Best Friends Sanctuary Volunteers

Re: Visiting August 4-11, 2009

jhayesmom — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:14:34 GMT

Karyn, how excited are you right now...because you and Kim are actually at Best Friends! I'll look forward to reading your blog posts and have the opportunity to "relive" my visits there. Embrace every moment of your experience and please pass out liberal hugs, scratches, belly rubs etc. on behalf of those of us who will be living vicariously through you for a week. Enjoy!!!

Joanne

Visiting August 4-11, 2009

karyninva — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:46:28 GMT

Hi everyone!

I'm still trying to navigate and learn my way around the new Network. There may be a better place to post this so feel free to guide me in the right direction!!

My friend, Kim, and I will be visiting BFAS August 4-11 and I'm wondering if anyone else will be there at the same time. This will be my 2nd trip to BF and Kim's first. When I was there in March 2007, one of the best parts of the trip was hanging out with other volunteers. So, if you'll be there as well, drop us a line!

If you won't be there, but want to follow our journey, feel free to visit the blog I created: http://2ksinkanab.blogspot.com. There's nothing posted there yet but will be soon.

Take care, Karyn

Resources

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:06:59 GMT

Documents

Links

Animal area classes.xls

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:07:44 GMT

VOL3_SafetyGuidelines.pdf

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:08:26 GMT

VOL1_Release (2).pdf

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:07:12 GMT

CatVolunteer (2).pdf

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:59:46 GMT

BunnyVolunteer (2).pdf

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:59:26 GMT

"What's it like to volunteer at DogTown!". Volunteers Paul and Lori Wilson will tell you all about it! .........

Kalene — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:42:27 GMT

Our wonderful experience volunteering at Amra

My wife, Lori, and I had the honor to be the first volunteers assigned to Amra, a new and very special dog area at Best Friends. Amra was built for dogs that need special attention because they have trouble getting along with other dogs. Lori and I found it very rewarding to work with the Amra dogs.

We arrived at Best Friends very late on Sunday, July 20, and checked into Cottage #2 -- a wonderful place. The next morning, we were astounded to see the countryside all around the cottage -- it had been dark the night before. The spectacular scenery was a complete surprise.

We watched the "welcome" video, went on the tour, and learned quite a bit about Best Friends. Then we sat down with Kalene Craddock, the Volunteer Manager, to discuss what we could do for Best Friends in the three days of our stay. We told Kalene that we are used to troubled dogs. Kalene asked some questions about our experience and, after a very nice conversation, sent us to Dogtown, where we were assigned to Amra.

Amra has two primary caregivers: Brian and Andrea. It would be very hard to find two more friendly, compassionate, hard-working, professional people anywhere. They took an interest in Lori and me, and they gave us everything to do that we were capable of doing, and they answered our questions and listened to our ideas. They kept us working pretty hard -- we were both exhausted at the end of each day. We walked dogs, fed dogs, watered dogs, took dogs out for baths, cleaned up dog runs, distributed new toys, and picked up chewed toys. It was a pretty heavy schedule; I don't know how Brian and Andrea do it every day.

On Monday evening, we took a dog named Jackson for a sleepover. He was perfectly behaved in every way. We were extremely proud of him when we took him out for dinner (in Kanab, most restaurants let you take a dog when you eat outside). He walked perfectly on his leash. We followed the normal rule at Best Friends for sleepover dogs -- we kept Jackson at a distance from other dogs. He was an absolute delight, and we were sad to have to give him back on Tuesday morning.

On Wednesday evening, we took a dog named Julep for a sleepover. She was every bit as good as Jackson -- either one of them is perfectly adoptable by the right family -- and we were, once again, very sad to have to give her back. We learned something interesting about Julep -- she seemed to want to be friendly to other dogs. We mentioned this to the people in charge of dogs at Best Friends. They were very interested, and it turns out that they had seen similar things in Julep before. We're hoping that Julep finds a good family just as soon as possible.

We have to thank Kalene, Brian, and Andrea for working with us and for their kindness. We also have to thank John Garcia and Vicki Kilmer-Rinker, who answered way too many questions for us. Finally, in alphabetical order, we have to thank Beans, Chaquita, China, Dasani, Jackson, Jazzy, Julep, King, Lexi, Minnie, Nicole, Pandora, Pinky Bear, Romo, Scarlett, and Shocky.

We'll be back next year, and every year.

Paul Wilson

WildfriendsVolunteer.pdf

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:38:08 GMT

General information on volunteering.doc

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:19:26 GMT

Volunteer and Learn!

PatG — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:22:59 GMT

Best Friends Sanctuary Volunteers can now volunteer and learn in the same visit! The Volunteer and Animal Care Depts are pleased to announce a variety of new classes for volunteers. These include:

Rabbits 101: An introduction to the Wonderful Elusive Rabbit – care, diets, health, housing and adopting a rabbit into your own home!

