Requirements for humane society volunteers?

Question

I really want to volunteer at my local humane society walking dogs and playing with cats and stuff--do I have to be a certain age, have certain licenses? I basically wanna know what the requirements are for volunteers that want to help by walking and playing with the pets and stuff like that. I am 14. Is that going to be a problem?

Answer 1

NONE that I know of.

Answer 2

There is usually and age limit requirement that you have to meet.  Many shelters also require you to go to an orientation and sometimes a few educational volunteer classes (like a 2 hour class) to prep you for the volunteer work.  Some also make you sign a contract.

As far as the age limit goes, it all depends on the shelter or rescue. I am sure that plenty of people on here will tell you specific ages like 18 or 16, but its not that simple.

EACH organization has different rules, different policies. Some you have to be 18 years old, some 16, some 13, some younger, and some will let you volunteer with a parent or sign a contract so that they are not liable for what happens. They are all different, and the only way to find out is to check with each shelter to see what policy they have. By calling or visiting the organization's website you should be able to find the age limit, AS well as your tasks (walking animals, playing with them, cleaning up...etc.).

To find shelters/rescues, follow these directions:

visit : http://www.petfinder.com/

Scroll down, and on the left it says "Find Animal Welfare Groups".

You can put in your location/zip code and it will provide you with a list of all of the animal rescues and shelters in your area.

Go through the list, call them, visit them, or take a look at there websites to see what their age limit is.

Thats the best way of finding out who you can volunteer with.

http://www.volunteermatch.org/ is also a great website for finding shelters and organizations to volunteer with and it will show you when you search which shelters are teen friendly.

Also, I find shelters to have a more strict policy and age limit. Rescues, who work off of foster homes (homes that take in animals until they get adopted), are more lenient about the age limit.

It was difficult for me to find a shelter to volunteer with when I was your age, I had to look for a couple of months until I finally found a shelter that would let me volunteer(the age limit was 13 and over with parent supervision). It worked out great!

It was nice spending more time with my mom.

Volunteering at a shelter is a lot of fun, but some people sometimes have bad experiences and don't want to volunteer because they have been to a bad, high kill shelter. Not all shelters are high kill and if you volunteer with one shelter and have a bad experience that doesn't mean you should stop. Just keep looking for the animal organization that suits you because they are all different. Some will let you play with the animals, and some might want you to do the dirty work, like cleaning up p**p, vomit, laundry, etc. Some might have great outreach, spay/neuter, and other programs that you can get involved with. Your experience just depends on the shelter/rescue.

Just remember to never give up on your search, keep trying, there are MANY MANY shelters and rescues out there and they ALL need your help.

Also, a GREAT website that could help you a lot is http://www.humaneteen.org/?q=forum

The Humane Teen (one of the Humane Society of the United State's programs) website has great suggestion on how teens can help animals (volunteering, fundraising, clubs,..etc.). You can even get advice and help from other teens on the message board or the Humane Advisory Board members. I think that this website would help you so much! Check it out. :)

Good luck!