Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013 • Changes coming for animal shelter volunteer program
Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013 edition of the Lassen County Times.
Changes are coming to the Lassen County Animal Shelter volunteer program and are designed to make all unadoptable animals adoptable.
Samster the Hamster, one of Jackie Earnshaw’s trained and award-winning dogs, shows how well behaved, trained dogs are often the first to be adopted. It is Earnshaw’s goal to make all animals in the shelter calm and trained.Under the guidance of designated volunteer coordinator Jackie Earnshaw, owner of Sit Spot Canine Center in Johnstonville, she hopes to bring in an abundance of volunteers to help train, calm and socialize the animals in the shelter.
“It is my dream to turn the Lassen County Animal Shelter into an OpenPaw Shelter,” said Earnshaw. “And to turn the (local shelter) into the single best place to get a companion animal.”
The OpenPaw program, which Earnshaw is striving toward, focuses on teaching and correcting problems with sheltered animals and future owners to prevent possible mental health problems and to keep animals in homes and out of shelters.
She hopes to have volunteer applications out and the program running by the end of August, or hopefully before.
Right now, Earnshaw is focusing on getting a large number of consistent, regular volunteers to help in the shelter. According to her, the volunteers don’t have to come every day, just a couple times a week, and even on lunch breaks.
Some of the responsibilities, as of now, will include walk throughs where volunteers can walk in the kennels and give dogs treats under their door, which may, ultimately, teach dogs to be calm and not jump when prospective owners walk in the shelter.
Additionally, volunteers may just sit and read to shy cats and dogs to familiarize them with people. Some people may work in the office and others will be trained by knowledgeable handlers in order to train animals how to sit, stay and walk on leash. Also, some talented volunteers could even take photos of the animals that show their positive, best side of the home-seeking animal, as opposed to showing them afraid and in a cage.
“There’s a lot of stuff we can do,” said Earnshaw. “And it’s entirely doable.”
A list of volunteers is already in the works; however, Earnshaw said she is looking to add many more names and emails.
