workandearn

To see the work we do in the community with animal clinics please click here.

"WORK AND EARN"

The community has many young pet owners who either are unaware of how to properly feed and tend to an animal or simply cannot afford it. The Sanctuary offers a program where owners can come and spend a few hours on the Sanctuary both working and learning and at the end of their visit have their animals treated for fleas, ticks, mange, heartworm and receive yearly shots and also go home with bags of food. Volunteers also go through the community to treat animals that are ill or full of mange and fleas as well as work with the younger owners to teach care, grooming, training and feeding of animals. With this effort we hope to both help animals as well as guide youth to become responsible owners.

	Erin, one of our volunteers, walks the community to tend to a small pup who is full of worms and is emaciated and dehydrated. Stressing the importance of having water and food the owner watches as the pup is treated.
Erin who owns a dog at the Sanctuary is an active Volunteer driving two hours several days a month to dedicate her time with the animals and the community.
	Erin and I visited Scarface - a older dog who was so thin that young Efram brought him to our gates thinking his hip bone was broken as it was "poking out" - We instructed him and gave him bags of food and treated the dog - here Erin is visiting him again to give him his monthly treatment of heartworm medication and flea and tick medication. He is improving and young Efram and his brother Luis are active members of the Sanctuary Work and Earn Program - earning treatment for all of their animals as well as learning how to properly treat them.
Paloma is another community dog who was so full of mange that her skin had no hair and she was bleeding. Here we are giving her a bath with medicated shampoo and treating her for mange. She is now almost full of hair and doing much better.
	From this picture you can see that after her bath she is looking much better. Again when this dog first came to the Sanctuary she had absolutely no hair and was bleeding. You can see that she is improving. By explaining to the youth what can happen to their animals or what they feel while unconsciously being mistreated the younger owners are responding - Paloma needed to be treated on a daily basis which was the responsibility of the young owner who every day gave us a report.
	Older boys work on helping to build more kennels so that more animals may be helped on the Sanctuary. Its is a great time to teach responsibility and also to have the kids teach us a thing or two.
I have never been so amazed to see the transition of the younger kids that come to the Sanctuary - I have watched kids who never knew how to treat animals to repeat to me day after day the new care they are giving their animals and to laugh about how they want to have their animals look like the animals on the Sanctuary. Change comes about I am learning and yet still so much to do

The three pictures show Steve Katz, a board member of the Sanctuary, spending time showing kids how to build a proper kennel for small animals.
Robert making a larger pen for the rescued pot-belly pigs that live on the sanctuary	We are committed to the betterment of our community and all animals.
Twice a month are bath days at the Sanctuary where all the animal (no matter what) get bathed. Once a month they are treated for fleas and ticks and given any shots they may need. Its a fun time at the Sanctuary on those days as well as a wet one
	Of course all of the animals not being bathed tend to lend their advice and words of encouragement to the one that is being bathed
Keeping the animals in shade during the sunny days and out of the rain as well as providing the "den" for each dog is a full time job. In the following pictures Steve and Petey build one of the houses used on the Sanctuary
	Of course the dogs here like to lend a hand and offer their suggestions as to what they like.
Chipmunk one of our adoptable Sanctuary dogs gives her final approval and invites other in
	Everyone agrees and another finished job for the day

For more information on the "Work and Earn Program" or any other program the Sanctuary offers please contact palenadorsey@sanctuaryanimalrefuge.org