Volunteer Orientation

Welcome to the volunteer program at the Door County Humane Society. We are happy to have you! Our shelter could not survive without our amazing volunteers and we are thrilled that you have decided to join our group. We want your time spent with us to be as enjoyable as possible so please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve our volunteer program.

Our Mission/Who We Are

The mission of the Door County Humane Society is to provide a safe haven for lost and homeless animals with the hope of reuniting them with their families or placing them in new loving homes. We strive to serve as an invaluable asset to our community. Our goal is to provide the highest level of care and compassion to each and every animal while providing a friendly, welcoming environment for visitors to the shelter and potential adopters. We are a not-for-profit organization which exists solely on private donations. Our work is a demanding 24/7, 365 day a year operation and we try very hard to make every animal as comfortable as possible during their stay with us. The reward comes when we see one of the animals go home to a loving new family in our community. We could not succeed in this mission without the support of our volunteers. We have many different areas of opportunity to serve as a volunteer and we hope that one or more of them will be the right fit for you! This packet includes the following:

Training

Depending on which area you will volunteer in, further training may be required. Once we complete the orientation, we will contact you to find a time to pair you with a staff member to complete your training. Also, if you are working in the shelter and would like a job description to help clarify our policies and procedures, we would be more than happy to provide it to you. Please ask the staff if you have any questions

Dress Code

When you begin your volunteer time with us, you will be given a DCHS volunteer t-shirt. If you are going to be working during adoption hours or with the public, we would appreciate you wearing this shirt; it helps the community identify the people who can help pass on information about the shelter and answer any questions they may have.

Disease control

The Door County Humane Society works very hard to keep all of the animals healthy and safe during their time with us. If you are working with the animals as part of your volunteer time, it is very important that you understand all of our procedures and policies when it comes to handling the animals and controlling illnesses that can be carried from animal to animal. Please make sure that you have been informed of all the steps we take in general and any and all steps we are taking for particular animals to keep everyone safe.

Handling the animals

Not all of the animals have the same temperament. Please make sure that you have been informed of any “difficult” animals that we are working with prior to handling them, for your own safety. Cats and dogs at your home behave much differently than those in a shelter environment; it can be very stressful. Your time with them really helps to eliminate some of this stress. Certain areas of the shelter and certain animals may be off limits at times. Please be respectful of this and ask if you have any questions as to why.

Volunteer Hours

If you are working hours in the shelter, either as a greeter, doing cleaning, or dog walking and animal socializing, it is very important that you sign up on our volunteer calendar. It is important that management and the staff knows who will be helping at the shelter day to day. Also, you will have an hours tracking sheet in the volunteer book on the front counter. You should log your hours each time you do any volunteer time with us including the tasks you assisted with. If you ever have any suggestions, please know that we are always open to new ideas. Thank you again for choosing to volunteer your time with us. The staff and animals thank you!