In this practical episode, host Penny Ellison speaks with Megan, a dedicated volunteer with 17 years of experience at the Pennsylvania SPCA. They explore how to overcome the intimidation of volunteering at animal shelters and the various ways anyone can make a meaningful difference in shelter animals’ lives.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:00 Breaking Down Volunteering Barriers: Penny discusses why many animal lovers hesitate to volunteer and how to bridge the gap between wanting to help and actually helping
- 02:30 Starting the Volunteering Journey: Megan shares how she began volunteering with a friend and formed bonds with individual dogs that kept her coming back
- 04:15 Navigating Shelter Orientation: How the orientation process helps new volunteers feel comfortable and prepared
- 06:45 Exploring Diverse Volunteer Roles: Beyond dog walking – making enrichment toys, handling events, photography, cat work, and media appearances
- 09:30 Creating Flexible Volunteering Schedules: How even busy people can fit meaningful volunteering into their lives
- 11:15 Shelter Success Stories: Megan recounts helping a struggling shelter dog find a foster home
- 13:00 Media Exposure for Adoptable Animals: How television appearances help increase adoption rates
- 15:30 Taking Dogs on “Off-Site” Adventures: The benefits of getting dogs out of the shelter environment
- 18:45 Managing Emotional Challenges: Strategies for handling difficult days, especially in the post-COVID era
- 21:30 Personal Growth Through Volunteering: How 17 years of shelter work transformed Megan into an empath
Penny notes that just two hours of volunteering weekly provides shelter animals with 104 hours of human interaction annually. Megan emphasizes the volunteer community as vital support: “You are part of this giant family… you’re all there for the same reason.”
Transcript
Hey there. Welcome to the Animal Advocate. I’m so glad you’re here.
You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through social media and you see a post from your local shelter? Maybe one with a big headed dog or a senior cat still waiting for a home after months, and something inside you whispers, I should help. But then …you don’t. It’s not because you don’t care. You’re listening to this podcast after all. It’s because something gets in the way. Maybe it’s time. How could you possibly fit one more commitment into your already overflowing schedule? Maybe it’s fear of emotional attachment or having your heart broken. Or maybe it’s something as simple as not knowing what to expect when you walk through those shelter doors for the first time, just like the fear lots of people have of walking into any crowded room alone. Here’s what I’ve noticed. The gap between wanting to help and actually helping often comes down to uncertainty, not unwillingness. Today, we’re going to close that gap together.
Welcome to The Animal Advocate, where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host, Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 02/2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web at animaladvocacyacademy.com. And that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources, and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So on to today’s topic.
On today’s episode, we’re talking to Megan, a volunteer for, I think, seventeen years at the Pennsylvania SPCA. She’s not a professional dog trainer. She doesn’t have a trust fund that gives her unlimited free time. She works full time, has her own family obligations and her own pets, and the same twenty four hours in a day that you and I have. What she’s going to share today isn’t anything extraordinary or earth shattering, and that’s exactly what makes it valuable. The most effective shelter volunteers aren’t superhuman. They’re just like you and me. They’re people who simply showed up, found a way they could contribute, and kept coming back. When she’s at the shelter, Megan can usually be found walking dogs, but shelters need all kinds of help, including some that has nothing to do with directly handling animals. Can you take decent photographs? Shelters desperately need better adoption photos. Can you create a spreadsheet and organize names and times of people who volunteered to work an event? Can you do laundry? The animals aren’t picky. Even if you can’t fold a fitted sheet like Martha Stewart, you’re still a % qualified to wash their bedding. And the smallest contributions compound. One volunteer who interacts with shelter animals for just two hours a week gives those animals a hundred and four hours of human connection and exercise every year. That matters. And just think, if your shelter had 10 more people willing to do that, life changing. And all of those people have their own networks that bring attention to the animals and help them find homes. And, yes, there will be sad moments. I won’t pretend otherwise. But Negan will tell you, as will almost every other shelter volunteer I’ve spoken with, that the moments of joy and progress and eventual adoptions more than offset the sad ones. The secret isn’t avoiding emotional connection. It’s finding perspective. What if the real risk isn’t getting too attached or not having enough time? What if the real risk is missing the opportunity to be part of something meaningful, something that actually moves the needle for animals in your community? The animal welfare world has a saying. Saving one animal won’t change the world, but it’ll change the world for that one animal. And that’s just not a meaningless slogan. It’s the daily reality of shelter volunteering. If you can only take out five dogs out of maybe the hundred that are there, you helped those five, and they’re better off because you showed up. And if more and more people set aside just a few hours, the quality of life in that shelter transforms. So if you’ve been hesitating, if you’ve been waiting for the perfect moment when you have more time or more emotional fortitude, Today’s conversation is especially for you. The door to your local shelter isn’t nearly as heavy as it might seem from the outside, and pushing it open might just be one of the most consequential small actions of your life. So here’s my interview with one inspiring volunteer.
