It's funny how there is a shift in our priorities as we get older. When I was in my 20s or 30s, volunteering was something that seemed almost for the clinically insane. What? You devote your precious time to working for nothing?? No matter what the cause or how worthy it might be, it's all about that money, honey! Volunteering is for people who can't get a REAL job!
Or so I thought...
I had been pondering the idea of volunteering for some time now. And yes, I am gainfully employed, and my hours are indeed short. Especially since I moved to Noosa, because there is always something exciting to do around here, and all year round at that. But I guess I feel so privileged to live in a place like this, when so few can and do, that the pressing to "give something back" has gone from a silent little murmur of someday, to an insistent scream of Do It, and Now!
I guess it's simple. When you're operating from a happy place in your life, you can't help but want to give something back! It's a great position and mindset to be in.
So here I am. As usual, in just about everything I do these days, I allow the Universe to show me the way. Because I find that since I started living this philosophy, it always does do just that. What I'm not meant to do, doesn't present itself no matter how hard I push at it. And what I'm meant to do, just slips on to my radar, presents itself, I follow and explore it a little way, and then it becomes solid, possible, meaningful, and clearly my next path and adventure.
So it was with Pets For Life.
An article in our local paper quite a few weeks ago now about this program, had me jumping straight for the phone, before I could tear out the article and put it somewhere on my desk "to do" even. I just did it. Picked up the phone. Talked to a lovely lady named Jodie. Arranged an appointment to chat about it. Chat we did. Sign up I did. And yesterday I had my first training day which was at the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge at Sippy Creek.
I whizzed the 50Ks or so in my open top black toy car, the Cazhowmobile, which is like driving a very fast slot car, so tiny it is, and yet so insistently fast! The sun was blazing. It was going to be a hot one, 31 they said. And it's only the 10th day of Spring. I was sunscreened up, lip balmed, hatted, and so damn alive! And I was there in no time!
The place is set out on acreage just off the Bruce Highway, and one of the first things that struck me were the gardens, tropical, vibrant, alive with scent and colour. Gorgeous parrots doing their raucous morning shenanigans. And the dogs. Barking, barking, barking! But it wasn't a sad place, like many of these types of places are. It felt positive, energetic, happy. Possibly because I, and as it turned out, MANY others, were there to do a very positive thing.
There were about 30 of us, from all walks of life. Many were older, had the time on their hands, so to speak. None the less worthy, because here they are, wanting to make a difference. And there were those like me, still working, but wanting to do the same. There were a few that weren't able to work a "real job" for whatever reason, beautiful souls who also wanted to make a difference to our wonderful world.
The morning sped by. After we had been name tagged, introduced to each other and to our course conveners, we started with a dog handling session with Abby, who turned out to be the Guru of All Creatures Canine. In fact I'd go one further, with her attitude and zest and joy, I don't think there would be much she couldn't handle. She showed us dog behaviours, body language, and teaching the dogs in a kindly but no-nonsense way that we could all understand readily. She chose her "victims" from the pool of doggies at that shelter, specifically selected her actors to play certain roles and display certain behaviours, so we could see firsthand what a dog looks like when he's just curious, alert, stressed, passive, submissive, or simply ready to tear you limb from limb! The four-legged "actors" did role play together, only for them it wasn't role play; they were simply following their doggy instincts. It was Abby's job to show us all how to manage and control the controllable. It was a fascinating education that I felt so privileged to be a part of.
Having taken dogs to puppy school in the past, even had a "dog whisperer" come to our house to deal with our "problem dog" I can categorically say that the world at large has it entirely wrong with regard to our glorious pooches. There are no problem dogs. There are problem owners who create them. And they can also be uncreated. You just have to know the right way.
Following on from that, we did a tour of the shelter with Jodie. Despite her asking us to stick together and listen, of course there are always some randoms who can't, but I just couldn't get enough of what these amazing people had to tell me. I literally followed her around (like a dog!) and waited for more!
There were all sorts of dogs there of course, in all types of enclosures. Runs, bigger runs, huge shady yards filled with toys. Happy, well kept dogs. I didn't see or smell even a dog turd anywhere. Volunteers, walking, playing, training dogs in the runs. Everyone smiling. Those dogs looked happier to be there than most I have seen in life. There was lots of building going on, for new runs, new extensions. A new vet area. A special "surrender" area with its own entrance, so people having to relinquish their much loved pets for their own sad situations, could have some privacy when doing so, and not be judged by anybody.
