Assist the Canine Care Team

About Paws With A Cause

Paws With A Cause (PAWS) exists to create opportunities to live with dignity, compassion, and confidence. We do our best work by embodying our core values: adaptability, dedication, innovation, and optimism.

Position: Assist Care Team

Objective:

Join our Canine Care Team in providing top quality care for our resident dogs. By volunteering with the Canine Care Team, you will help the Team nurture a healthy, mindful kennel! help our team feed, water, or enliven a dog’s day by giving them a toy. Help maintain safe and clean spaces by helping to clean the yards and provide clean inside living and play spaces for our four-legged friends. This volunteer opportunity will also allow you the space to play with some of our beautiful dogs! This opportunity takes place both outdoors and indoors.

Qualifications:

We are blessed at the CEC to have a group of wonderful dogs, and we would love to share them with as many people as we can. If you do not feel like you meet all the physical requirements, but still want to participate in some activities with or for our dogs, we will do our best to make arrangements so you can enjoy them. However, due to the great variation in our dogs and the fact that they "come and go" from our kennels, we cannot guarantee that we will always have a dog or situation suitable for all volunteers

Responsibilities:

• Wash food bowls, water buckets, and toys
• Redistribute water buckets and toys into kennels.
• Restock cleaning supplies and food room.
• Scoop yards and assist with cleaning kennels.
• Feed (offered only at certain times of day)
• Turn dogs out into yards.
• Clean floors using a floor cleaner.
• Monitor dogs under your care to ensure nothing inappropriate is eaten and no unsuitable behaviors are exhibited towards people or other animals.
• Report to the CEC supervisor any behavioral or medical observations.

Physical Demands:

Outdoors

Outdoor volunteers should feel comfortable traveling through doors and gates to reach our dogs. Outdoor activities take place year-round; as such, weather and temperature conditions will vary greatly. Accompanying dogs outside may require traveling across uneven terrain that could be slippery. Dogs enjoying time outside frequently play off lead (though still within fences), so participants should feel comfortable encountering free dogs. To access some outdoor activities, it may be necessary to walk dogs on lead or line.

Indoors

Indoor volunteers should feel comfortable traveling through doors and gates. Also, participants engaging in activities inside the kennel area will be exposed to noisy conditions and should plan to wear hearing protection. Our cement and tiled floors sometimes become wet and slippery when dogs come in after playing outdoors in inclement weather, or because of our daily cleaning procedures. Additionally, participants working in a grooming room, or the kennels during cleaning, should be aware of occasional high humidity and elevated temperatures. Dogs are sometimes given peanut butter treats while they relax indoors, so if you are allergic to dog dander or peanut butter, some activities may not be for you. Our dogs travel about inside both with and without a leash, so participants should feel comfortable handling dogs on leads as well as meeting free dogs

Minimum Age:

12 -16 with parental supervision

Annual Requirements:

3-month minimum commitment required

Training Needed:

• All training is provided by PAWS
• On site building and yard orientation with the CEC supervisor and Care Team

Volunteer Accessibility:

We are blessed at the CEC to have a group of wonderful dogs, and we would love to share them with as many people as we can. If you do not feel like you meet all the qualifications, but still want to participate in some activities with or for our dogs, we will do our best to make arrangements so you can enjoy them. However, due to the great variation in our dogs and the fact that they "come and go" from our kennels, we cannot guarantee that we will always have a dog or situation suitable for all volunteers.

You can apply for this opportunity and see what other opportunities are available by clicking on the following link: https://pawswithacause.org/individual-volunteering/

Paws With A Cause

Paws With A Cause(r) enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities nationally through custom-trained Assistance Dogs. PAWS increases the awareness of the rights and roles of Assistance Dog Teams through education and advocacy.

1 shift available:

• Hours are Monday - Friday. One day per week Shift hours vary based on your availability.: 09:00 to 18:00 EST