She was, once again, very helpful and organized for me to get a personal induction.
In 2013 when my best friend for 12 years, my dog Moose, passed, I decided to travel to AU for the first time.
I fell in love with the wildlife, the landscapes, the weather and the people.
In 2014 I asked for a career break and returned for 6 months.
I contacted a lot of shelters asking if they would allow a foreigner to come and help out as a volunteer for a short period.
The only one who would have me was the dog's refuge home in Perth.
I spent about 4 days doing some gardening, since for walking dogs I needed to follow a training and 4 days was just too short for me to be scheduled in.
Shortly after having returned to Belgium I wrote an email to the then volunteer coordinator asking if it would be possible for me to follow the needed training in order to walk the dogs when I returned this year.
She was, once again, very helpful and organized for me to get a personal induction.
When I arrived I was welcomed by the new volunteer coordinator Suzanne, who was kind enough to take the time to personally give me the training I needed to get my yellow volunteer badge.
Yellow is the first level, then there is green and blue. The colors are designated to the dogs, yellow for those dogs that are the easiest to walk. Even though I had experience and followed many modules in Belgium as part of getting a degree as a dog behavior specialist, I was happy to get the yellow badge and spent time with borders as well as shelter dogs. Just being around dogs makes me happy and helping even in the smallest possible way made it time spent well.
The dog's refuge home was established in 1935. It is a pro life policy shelter that has the capacity to house up to 150 dogs and finds homes for sometimes up to 35 a week.
They also are a boarding facility.
When people are interested in adopting a dog they will need to follow a proces to ensure the dog gets the home he or she needs and deserves.
First there is a questionnaire, followed by a "dog meet", this takes place in one of the yards in the presence of one of the staff.
It is inspiring to see how much love and care is involved in this proces, unlike in Belgium, where one just needs to fill in a form, stating to never breed with the adopted pet and take good care of it.
During my 11 days at the refuge home I was happy to see some familiar faces and met some other volunteers who have been helping out at the shelter for many many years.
It is wonderful to see the symbiosis between the volunteers and the staff. To both these are not just shelter dogs but they are genuinely loved and cared for pets waiting for a warm and forever home. The true joy that is shared when one of the long timers gets adopted is so heartwarming.
It are people and places like these that restore my faith in the we all can do.
The dogs:
Omagh ADOPTED Remmy (used to bread with before rescued)
ADOPTED
Ziva obsessed with playing fetch in her kennel.
Seriously stressed.
Sandy staying at the shelter till her foster family returned from holiday. Awaiting her forever home.
Tully a Golden Retriever enjoying being out in the yard. ADOPTED
Chloe, loves playing fetch!
Peta, ADOPTED!
Harley, adorable gorgeous boy!
Ziggy my matey, loved walking Ziggy and playing fetch in one of the yards, hope you find that forever family soon Ziggy!
The dogs:
Omagh ADOPTED Remmy (used to bread with before rescued)
ADOPTED
Ziva obsessed with playing fetch in her kennel.
Seriously stressed.
Sandy staying at the shelter till her foster family returned from holiday. Awaiting her forever home.
Tully a Golden Retriever enjoying being out in the yard. ADOPTED
Chloe, loves playing fetch!
Peta, ADOPTED!
Harley, adorable gorgeous boy!
Ziggy my matey, loved walking Ziggy and playing fetch in one of the yards, hope you find that forever family soon Ziggy!
ADOPTED!
The new coffee/thee room
Thanks to Lotterywest the refuge home received a well deserved face lift, new offices and facilities.
Everyday at 10H30 it is thee time for the volunteers, someone brings something delicious, homemade or not, for morning thee or coffee and enjoy a good laugh together.
It was during one of these lovely moments one of the volunteers commented that many of us make up here for what she referred to as our lack of people skills. I couldn't agree more, it all made sense to me, my problems with people and not being able to see why.
The pink, yellow, green and blue badges are from the many volunteers helping out at the refuge home.
While I volunteered at the refuge home I met Linda Mort, a lovely lady who created the Wag Waffle a weekly overview of the happenings at the refuge home.
I even appeared in one :)!
The kennels
The kennels are clean, every dog has a bed up from the ground, a blanket, toys and water. They also have the possibility to get underneath or on top of a concrete "shelter", some prefer to have their bed made underneath it.
The dogs get walked and have playtime in one of the 8 play yards at least once a day by the volunteers, most of the time they go out twice a day depending on how many volunteers are present.
The graveyard
For those who have lost their beloved pet, there is a possibility to bury them in the graveyard.
When you walk around the graveyard and see all the messages left on the tombstones it is clear these were not just pets but full members of the family.
Many thanks to the Perth dogs refuge home, Suzanne the volunteer coordinator and all the long time volunteers who welcomed me with open arms.
The new coffee/thee room
Thanks to Lotterywest the refuge home received a well deserved face lift, new offices and facilities.
Everyday at 10H30 it is thee time for the volunteers, someone brings something delicious, homemade or not, for morning thee or coffee and enjoy a good laugh together.
It was during one of these lovely moments one of the volunteers commented that many of us make up here for what she referred to as our lack of people skills. I couldn't agree more, it all made sense to me, my problems with people and not being able to see why.
The pink, yellow, green and blue badges are from the many volunteers helping out at the refuge home.
While I volunteered at the refuge home I met Linda Mort, a lovely lady who created the Wag Waffle a weekly overview of the happenings at the refuge home.
I even appeared in one :)!
The kennels
The kennels are clean, every dog has a bed up from the ground, a blanket, toys and water. They also have the possibility to get underneath or on top of a concrete "shelter", some prefer to have their bed made underneath it.
The dogs get walked and have playtime in one of the 8 play yards at least once a day by the volunteers, most of the time they go out twice a day depending on how many volunteers are present.
The graveyard
For those who have lost their beloved pet, there is a possibility to bury them in the graveyard.
When you walk around the graveyard and see all the messages left on the tombstones it is clear these were not just pets but full members of the family.
Many thanks to the Perth dogs refuge home, Suzanne the volunteer coordinator and all the long time volunteers who welcomed me with open arms.
