Intermediate Shelter Class Part One

This Saturday I took the intermediate shelter class at the SPCA so I could become a blue apron volunteer and handle yellow dogs. This just means that these dogs need more attention and more care. These are dogs that have behaviors that might not make them as adoptable as other dogs. They may include jumping on a person, extreme shyness, reactive on leash, reactive to dogs, and many others. For the first two hours Joe, our instructor and volunteer coordinator, talked about these dogs. He talked about why they may be so nervous, how we should assure them and bring out the good qualities they have. He also told us that we just need to be patient with them and he also said that we as volunteers are a very crucial part in the adoption process. He showed us positive reinforcement as well as why we should limit the times we say, "No". He also showed us videos of dogs that are extremely shy: their ears are flat, tails tucked between their legs, trembling, trying to make themselves smaller, yawning, lip licking, and not making eye-contact. It's very sad to see dogs like this when they should be more energetic and friendly and outgoing. That was mainly what we did for the first two hours. Joe also asked us several questions about what we learned about working with the green dogs and then went on to explain the differences between yellow and green dogs.