Feel Good Friday: Teens Learning the Value of Animal Rescue

Welcome to another edition of Feel Good Friday where we kick off the weekend with some happy news and stories!

Hello Everyone!

You may remember last month I introduced you all to a book called Don’t Judge A Book by Its Cover, which is an amazing book written by my friend Denise who in addition to being an award winning author, is a pet first aid instructor and a youth program coordinator.

When I met Denise she began telling me about the program she runs at her local shelter and I was blown away at how awesome the program was, and I couldn’t help but consider the amazing potential of this program.

Denise is the coordinator for an Regional Occupational Program (ROP) designed to teach teens how to care, clean, and prepare for an animal related career at the Burbank Animal Shelter.

The program offers students hands on training while teaching them workplace and career management skills. The class meets 5 hours each week for 20 weeks.

What are the learning objective for the students?

How to choose the right pet for their family.

Basic pet care needs.

Diseases that affect different breeds and species and how to prevent them.

Characteristics of dog and cat breeds and how to describe their color and markings.

Negative effects of Puppy Mills.

Importance of Spay/Neuter.

Trap-Neuter-Release Programs.

Animal Rights versus Animal Welfare.

Breed Specific Legislation.

Additionally,

Field Trips!

Guest speakers who help students explore career options

Can you imagine all of the valuable lessons teens are learning from this program?

Many teens take home a sense of responsibility that they have never had before. By simply showing up for an additional program outside of school, and being responsible for puppy socialization, dog walking and basic training, they are becoming more responsible citizens.

Denise can share countless stories of teens who have influenced adults decisions by providing them with facts and information that they have learned in their ROP course. Many people simply don’t know what it is like for animals in a shelter, and how important it is that we decrease the shelter population.

One student was discussing puppy mills in class, and her teacher told her that puppy mills were necessary for people to get the purebred dogs that they want. The student replied with a fact that she learned in class, “more than 25% of shelter dogs are purebreds), and urged the teacher to watch the video from Oprah’s coverage of puppy mills from 2008.

This student was able to change the teachers mind. Denise knows that because that same teacher showed support at City Hall to pass an ordinance declaring that pet stores could no longer sell puppies from a puppy mill!

I can’t say enough about how great this program is, and how lucky they are to have Denise!

Do you have a similar program in your local area? Would you like to start a similar program in your area?