Event Description

If you are interested in becoming a regular dog volunteer, this is the orientation for you!

First, these are the general rules:
To volunteer alone with dogs you must be 16 years of age or older. Children younger than 16 may volunteer with an adult as “junior volunteers”. If you are under 16 and wish to volunteer with dogs, you must attend orientation and training with the adult who will be volunteering with you.

It is also important to note that junior volunteers may not hold the leash/walk the dog. The adult who attends training will be the dog handler.

Volunteer duties include walking dogs, socializing dogs, helping adopters find their perfect pet, assembling adoption carriers, working adoption events and just providing lots of love to the dogs in our care. We walk dogs rain or shine and in hot or freezing temperatures. The volunteer shifts are 2 hours long.
We do ask that any volunteer who signs up to train is willing to work a minimum of one shift per week. Volunteer shifts are totally flexible, you can sign up for your shift a week before, a day before or an hour before you come in. Our volunteer shifts include a sunrise shift which is from 7 am-8:30 am. We then have two-hour shifts throughout the day from 10 am-6 pm.

Weekend volunteer hours include the sunrise shift and two-hour shifts from 10 am-3 pm. *Volunteers who do not fulfill the minimum hours of 10 hours a quarter are moved to inactive status and have to retrain.
Orientation and training are offered monthly. You are not required to sign up or fill out any type of application first.

Please be sure to read through all the information before attending:
Each orientation is a three-part commitment. The first session is always held on the second Tuesday of each month with a follow-up session to include EITHER a Saturday or Sunday group training. Please do not attend the Tuesday night session if you cannot attend the second session the following weekend.

Orientation will last one hour and the follow-up weekend training session is 90 minutes. The third training session is hands-on detailed training with an experienced volunteer and we will have several sessions available for you to choose from.

We know this seems like a lot of information, but we promise it will make sense when we see you in person.
Orientations and trainings are held at the center, located at 1006 Grigsby Hayes Court in Franklin.
We look forward to seeing you there!