Welcome to the podcast, Megan. Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
So you’ve been volunteering for how many years now?
I think I mean, I’m going to say fifteen, but it might be closer to seventeen, if I’m being more honest about my age, than 17.
Oh my goodness. A long time. Really long time. So that must mean you’re getting something out of it. So let let’s go back to the beginning and say, what made you first walk through the shelter doors? Because I think a lot of people find that intimidating.
I was lucky. My best friend and I had the idea together that we would start volunteering, and we were like, alright. Let’s just look it up. And we found orientation. Okay. We’re gonna go to this. So we went, and we basically just kept going together. And the second time I went, I found a dog I really liked. So then I kept wanting to go back to the dog that I met, that I really liked, and I was like, I have to see what she’s doing. I have to do this. And, you know, I never wanted to stop because eventually, one dog will get adopted, but you find another one that you then bond with too, and you just kind of keep that cycle going.
That makes sense. That’s like an individual relationship.
Yeah. I’m not going back generally to volunteer. I need to see this dog.
Yes. That’s because he or she is counting on you. Mhmm.
That’s great. So like I said, a lot of people, I think, find it intimidating to go to a shelter to volunteer. So it sounds like for most shelters, I think you can fill out an application online. Everybody’s got their orientation and training. And even if you don’t have a friend, you’re probably going through that with a group of newbies.
Yes.
That know as little as you do. So it sounds like you love dogs, but walk me through the options. If you started to volunteer at the shelter, what are all the different things volunteers can do?
I would say a lot of people come in, and their immediate thing is, I want to be a dog handler. I want to walk dogs. I want to play with dogs. And then once you get your feet wet a little bit, you realize that volunteering encompasses a lot of different things. I’m not a person that likes to do events, but people love events. So there are volunteers that only do event work. They bring a dog to an event. They talk about the organization. That’s what they really like. Other people enjoy making enrichment where that is super fulfilling because these animals need that to help their days.
And making enrichment is stuffing Kongs with treats and and food?
Yeah. Just even thinking about different ways to do that. We’ve had people that come that make it their mission to find the coolest way to do enrichment. And we’ll have something so little as broth with fruit in it. But for a dog that has a lot of stress and anxiety, to lick something slowly throughout the day gives them a lot of peace of mind. Some people wanna come in and do cats. They’ll do just cat work. So there is a lot of different things you can do.
And your schedule is pretty much your own, or do you have to sign up for specific shifts?
I made my own schedule there and I think most people do. I think when you first start coming in, you’re like, I’m going to be here this day from this hour to this hour. And then as you’re more into it, you’re like, I might just come for two hours today just to take out this one specific animal that I know needs it, and that’s okay too. You can make it your own, which is why volunteering is really a beautiful thing because it can be whatever you want it to be.
That is so great. And that that is exactly, you know, music to my ears because I think you work for a living. I should point that out. You’re not someone who volunteers for a living. You’re fitting volunteering in around a family and a job. And so the people think, oh, you know, what if I can’t come every Tuesday and Thursday? But, you know, that’s okay. You can give what you can give.
Mhmm.
That’s great. Let’s talk about the experience with a little bit more specificity. Tell me about a day when you went home and you just couldn’t stop smiling. One of those shelter stories that makes all the hard stuff worth it.