No dogs are ever put down at this glorious Doggy Heaven; the only exception being if they are ill and cannot be saved, or are in pain. All dogs are worked with, retrained, cared for. They are first vaccinated, desexed, microchipped, and then the repair process begins. They start off with the best food money can buy, to give them a great start and get them healthy. Many arrive in a run down condition, as roughly 70% that come into the shelter are unclaimed. The other 30% are surrender animals who at least have a history, and are generally in better condition. But all dogs receive that caring start on the road to a new furever home. Dogs come in who have been tortured, or who have brain injuries. Like Misty, a gorgeous white but big bitza pup, who was doing her weird cantering and head twirling action which resulted from some sort of neurological disorder, Jodie told us. She was being worked with by her handlers and the vets, who are hoping to resolve her condition and find a lovely special home for her. For a very special doggy.
The fact that these animals are valued, worked with, cared for, each and every one of them, and not purely a number on death row with time and life ticking away for them, speaks volumes about why the place feels so very positive and is a joy to be there, and part of. I think of some of the dreary soulless and hopeless places that I had visited in my time in Melbourne, when the dogs looked at you with dead eyes, shivering on cold wet concrete, stepping in their faeces, howling their last few days away. And I know the people who work in those shelters are also caring souls who do their very best. But you come away from those places feeling very, very sad for all the animals you can't "save."
These dogs are already saved. In fact, one dog, a big golden lab X, Brandy, has been back there three times, simply because she hasn't been able to settle anywhere else but at that shelter! She has lived there on and off for two and a half years now, is a shelter pet, and is smiling at us from ear to ear. Bless her little doggy heart!
Following on from that, we did the "human handling component" which involved talking about the participants in the scheme, what our role as volunteers is, and how to manage the human behaviour which arises as a result of what we're doing. Interesting talk about boundaries and how to set them, and what we are wanting to create in our new and very important roles. We also covered the uglies of administration matters, insurances, and I guess in our litigious society, that one is a no-brainer. Even so far as what to do if a participant dies, or their pet dies, or we do! Well, that last one is pretty easy.
There was then a glorious lunch (following on from the lovely morning tea which was real coffee and tea, Arnotts cream biscuits and a lovely fruit selection for the more healthily inclined - which just happens to be ME these days. (But on this occasion I gave the biccies a run instead). Lunch was the most amazing breads, spreads and dips, lots of cold meats, salads, sundried tomatoes, and one of the best fresh fruit salads I've seen in years, and which I had to keep going back for more. It didn't matter; there was enough to feed about 100 rather than 30. Then as a parting gift, we were asked to line up, and we received more paperwork, a Pets For Life baseball cap (cool as!) and a $20 fuel card for taking the time to come and spend the best morning I've had in ages. It truly was the icing on the best cake I've not eaten in years!
And I just can't wait to get started!
Pets For Life is a volunteer program which was started four years ago on the Sunshine Coast, in conjunction with the animal shelter, when it was noted that many of the surrendered animal incidents were occurring because the elderly could no longer care for their beloved pets properly in their own homes. This is a shattering and tragic reality for those in our world who are elderly and virtually alone, bar for their precious pets, when their health starts to fail and they then must relinquish their pet. Generally these people don't last long after that, and if they do, their soul has died in the process anyway. So a Pets For Life volunteer, having been trained up in managing dogs (and their owners to some extent) will visit an elderly person in their home at agreed times per week, walk their dog, help them with their animal, whether it be feeding, grooming, washing the dog, brushing the cat, cleaning a litter tray or a birdcage. Whatever it takes to keep the animal safe and cared for, and the owner confident that their animal is still being looked after properly. In the process of course, there is a cup of tea with the owner perhaps and a chat, which helps keeps the elderly person who may be very isolated, connected to our society, and their further needs can be identified by their volunteer, and help sourced for them through our facilitators. It's just a no-brainer! It keeps the elderly and their pets together, keeps more pets out of shelters, and gives the elderly a caring connection to the world.
The program which started at the southern end of the sunny coast, has now spread all the way up to the top end where I am, and hence my opportunity to be part of this fantastic group. Oh yes please!! It has now also received government funding to keep it going, and let's hope it can spread even further in the near future.
Thanks to Jodie for introducing me to the program, you rock! Thanks to Abby for showing me that there really aren't incompatible dogs, just clueless owners who can learn, and then teach those dogs as well! Tomas, thank you for making what would be the otherwise dull admin side of things an absolute scream of laughter from beginning to end.. and I don't think anyone wanted the morning to end! And thanks to all the amazing people that keep that shelter rolling, because it gives us all, humans and dogs included, hopes of a better and happier world.
See you soon. I'll be back for another training day soon (and for the free lunch of course, Tomas). I'll be the chick with the crazy hair and the PFL hat! Xoxxx
