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LOCAL VOLUNTEERING

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Canine Assistants! Please read all of the information below before filling out an application.

Volunteers play a vital role in our day-to-day operations at Canine Assistants. We have a wonderful team of volunteers on which we rely on heavily, and we’re so grateful for the dedication that they show us on a daily basis. Our certification process is fairly lengthy, which helps us ensure that we get to know our volunteers and that they are confident and well-equipped to work with our dogs.

Our greatest volunteer need is fostering/home visits, which involve having a young dog at home a few nights or weeks at a time. Our teaching methodology is The Bond Based Approach, so building a bond over time is what is best for the dogs and their education process. It’s quite different from any other common dog education method. In fact, we don’t even consider our dogs trained at all! Our dogs are shown through bond-based learning/exercises how to manage their own behavior and not rely on directives from a human handler. Please know that when you come to Canine Assistants to volunteer, we do not use behavioral dog training or any sort of rewards-based or action-consequence type of system to work with our dogs. Bond-Based is really just about facilitating a relationship with your dog and letting all of the other expectations fall away. Because we focus so much on the dogs’ ability to bond well, we ask that all volunteers commit to a minimum of a year with us. Becoming a foster volunteer does require some daytime availability in order to be properly on-boarded. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age (or be accompanied by a certified volunteer). Please note, there are other volunteer opportunities that do not involve home visits, but they are less frequent. Send us an email to ask about these opportunities.

Our established volunteers help us in all of the following areas:

  • Grooming– grooming dogs to keep them healthy and beautiful, including bathing and brushing.
  • Dog Walking/Playtime– helping our dogs learn to walk well using our WeLeash (designed by our founder) and have fun while gaining physical strength and confidence.
  • Instructional Outings– taking dogs on public outings. Outings are instrumental in exposing our dogs to a variety of environments which they will encounter when placed with a recipient.
  • Home-Visits– overnight for a few nights or up to a couple weeks to help dogs acclimate to different home environments and exposures. The longer they are home, the more they can relax and become more comfortable and can start to learn new things.
  • Fostering– in the foster program, volunteers are assigned a puppy or 2 that they work with on a consistent basis until the dog is ready to graduate. Volunteer fosters provide invaluable help to the dog instructing staff with socialization, Bond-Based social learning exercises, and much more, but they do not keep the dog on a full-time basis.
  • Nursery Team– several shifts a day to help care for our newborn puppies and their precious mom. They stay in the nursery up to 7 weeks. Nursery team volunteers also take the puppies on “mini” outings and work on socialization as well.
  • Animal Assisted Activities, Education, and Therapy – participate in animal assisted activities at assisted living facilities, rehabilitation facilities, schools, hospitals and local events.
  • K-9 Reading Program – take dogs to local schools to encourage kids to practice reading. Studies show their literacy improves and it is a great experience for our dogs.

Things to note about volunteering:

Working with our dogs is a full-on contact sport, so volunteers best suited for these opportunities must be comfortable handling dogs weighing up to 70 pounds.

Our dogs may find their purpose/placement at any age so keep that in mind. We fill them with love so they can go on to go great things and love others.

It is a dirty but very rewarding experience!

If this sounds like a fit for you, please fill out the application below. It will take us a few weeks to review and respond.

https://www.canineassistants.org/volunteer-application/