I think the one that would stick out to me the most is actually pretty recently. We had a dog that was just struggling so much in his kennel, and, you know, you look at this animal in a kennel setting, and they don’t always look happy. They look really sad and depressed. And once I took him out, I realized, oh my gosh. He’s dog friendly. Wow. He likes everyone. He likes the car. He’s so happy. And after that day, we did some dog work with him and all these different types of stuff, and he ended up going to foster that night. We took this chance where we’re like, oh, we don’t really know how his dog test is going to be, but he ended up rocking it and doing so well that a foster just happened to reach out that day that had a dog, and he was able to go right into their home.
That is so great because most people that have a big enough heart to foster already have pets in the home.
Yes.
So it’s really hard to find a foster for a dog who can’t be placed with other pets. So the fact that you found out and were able to say, hey. He would be okay in your house. That’s such a big step.
Yeah.
That’s great. Don’t you often make TV appearances also on behalf of the shelters, thinking of things people can do?
I will do that too. I do it mostly because if there’s a dog that I think that the particular audience who views that channel will be interested in, then I want to do it. Because I’m like, you know what? I know they’re going to show really well. And I think that’s also the beauty of volunteering is if you can show that you could handle taking on something like that and be responsible with it, then, you know, usually you’re going to be allowed to do it because it helps showcase these animals in a really good light. And an animal is always going to look better with a person that they love as opposed to someone that they don’t know as well bringing them on a channel. The relationships are huge. That makes all the difference.
That’s great that they have that opportunity. Do you find that the dogs that get to make the TV appearances often have good luck getting adopted then?
Yes. I would say it’s probably like a seventy, thirty percentage wise.
Well, that’s great.
That’s my guesstimate.. And even that 30, sometimes, maybe they don’t get adopted, but they go to foster. Or even that, it just gives them more positive notes in their bios and things like that, which all help.
That’s true.
And you can use the video online to promote them and keep sharing, and it might not come right after the TV appearance, but it it still gives them more exposure. Not to mention a day out, which is also cool.
Definitely. Very important. Because I think you you alluded to earlier, a lot of the dogs don’t show very well in a kennel. So you need to get them out of that environment, and that’s where volunteers come in so handy. Do you take dogs outside to meet other people?
When you volunteer, you’re not necessarily allowed to let a dog meet people in the public unless it’s at an event specifically. But when you can take a dog, we call them off sites. It could be to a park. It could be a ride in your car. It can be to get ice cream. It can be on a long hike. All these different types of things where you can even just see how they observe people, how they observe other dogs. Did they see birds or a feral cat? There are a lot of different things that can give you good insight in, like, how alright. I wasn’t really thinking about that then, and now I can see, okay. In the future, this could work out.
Yes. He saw strangers and he was okay. Or you had that accidental cat test because one ran by.
That’s cool. Yes. An accidental cat test, I’ve definitely had that happen quite a few times. I’ve had an accidental dog test before. So, you know, you have to obviously be on your toes when you do things like that. But, again, that I think is what makes volunteering a little bit easier because as a volunteer, you’re able to have more leeway in your day. A staff member can’t say, oh, I want to go take a dog to the park today. It doesn’t really work like that. But we can. We can do that. Yeah. Their days are already overly full.
Yes. So that’s great. And you take them out, and it just serves such a variety of purposes because, you know, they’re getting de-stressed. You’re learning more about them. You might be getting great pictures of them, and maybe they’re wearing a vest or something that shows people, hey. I’m available for adoption. Let’s change gears a little bit and talk about emotional roller coaster because, you know, we talked about great times, but I know the roller coaster is real because sometimes aren’t that great. And how do you handle those days when you just either want to adopt all the animals or go cry in your car?
For me, I’m able to kind of change my day based on what’s happening at that exact moment. There are times that and I think most people that volunteer will say since COVID, it been a lot more frustrating because these economic times are harder for people. And so there’s a lot more surrenders and a lot more returns, and that will beat you down as a volunteer because you’re just thinking to yourself, oh my gosh, all this work to get them adopted and they’re back, And a lot of times through no fault of their own, which can be incredibly hard to just hear and take, and you see this animal that left so happy now back in their kennel, and that’s really difficult. So for me, I just try to be like, okay. When I come in today, maybe I’m just going to focus on three dogs that I know I can do this with and then start fresh, just to not overwhelm myself.
Well, you must have figured out a way to deal with it if you’ve been doing it for seventeen years.
Yes.
