As i managed to secured a 4th volunteering opportunity for my dog. I also start feeling the financial strain of it. As is also further away from my house. And only 1 of this volunteering opportunity was within walking distance. And all the VWOs (about 5 of them) in my area under the same MP, dont seems to be keen in the idea of animal assisted activities. And the only one that i secure that is from the constituency beside me, is about 20mins walk away, and that part i appoach 10 of the vwos in the area, and only 1 accept me. And one of them immediately put up a no dogs allow signage few days later, what a losers they are.
Still….its lucky my dog dont feel the 50 over rejections i get. And its not even a paid job. Pretty sure he will be upset if he knows so many people dont like him.
Still…..back to those that accepted him, 3 of them are pretty far away, and each the nearest will cost me about $30 (two way) and the farthest will cost me about $40 to $50 (two way) to get there. And just imagine i only getting $520/mth from government financial assistance and yet 1/4 of it will go into the transportation for my dog to go for his volunteer work. And keeping him is not cheap to begin with. As he is a large dog so his monthly expenses can cost as much as $200 a month.
What is crap is that MSF dont seems to have any schemes to help out unemployed people who are volunteering and giving back to the community.
How much i wish i can hunt for a 5th place for my dog to volunteer in, and the greatest barrier i have right in front of me is just money, nothing else but money.
Thank you for sharing on what your experiences have been to serve the community. I think it says a lot about how much you care to better the lives of others by volunteering the services of your own emotional support dog and bearing the cost by yourself. Having directly benefited from this support, you proactively approached agencies around you with your good intentions. Understandably it’s frustrating when many of them are not open to the support offered.
I believe over time, news of the good work you do will spread and more agencies will be receptive to programs which include spending time with an emotional support dog. Please do not be too discouraged and continue with your initiative and good intentions.
I’m not very familiar with animal-assisted therapy / activities but it’s really nice to hear that there are dog-owners who are keen to volunteer in this space. Did a quick google search and found this: thedogtors.sg/becoming-an-accredited-team/
It sounds like there’s some financial and time commitment upfront to get certified but maybe worth considering?
Instead of hunting for your own volunteering opportunity, maybe can also consider reaching out to some of the organisations offering animal-assisted therapy? Eg Healing Paws
Well….my dog is rejected by all the therapy animal org, as 1. some prefer to use their own animals which the org source for while under foundation funding. 2. my dog is a special needs dog that even trainers cant train him. and he do what he wanted to do and get very excited and jump around if he is triggered. 3. after he is 2 1/2 yrs old he started to develop dog to dog aggression issues. Which can be avoided if he was socialised early. But people didn’t give him the opportunity to do so.
sadly….after posting this i saw a news that mentioned animal assisted therapy is a multi million dollar blooming industry as more and more people are paying for such services.
But…oh wait…..why am i paying to provide such service instead of being paid to do it?
ah I see, interesting - can you explain about the “special needs” part about your dog? I’m keen to learn more. if he has dog-to-dog aggression issues, would that hinder the therapy session? I guess the other way to do this volunteering thing is to get interested people to come to a place that is convenient for you? Maybe like a park within walking distance from your house or something? I think it’s fair since you’re already getting your dog to volunteer for the therapy session.
Well…..if you know human version of ADHD, well…he has the dog version of it. Extremely high energy, easily distracted. So much so that he can hurt someone unknowingly if not i am not there to supervise him. And totally cannot sit still.
And he just refuse to listen and cannot focus. So much so, he was deemed untrainable by many trainers.
Ah okay thanks for the analogy! It must have taken you quite some effort to train him well - you should be proud of that. Sorry this kinda digressed from your original concern about financial worries but I think you should definitely prioritise your own needs first. Don’t overstretch yourself to help others, it’s not sustainable in the long run.
