The longer I stay, the more I learn…

Okay, so last week, Wednesday I think it was, ”the boss” phoned me and basically offered me a part time job. Now that was mentioned last week when I was there, but no she’s phoned me, and bam. That kind of means it’s official am I right? So now, I’ve gone from only working (volunteering) at Oxfam, to also working part-time at the Kennels. Not that I am complaining because I have totally wanted this for a long time, and now it’s finally here. So, a bit of persistence and being slightly annoying, you an really go places.

It’s only my second day working at the kennels, but I already feel like I know what I am doing. I completely cleaned out four kennels. As there were two puppies, and a dog on medication, these dogs cannot yet control their bladder. In itself is a shame, but it gets less cute (as in awww that’s a shame) when you have to clean it up. So, to start with I took the row on the right hand side. There were 3 dogs in their ”rooms”. This was a little cocker spaniel puppy. He was tiny, and absolutely beautiful. He was barking when I first got into the back bit he was barking away to everyone. Almost as if he was like: ”Notice me, I’m lonely and scared. And I want to have some FUN!!!!”. I took him on a walk first, in order to try and calm him down. As he was so young, he didn’t have a collar. Just a harness. It was unbelievably difficult as he was wriggling around, and crying. He was jumping up, and eventually I managed to grab his front paws and strap on his harness. That should have been the hard part done, but alas, it was not to be so easy. I tried to clip the lead onto his harness, but it was not so easy, as he grabbed the lead in his mouth, and wouldn’t let go. So, I had to walk him whilst he walked himself. We honestly walked like that for most of the walk. Finally then, he got interested in something other than his lead and all of a sudden he let go. It felt like I’d gone from carrying rocks to a pillow. Although he still pulled I didn’t mind that, as he was a puppy, and it was about a billion times easier than his walking himself.

Once we returned to the building, I got his food, and took him to the outside run to keep him clean, whilst I walked the other dogs, and then cleaned his kennel. The next dogs on my list were a collie and a mongrel. I walked these last week, and they were here for another few days. I walked them, and they were easy.. The only thing was as there was two of them, the leads tangled around each other, but other than that it was easy. They went back into the outside room and I locked the door into the inside compartment, so I could clean later.

The next dog I walked was a cocker spaniel. Now, before I opened the kennel, I was told she was a ”puller” Now, I don’t have a thing against dogs that pull (my own dog pulls my arm right out of the socket sometimes), but the minute I opened her kennel I didn’t believe it. She was cowering and seemed generally scared. It was such a shame. Until I got her outside. It was like the minute she smelt fresh air, she completely changed. She pulled like CRAZY!!! We started walking down the hill (which is quite step), and then a rabbit hopped out about 5 metres in front. Luckily she ignored it. Then about a minute later, she ran straight down the hill, and somehow the lead came straight back to me. And it wasn’t attached to her collar!! I ran straight down the hill, my heart beating like an over excited rock song, and after a few minutes of chasing her I got her clipped back on. Thankfully. I then realised that I must have clipped the lead onto the name tag, which isn’t as stable as the actual collar hook.

Once I’d walked her, and my heart had started working normally, I started to clean the kennels out. But first, I had to bring the puppy back in, and into his outside compartment, whilst I clean the inside bit, because he and the other dogs were being too noisy. I first had to mop the floor in order to get rid of all the wee on the floor. Then I had to hoover, but first I decided to mop the other kennels first as I’d keep the mop out, then the hoover, then the windows. It just made more sense to me than anything else.

After a while, I’d done all the kennels, all my dogs were fed, and they had clean water. I then helped the other girl by taking a black Labrador puppy on his walk. He was very boisterous and I took him up to the pen. He fell in love with the tennis ball, and once we were done, he wouldn’t let me leave it down there.

 

After walking the first puppy again, that was me done, and I had ten minutes left of my shift. I went and got my wages!!! I honestly was not expecting them, as I would be happy doing it for free, and I absolutely love doing it. I got £12 which is absolutely HUGE!!!!

 

I am looking forward to next weekend again, I think my life from now on is going to be me looking forward to Saturday mornings. I only hope that some day-care dogs are in so I can sit with them.