And also, I think too, when you have a feeling or an opinion about something, don’t be afraid to vocalize that. You know? Talk to other volunteers like, hey. Are you kind of feeling like a little bit frustrated with this or that? It just helps because you have a community when you’re there. You are part of this giant family. It might be dysfunctional sometimes, but it is this giant family of people that come from all different walks of life, all different beliefs, but you’re all there for the same reason.And being able just to talk with other people about how you’re feeling helps.
That’s great advice. And it also I don’t know exactly how old you are, but you’ve been volunteering for almost half your life.
Yes.
How do you think volunteering has changed your life or you as a person?
I think I’m a lot more… I became an empath for sure. I have more of a tougher exterior where I do not show a ton of emotion. It takes a lot to get me upset, but volunteering, I feel like I can look at a person and see how they’re feeling about that situation. I just definitely think it helped me in a lot more aspects of my life than just volunteering. Well, certainly, learning about dog behavior means you become very conscious of nonverbal communication, right, and what those cues are, and then you can apply that to people.
Yes. What do you think is the thing about shelter volunteering that surprises you or that nobody talks about? Something unexpected.
I think there’s a couple different things. I think one of the things that surprised me the most, and I’ve definitely seen this happen a lot, is people come to volunteer and then they meet the dog that they’ve always wanted, adopt the dog, and then you don’t ever see them again as a volunteer. That always was kind of like, oh. Now, of course, you’re very happy that the dog is now adopted in a home, but you’re like, but you were a really good volunteer. We miss you. You know? Things like that. And I guess even just for me, when people start and they can’t keep it going, I’m always like, how did they stop? I haven’t been able to stop. Now I understand that your life changes and people move. People have babies and they have things that change. But I always wonder that. It does always surprise me because it’s almost just like it’s part of who I am now at this point. It’s not just the thing I do. It’s part of who I am as a person.
I completely agree that once it gets inside you, it’s hard to see how somebody could walk away. But I definitely understand that, you know, people that people have children or their life changes in such a way but I think that’s why it’s important to stress that your volunteering might change, but it doesn’t mean you still can’t help. Maybe you can’t come to the shelter, but you could foster an animal. Maybe you could ..you mentioned go to an adoption event sometimes because they often need more bodies than they have.
Yes. Definitely.
So, yeah, for the person who’s listening right now who’s thinking, I could do this, but they’re also still intimidated, what’s your best advice to get them from thinking about it to actually showing up?
I would say find your group of volunteer friends because it gives you more confidence when you first start if you have someone that you know you can ask for help. We have a volunteer coordinator, of course, that helps us. She’s our manager, and we go to her. But on a day to day, if you’re there, if you know you have your friend that’s going to be there with you on a Sunday, if you want to maybe take out a more challenging animal for the first time, you have your friend that can back you up. You just I think it helps build your confidence in animal handling, like, things of that nature. You’re just so like, oh, okay. Well, I have my groups of friends. I can do this group. Okay. I feel good. It just helps you. That helped me tremendously.
I think that’s great advice because it’s also, you know, obviously safety first And, you know, having friends around that you could that you can grab in case you need them or ask them for advice is a wonderful tip. And, also, it could keep you going, you know?
It really does. You call and say, I’m going to be there at five. You know, you want to walk some dogs and then have margaritas or something, and then, you know, say Yes.
Definitely.
Yes. I really appreciate your joining us, Megan, because I think there are a lot of people out there that think they would like to help but just need some push to get over that hurdle of walking in the door, and I think you really helped them do that. Thank you. Alright. Take care. Thanks, Penny. Bye. Bye.
Phew. Well, that sure made me want to go to the shelter. I hope everything Megan shared helped you to realize that you can do this. There’s a place for everyone. There’s probably even more than one shelter or rescue in your area that you can try on for size. Just get in the game.
Can you guess what our Be the Change segment is this week? Of course you can. Get on it. Find out when the next volunteer orientation is at your local shelter. Sign up with a friend or by yourself and find your niche. The animals are waiting.
That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show notes at animaladvocacyacademy.com, along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, where we discuss our podcasts, and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic related to animal law, email them to podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com, and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode or both. And remember, compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better. Until next week, live with compassion.
