Volunteer Programs

The Seattle Animal Shelter offers a broad range of volunteer opportunities.  Shelter volunteers help save the lives of thousands of animals every year.  Volunteers assist in the direct care of animals, as well as assist in fundraising and public education.  Check out the volunteer team descriptions below and find the right spot for you!

Volunteers must:

• Be eighteen (18) years of age or older.
• Be able to commit to eight hours of service per month.
• Be able to commit to scheduled volunteer times.
• Be able to squat, bend, twist, lift, and stand for long periods while working directly with the animals.
• Attend required training classes. 

Volunteer orientation provides an overview of Shelter policies and guidelines, and serve as an introduction to the various volunteer programs.  All volunteers are required to attend an orientation session before volunteering at the Shelter.  Additional training varies by team and is included in the volunteer team descriptions below.

Volunteer orientation meetings are held 3-4 times per year. For a recorded message about the next volunteer orientation and other programs please call (206) 615-0820. 

Download the 2008 Volunteer Orientation Manual here.

Volunteer Teams

Fabulous Felines

The Fabulous Felines team is primarily responsible for coordinating monthly off-site adoption events for foster and shelter cats.

How Can Volunteers Help?

• Assist at monthly off-site foster cat adoption events and distribute flyers for adoption events.

• Support the Foster Cat and Matchmaker teams to decrease the length of time cats spend in foster care and the shelter.

• Provide assistance to foster parents with harder-to-place cases.

• Gather information on various cat topics and create promotional materials.

• Work to promote cats during shelter special events and identify cat stories for the writing team.

Volunteer Qualifications

• Volunteers need to be passionate and knowledgeable about cats.

• Helpful skills include leadership, public relations and/or marketing, writing, good organizational and people skills, and the ability to think creatively (for team leads).

Fabulous Felines Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Matchmaking

• Shelter 101

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Foster Cat Team

The Cat Foster Team are volunteers committed to saving the lives of cats at the Seattle Animal Shelter by placing them in a home environment where they can be socialized, heal and recover from injuries or illness; or simply have a break from the Shelter environment.

Members of the team assist foster parents through the process of providing homes and attending to the daily needs of the cats in their care, including feeding, medications, vet visits and socialization.

How Can Volunteers Help?

• Provide foster care for cats and kittens in the volunteer’s home.

• Work as a case manager following up with foster parents on the progress of their cases.

• Help with posting cats that are available for adoption to Petfinder.com or updating the foster board and foster book at the shelter with listings of foster cats available for adoption.

• Answer voicemail messages left on the foster hotline by potential adopters.

• Visit the shelter to write up cases for adoption.

• Assist foster parents at the shelter who are picking up cases.

• Help maintain foster program documentation, such as the foster case log, foster parent roster and other documents.

Volunteer Qualifications

• Volunteers must have a genuine concern for the welfare of cats and a desire to help the team in its efforts to support foster parents.

• Experience as a foster parent is desired.

• Excellent communication and follow-up skills are necessary.  Most communications are done via e-mail, so regular access to e-mail is important.

• Cat Foster Team volunteers are required to attend quarterly team meetings.

Foster Cat Team Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Cat I

• Shelter 101

• Foster Orientation

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9-Lives

The 9-Lives team provides in-shelter care for cats, to improve the general living experience of all cats at the Seattle Animal Shelter.  We provide basic care and human contact for cats that are healthy and adjusted; but prioritize efforts toward those cats that are sick, injured or behaviorally challenged.

How Can Volunteers Help?

• Assist shelter staff — Attend to basic creature comforts, such as clean water, litter, food and kennel liners.

• Assess the cats — Observe their health and behavior, attend to their needs, and report on their condition to the team leader, shelter staff or Foster Care coordinator for further care. 

• Follow through is very important — 9-lives volunteers must be comfortable asking questions of shelter staff and/or team leaders.

• Basic "home" nursing care — This includes steam treatments, administering eye ointment and nasal spray, treating ear mites, gently cleaning eyes and noses, grooming, as well as the removal of matted hair.

Volunteer Qualifications

• Volunteers must have a genuine concern for the welfare of cats.

• Experience with cats and knowledge of feline "language" is preferred but not required.

• No specific tasks will be laid out per shift; therefore, volunteers must be self-motivated and have the ability to make appropriate judgment calls, asking questions when necessary.

• Volunteers must be able to complete multiple tasks, have good communication skills and be able to follow shelter safety protocol as outlined in the volunteer orientation and 9-lives manuals.

• A willingness to work with all cats, regardless of appearance, is important.  A sick cat is not always a pretty cat, but they may be the one most in need of your love and attention.

• Volunteers are required to attend team meetings.

9-Lives Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Cat I

• Shelter 101

• 9-Lives training with team leader

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Dog Walking

Volunteers on this team walk shelter dogs in an area around the Shelter.  The goal is to provide adoptable dogs at the shelter with much-needed exercise, human contact and mental stimulation.  The dogs rely on the volunteers to get out of their kennels twice each day.

