So now that I have my very own big dog to walk every day, I have decided to move my attention at the shelter to puppies. Yeah, I needed a lot convincing to decide to spend two hours cuddling, playing, and petting puppies but after I relented and admitted it was for a cause I took the puppy training and donned my official Puppy Socializer badge. I am not kidding, I really have a badge that says Puppy Socializer.
So, this weekend instead of walking big dogs around the field, I scrubbed down the "real-life" room, gathered an armful of toys, treats, and towels and "socialized" three darling terrier mix puppies. When I took the first puppy out of his kennel, I was sure someone was going to say "hey girl put the dog down". In fact, I was showing my badge to every staff member I walked by just so they knew I was officially allowed to pet puppies. You see, for the last 9 months, the pups have been off limits and marked with big red stickers on the kennels. Don't even look at them the stern looks from the staffers seemed to say as you neared a pup's kennel. However, after lots of convincing from the volunteers and promising to be very careful and use liberal amounts of bleach in the real-life room, the shelter staff has agreed to let volunteers play with puppies. This is a win-win for everyone, the puppies get that all important socialization so they can be good grown ups and not end up back in the shelter and the volunteers will be even more compelled to stick around. And in case you were not aware, a little mopping and sanitizing is well worth a good cuddle with a pup.
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