It’s Tuesday afternoon at the East County Animal Shelter in Dublin. A 10-year-old girl and her mother smile as the Chihuahua they had to carry out shivering in their arms 20 minutes earlier prances with click-clacking confidence down the shelter hallway. Both are laughing – at a joke or story one must have told the other during their walk together, or maybe at the cute cat playfully batting at the brush a teen is trying to groom him with in the socialization room as they walk past.
“Ready to put him back in?” asks Rich Metz, Tri-Valley Animal Rescue (TVAR) volunteer. “Yep,” says the girl. “No!” say the little dog’s eyes. Neither really wants to part ways, but the girl knows there are plenty of other dogs who also need walks.
Meanwhile, a tall and lanky 17-year-old waits for Rich to get the 60-pound Pit Bull from cage A-2 that he has been walking every Tuesday and Thursday for the last three weeks. Shy and soft-spoken with people, he speaks volumes in the eyes of the young pup at the end of his leash.
“And out here is where we walk the dogs,” says Nancy Metz, wearing her red TVAR sweatshirt, talking to a group of eight kids, teens, and a few parents in front of the shelter. “Once Rich or I get the dogs out of the cages for you, you can walk them down the sidewalk here or take them to one of these ‘Get Acquainted’ yards to socialize.”
It’s just another day in TVAR’s Teen Junior Program, which teaches kids between the ages of 10 and 17 to socialize, walk, and play with shelter dogs and cats each Tuesday and Thursday. The youth in this orientation group will join the ranks of over 3,000 other young volunteers who have contributed over 30,000 hours of community service in the program since it was started by Nancy, Rich, and their 10-year-old son, Kevin – my young self – in the spring of 1994.
“We would be down at the shelter walking dogs for two hours, and realized that if we were supervisors and had 10 kids doing the same thing, so many more dogs could get walks,” says Nancy.
The first few months of the Teen Junior Program had only three volunteers, all teenagers that Nancy would pick up and drive to the old (now replaced) animal shelter, then drop back off after the program. The opening of ECAS in 1996 allowed the program to expand considerably, given the new shelter’s ample space and improved features and design. The program, like TVAR as a whole, continued to grow. Now as many as 15-20 kids participate in a single session.
“When members of the public come in to the shelter during the program and see the kids working with the animals, and see that the animals interact well with the kids, I think they actually look closer at the possibility of adopting that animal,” says Nancy. “Being with a caring kid makes a layer of stress in a shelter animal go away, and that makes the animal more appealing.”
On this day, 14-year-old Ani Smith is sitting with Nova, a young Brittany who came into the shelter as a timid stray. “Her ears were back and her tail was down,” says Ani. “She was really shy, but as I started to sit with her and pet her she warmed up to me. She is a different dog. It was really cool and heartwarming to see her real side come out more.”
The Teen Junior program is definitely beneficial for the kids as well as the animals. For Rich and Nancy’s 10-year-old son, me, the program (and TVAR) has had a huge impact. Now almost 30, I look in admiration at the dedication and hard work of so many volunteers who continuously give their time for nothing more than a tail wag or a cat’s purr, plus the great feeling that comes from helping an animal find a new home.
My parents will be “retiring” as supervisors of the Teen Junior Program next year and are actively looking for adult volunteers to train and replace them in their current roles so the program can continue. If you are interested in becoming an adult supervisor, please email Nancy at lucyfur@pacbell.net.
TVAR is always looking for new volunteers of all ages – dog and cat fosters, walkers at the shelter, candidates for the TVAR board of directors, etc. Please visit tvar.org for more info.
Kevin Metz has been a volunteer with Tri-Valley Animal Rescue since 1994. He is the founder and a full-time professional pet-sitter for Pawsitive Cause Pet Sitting (www.pawsitivecause.com). TVAR’s new communications director, Jim Telfer, also contributed to this article.
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Main article photo by: Courtesy Tri-Valley Animal Rescue
