Jen Walker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crows_roost) wrote2011-09-09 06:37 pm
crows_roost) wrote2011-09-09 06:37 pm
Gone to the Dogs again
I've been volunteering dog walking at our local shelter. It is a return. Driving down off the Hill, from the early sun, down into the coastal fog. I did the first shift for the first time this morning, arriving at seven. The shelter was mostly dark, very few folks around, I was the only dog walker on.
I signed in, got my necessaries (keys, poop-bags, treats, "out for a walk" sign, and pen to record information on kennel cards) and went out to the dogs. There is always the cacophony of barking when someone opens that door. I walk calmly, soft-bodied, down the aisle and open the first kennel lock. Vinnie, Poppy, Philip, Domino, Manny, and others and others, from the bouncy to the shaking timid, take a ten minute break with me. There will be a crowd of dog walkers in at nine to give them more but for now they are out and about, relieving themselves, and smelling the day - just a bit, with me.
I signed in, got my necessaries (keys, poop-bags, treats, "out for a walk" sign, and pen to record information on kennel cards) and went out to the dogs. There is always the cacophony of barking when someone opens that door. I walk calmly, soft-bodied, down the aisle and open the first kennel lock. Vinnie, Poppy, Philip, Domino, Manny, and others and others, from the bouncy to the shaking timid, take a ten minute break with me. There will be a crowd of dog walkers in at nine to give them more but for now they are out and about, relieving themselves, and smelling the day - just a bit, with me.