powder out of the cupboard and said to follow the instructions and mix it up in a big bowl. I had to laugh because my experience in research labs has made me proficient in the very simple task of measuring out the powder and liquid constituents of solutions. Admittedly, this was the first time I had to "tare" a scale to measure out milk powder. :) Lab skills do come in handy outside the lab! Who knew? So I mixed up the milk and tested it on my wrist, like a good mom, to make sure that it wasn't too hot for the little piggie. It was then the nurse came back and said, "Ok, when you give her the milk she gets really excited so it's best if you hold onto the sides of the bowl so she doesn't tip it over". With one eye on the bowl of liquid so I didn't slop any over the edge I made my way over to her cage, opened the door and set the bowl down. I was careful to hold onto it as the nurse specified and soon the piglet was looking over the edge of her bed and sniffing the milk. Then suddenly she connected the dots and had her little snout in the bowl happily slurping up the milk. While she was eating enthusiastically, I kid you not, she was emitting little sniffs and snorts that had me giggling like an idiot. It was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. During this process she would periodically look up at me jaw working to savor the milk while plenty of it was dripping off of her nose. Then she decided that she could be in a better position to get at the milk and that was when she put her tiny front hooves right into the bowl and continued to noisily slurp away. By then most everyone in the hospital was standing over where I was kneeling to take in the cuteness. :) Talk about melt your heart.

In the last few weeks I've also had the great privilege of observing surgeries. The vets and nursing staff extended this opportunity to me when I expressed interest soon after starting at the SPCA. Since we volunteer on Monday afternoons most weeks they would've already finished with the surgeries of the day but I kept asking every week and finally I was there when surgeries were happening. I know that I'm weird in this respect but I find anatomy and physiology absolutely fascinating and to watch survival surgeries is amazing. One afternoon I was observing as they were spaying/neutering kittens and they had a whole group to do. I perched near the door so I could watch without being in the way. When the first kitten was done the nurse wrapped it in a towel and handed it to me while she finished the paperwork. There is just something adorable about anesthetized animals. They are so floppy! And, as you can imagine, with kittens the adorableness factor skyrockets. :) As they did one kitten after another I got to hold each one as it was waking up - it might be the best job I've ever had. So it will come as no surprise that after every shift I float out of there on a cloud. It really does make you feel good knowing that you've played with some critters that need a good home or taken care of an animal that is sick.

Last week the people who run the Dog House emailed to see if Tim could cover a shift on Sunday from 12-3. He agreed to work it and talked me into going with him. I truly love Vet Care but I have been debating changing things up and moving to Adult Dogs. He suggested this would be a great opportunity to see if I liked it and we could work together. :) I wasn't sure what to expect but it was most definitely a different type of work. Vet Care tends to be fairly tranquil while working with dogs is chaos! When we arrived I met one of the main dog caretakers and we set to work bringing in the pups who were in the "runs" outside. While we have lots of space compared to the old facility there isn't enough room to have every pooch out in the dog runs at the same time so you have to rotate them. With leashes in hand we carefully inserted ourselves into one of the runs and started to wrangle the pups who were excited and jumping around. With my pup secure on the leash I made my way towards the house where each pup is assigned to a room and most have one or two roommate "puppy friends". Scratch that. I was pulled, no dragged into the house which was surprising because the dog I had was not particularly large. :) First lesson when working with dogs: they are incredibly strong. While I didn't have any problems or dogs escaping my hold it was a challenging full body workout! After we got the group into their rooms we moved the next group outside. Second lesson when working with dogs: if they don't want to go with you they will simply turn themselves into dead weight. This means that you have to carry them outside. While some I could manage there were others that I left to Tim because while I could've probably lifted the weight I was unable to do so when it was in the form of a huge, gangly pup! :)

So with groups swapped we started to work on cleaning out the now vacant rooms. That is, changing bedding if it was wet, straightening up beds and toys and finally doing a thorough mopping of the floors. Halfway through an adoption manager came through and ask if Tim would be willing to walk one of the pups with a potential adopter. He was happy to help and hurried off to get the dog on a leash and headed out. I finished cleaning up and by the time Tim came back it was time to bring the groups in from outside and prepare dinner. This was another round of wrangling wiggling pups of all sizes but we managed to get them inside and safely stowed in their rooms. Some dogs live by themselves while others have a roommate. What gets interesting is that there are a few rooms that house three dogs. Imagine putting one pup into the room and closing the door when he's trying to get his paws and nose outside. I was so worried that I would catch a paw in the door but then realized that the only real danger existed for my fingers. When you're gently pushing a puppy nose into the room while closing the door your digits are the ones in between the door and the frame. So you get the first pup into the room and close the door then comes the second one. Now you have to manage two wriggling pups as you put the one into the room while keeping the other inside. Then comes the last pup and in some instances you need a second person to help you keep the two pups inside while bringing the third into the room. Whew!

With everyone inside we began to make up the food bowls in which we mixed designated amounts of wet and dry food. Then each one was delivered to its recipient and only set on the floor once they sat. Without exception the food bowls were licked perfectly clean within minutes and we went around to collect them. With a pile of dirty bowls on the counter I filled the sink with hot, soapy water and set to scrubbing. Once rinsed we loaded them into the dishwasher to sanitize them. It was then I realized that our three hour shift had flown by and we were set to go home. I was exhausted but smiling as we signed out and started home. My clothes were wet and dirty but my heart was light. Now I have to make the difficult decision about whether I should transfer my shift from Vet Care to Adult Dogs. :) I'm really torn.