Teen volunteers can learn valuable life and work skills while enriching the lives of local rescue animals.
Animal-loving families looking for after-school activities for their teens need look no further than their local animal shelter or rescue.
Four-legged friends living in overcrowded shelters can experience days dragging into weeks and even months before finding their forever home, if they’re lucky.
This is where teens and their families can help. Youth volunteers, accompanied by a parent or guardian, can offer help like doing laundry and cleaning community cat or critter rooms. Volunteers ages 18 and older are typically allowed to handle the animals directly after submitting an application to the rescue or shelter.
There are other ways families can help. They can organize supply drives of high-priority goods including unopened pet food, cat litter, leashes and cleaning supplies at their school or neighborhood. Another creative opportunity is to craft handmade toys such as cozy blankets and safe enrichment toys. For example, teens can create a mouse toy with felt and stuff catnip inside before sewing the edges right-side in or a dog toy by braiding three long strands of fleece together with a knot at each end.
For kids who dream of owning a pet one day, Jessica Zoldo, founder of the Girls of Dog Rescue team in Tustin, said fostering a shelter animal is a chance for teens to practice empathy and responsibility.
Zoldo recommends first-time dog owners get their feet wet by fostering before adopting.
“Fostering for at least six months to a year while learning skills such as how to crate a dog, potty training and demonstrating patience would prepare the teen to become a responsible pet owner one day,” she said.
Depending on the foster period, they can apply the 3-3-3 method, which considers a rescue animal’s emotional and adjustment timeline over the first three days, three weeks and three months in a new environment.
During the first three days, the animal may hide and refuse to eat as their stress hormones peak. Give the animal a quiet space to decompress and avoid introducing them to new people or animals. By week three, it is important to establish a predictable routine for walks, feeding, potty breaks and incorporate positive-reinforcement training. By the three-month mark, rescued animals will start feeling comfortable in the family.
Other volunteer opportunities include signing up to walk a shelter dog on a leash around the neighborhood. Teens will learn how to guide the dog along the appropriate pathway, figure out how to responsibly pick up after the dog’s waste and may be tested by the strong tugs from their tail-wagging companion.
Even if families can’t afford to own a furry friend, volunteering and fostering triggers positive biochemical changes in the brain. According to the National Institutes of Health, combining community service with animal engagement creates a powerful defense against stress, isolation and low mood while offering animals a chance to find their forever homes. — Vanessa Siguenza
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