How Can Volunteers Help?

Dogs are walked twice a day, seven days a week— in rain, snow, storms and during holidays.

• Morning shifts:  9:00 a.m.

• Evening shifts:  5:30 p.m.

Volunteer Qualifications

Volunteers are asked to commit to a consistent schedule.  Strong leash and dog handling skills are required.  Many of the shelter dogs are large, strong and have minimal to no leash training. The ability to handle these dogs is an essential part of this team.

Dog Walking Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Matchmakers

• Shelter 101

• Shelter Dog Safety Handling

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Advanced Dog Walking

This team sends volunteers to parks in the Seattle area every Sunday morning.  The dogs wear “I’m Available for Adoption” banners, promoting both the Shelter and themselves.  The goals of the program are to increase public awareness about the shelter, increase dogs’ chances of adoption with the extra visibility, exercise the dogs and increase their socialization.

How Can Volunteers Help?

There are two different roles for the volunteers: promote the Shelter (PR) and handle the dogs (dog handler).  These duties have been divided so that volunteers can become experts in each role.

The PR Volunteer

• Talks to the public and answers questions.

• Is outgoing, friendly, enthusiastic, and educated about the Shelter.

• Carries flyers and shelter information, treats, etc. and helps the dog handlers get water and pick up after the dogs.

The Dog Handling Volunteer

• Is responsible for the safety of the dog and its interaction with the public and other animals.

• May answer questions, but the primary concern is the dog’s well-being, safety and comfort.

• Will have great dog-handling skills, and be able to read and pay attention to the signals a dog may be giving off due to stress, anger, fear, etc.

Volunteer Qualifications

• As one of the most public teams for the Shelter, volunteers must have extensive dog experience and training skills, great people skills and commitment.

• You must have excellent dog-handling skills.

• One goal of the program is to increase awareness of the wonderful animals the shelter has and what a great place it is.  The more volunteers know, the better prepared they will be to answer questions.

Advanced Dog Walking Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Shelter 101

• Shelter Dog Safety Handling

• Matchmakers

• Participation with the Dog Walking team for length of time determined by Shelter Dog Safety Handling instructor

• Hands-on training with the team leaders

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Foster Dog Team

The Foster Dog team is committed to helping the foster parents who are improving the lives of dogs while in their care.  Foster Parents provide basic care (exercise, food, training, shelter), while the team assists them during this process so they can focus on the dogs well being.

How Can Volunteers Help?

Listed below are many of the roles needed to keep the foster dog program running, without putting too much responsibility on any one volunteer.

• Adoption Assistants – help the foster parents with the adoption process; meeting potential adopters with foster parents and answering questions.

• Bulletin Board/Binder Updates – update the boards/binder (for events) at the shelter with the dogs in foster care.

• Case Manager - Assist foster parents through the fostering process.

• Puppy Consultant – help answer foster parents questions and guide them during this important time in the puppy’s life.

• Events Coordinator – organize and attend events.

• Foster Dog Trainer – must abide by the general training language and style the shelter uses.

• Foster Friends - help foster parents get their dogs out for daily walks.

• Foster Sitter - foster parents need a sitter while they go on vacation, business trips or just need a break.

• Foster Dog Communications Coordinator – Send out weekly e-mails for dogs that need foster care and general team updates.

• Foster Parents/Foster Dog Databases – update the list of foster parents/dogs in foster care.

• Foster Voice Mail Hotline – field incoming calls for foster dogs.

• Fundraising – help raise money for the Help the Animals Fund, the fund pays for the medical needs of animals at the shelter as well as in foster care.

• Groomers– experienced groomers to offer their time, space and supplies to get foster dogs looking and smelling nice for the public.

• Pick-up Assistants - help foster parents get all the supplies they need when they come to pick up a foster dog, including doing a meet and greet of their resident canine.

• Public Relations – Speak at local group events on what the foster group/team is all about and attend on one or all of the Volunteer Orientations to promote the group.

• Petfinder - posting/updating bios and photographs of dogs in foster care and at the shelter.

• Digital Traveling Photographer - go to foster parents home to get photos of the dogs for the Petfinder web site.

• Runners – Assist getting shelter dogs into foster care at local daycares.

• Recruiter – Receive, review and respond (by phone or e-mail) to new foster parent applications that come by mail, e-mail or phone.

Volunteer Qualifications

• Must have a genuine concern for the welfare of dogs.

• Must have good communication skills and be able to follow shelter safety protocol as outlined in the volunteer orientation and foster dog manuals.

• Experience with dogs and knowledge of dog "language" is preferred but not required.

• Volunteers are required to attend team meetings.

• Follow through is very important, please choose a role that is appropriate for your lifestyle.

Dog Walking Prerequisites

• Volunteer Orientation

• Shelter 101

• Shelter Dog Safety Handling

• Matchmakers

• Foster Dog Orientation

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