Cat Grooming: Learn the proper way to groom a cat, the best tools to use, importance of healthy skin and coat, what should be done by you and by a professional groomer

Drawing Cats: Learn to draw a cat using the “5 strokes” drawing method, practice, then draw your favorite BF cat (no artistic experience required!)

How to Make a Sweatshirt Bed: (this would be for your cat) - - you will be given instructions, kits, and the opportunity to sew your bed by using one of our sewing machines (no special talents required!)

We currently offer one class at Dogtown (with more on the way!!):
Training Trails

And don’t forget the horses! Classes at Horse Haven include:

Horse Grooming
Hoof/Foot Care
Body Conditioning Score
Guardian Angel Animals at Horse Haven
Parelli Training

And in our beautiful Parrot Garden:

Parrots: The Basics

And coming soon: Toy Making for Parrots

Sessions are scheduled on specific days and times, and have a maximum numbers of volunteers that can attend. Please contact the Volunteer Dept at volunteers@bestfriends.org for more information about scheduling your volunteer visit to the Sanctuary and taking part in any of the classes.

Written and posted by Pat Guerrero.

Check out what's new when volunteering at the sanctuary!!

Kalene — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:54:32 GMT

Classes…..Talks…..Activities……..

Ever wonder about the proper way to groom your cat or groom a horse? How about how to tell if a horse is too thin or too heavy? Or just some basic information on a bunny or bringing a new kitten into your home? Well we have all kinds of answers for you …….and more!

In addition to your volunteer activities, we’d like to extend to you an invitation to learn more about our animals, learn something new about an animal, and/or get involved in a fun activity by participating in a class.

We are currently offering classes/activities in the following areas: Horses, Cats, and Rabbits, and we will soon be adding classes/activities in the following areas: Parrots and Dogs.

The classes/activities are a great way for us to share more knowledge with you along with creating some fun activities along the way! Our staff/caregivers teaching the classes/activities will be more than happy to answer your questions along the way….so don’t be shy!

**Each class will run approximately 30-60 minutes (depending upon the class) and is limited in the number of participants (5-20 depending upon the class) – advanced registration will be needed for each class. You can preview the classes currently available once you have created your Volunteer Profile and browse through Volunteer Opportunities, or through the "Resources" tab on this page. Please let us know if you find one that you would like to participate in while you are here volunteering.

We welcome you to join us and do something a little different while volunteering at Best Friends!

PigVolunteer.pdf

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:32:18 GMT

ParrotVolunteer.pdf

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:31:58 GMT

HorseVolunteer.pdf

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:31:27 GMT

DogVolunteer.pdf

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:31:11 GMT

"At what age can a child volunteer at Best Friends Animal Society?"

Kalene — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:10:59 GMT

We get this question ALOT, so we thought it would be helpful to include some information for you as you plan a trip to the sanctuary and want to bring along children.

Any child under 18 years of age must to acccompanied by a parent or guardian at all times while on the sanctuary grounds. For the safety of both people and animals, children 5 years and younger are not able to volunteer with our animals. Some of our other animal areas may have additional restrictions for those children between the ages of 6-17 years. We will be more than happy to share those with you once you contact us regarding volunteering.

While we understand that there will be families wanting to visit us but whose children are too young to volunteer, there are great ways to still expereince the animals here at Best Friends: a sanctuary tour and participating in the individual animal area tours (birds, bunnies, pot-bellied pigs) for example.

We will work very hard to ensure that your time spent with us is both rewarding and wonderul for you and your family!

We want YOU to volunteer with US!!!

Kalene — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:46:50 GMT

Experience the unconditional love of our animals by volunteering your time at Best Friends Animal Society!

You can volunteer your time with our many lovable dogs and cats, amazing birds (parrots and other inside birds, as well as our wildfriends -- the outside birds), sweet bunnies, beautiful horses, and fascinating pot-bellied pigs by helping feed, clean, groom ,walk, and socialize with them!! We offer two volunteer sessions each day, mornings and afternoons, so you are free to volunteer as much or as little as you'd like. You are welcome to volunteeer with us for a few hours or a few days -- we'd love to have you spend any amount of time with us and our animals!

We recommend contacting us regarding the dates that you plan to visit and volunteer so that we can schedule your volunteer time. While we do need volunteers all year round, some areas are limited in the number of volunteers they can accomodate each day (especially if there are children), so it helps to contact us so that we can help you properly schedule your volunteer time.

For more information about our volunteer opportunities, to schedule volunteer time, or general volunteer questions, please contact our Volunteer Department at volunteers@bestfriends.org or 435-644-2001 x4119

We look forward to seeing you!!