April's Volunteers of the Month

Kirsten and Beth

We here at the BACS Dog Blog apologize profusely for the delay in announcing the Volunteer of the Month. We sheepishly admit that even the dog blog was not immune to Royal Wedding Fever, and we woke up in a panic on the last day of the month realizing that we had not completed our duties.

The occasion does give us chance to salute Her Majesty as a doglover - particularly Corgis.



Unfortunately, we must lessen our enthusiasm by noting that we highly doubt that the queen went to the Royal & Ancient Dog Pound to adopt her Corgis. If Her Majesty is a reader of the blog, perhaps she could shoot us a quick email to let us know that we are happily misled.

And as a final note, unlike many fashionistas the BACS Dog Blog approved of the queen's smart yellow ensemble for the wedding. However, the hat did veer towards resembling a cake.



Although it certainly put Princess Beatrice's "hat" to shame - back to the drawing board for you, Bea.



But we digress - even more than usual this time.

Beth and her daughter Kirsten have been volunteering for several months now. They are a great illustration of how volunteering can be a fantastic family activity. Kids love to be around animals! Having kids doesn't mean you should give up the shelter. Bring your kids along - they'll love it! Just watch Beth and Kirsten in action for a good example.

Beth and Kirsten have a particular affinity for Carla - which is certainly easy to understand. They can often be seen in Carla's kennel on the receiving end of a prime-time lickdown. Beth also takes Carla to BAD RAP class. Not sure why Carla has been at the shelter so long. She is one of our most adoptable dogs!

Thanks for all your hard work, Beth and Kirsten! It will make it even more rewarding when Carla finds her home.

What do you do when you're not at the shelter?

School and work take up a lot of our time but we enjoy family time, playing games at home, and coming to the shelter to work with the dogs. Of course we love to play with our own adopted dog, Smiley.


Why did you initially decide to volunteer at BACS?

I had been a devout web stalker of BadRap for a few years, reading about their work and the pit bull plight. When they had an open house in October, we took advantage of being able to meet the crew in person. At the open house we discovered BACS dogs could go to the BAD RAP classes, and kids could volunteer with parents starting at age 8. So it was the perfect setup - have the kids learn about dogs and work with pit bulls in BAD RAP class.

Kirsten and Carla:



What are your favorite things about volunteering?

Helping the animals whom we dearly love. Making them more adoptable by teaching them basic skills, being able to get the dogs out of the kennels and outside for stress relief. We love watching them sniff everything they possibly can, and roll in the grass with pure joy.


Who are your favorite dogs, past and present?

When we started, we met an "unknown" (new) dog coming into the shelter. The volunteer walking him said Kirsten could name him and thus he became Wally. He was a really good dog, smart puppy. We were glad to see he was adopted fairly quickly. Fred was a sweet boy who would "cry" when people weren't around - I was really happy when he got a home. Of course our favorite now is Carla whom I take to class on Sundays and we work with together on Saturdays.

Carla



Wally



Fred