It's Feburary!

For the month of Feburary I haven't volunteered as much as I would have liked to because my new soccer schedule interferes with the days I can go volunteer at my shelter. However, on a good note, I have been trying to find animal adoption events near where I live because since my second answer is going to be focusing on this it would be good for me to experience an event first hand. I have been to an event where puppies where up for adoption but the event was not focused completely on animal adoptions so that is the type of event I would like to attend and see how it is held. Another thing that I have in mind is to communicate with the manager of the shelter and see if we can either attend or host an event to obtain hands on experience. Also just knowing I would be helping some of the animals find a new home is a great sensation. I love all the animals at my shelter and even though I get sad when they are adopted I am happy they can go to a new home and family. There is this one dog at my shelter, a German Shepard mix I believe, that when I got near his kennel he picked up his food dish and began to walk in circles. It was the cutest thing ever! I was so surprised to see he could do that and could stop squealing. Some days at the shelter can be a little slow but days like these just make me so happy to be volunteering at the shelter. I hope to receive many more pleasant surprises in the following months!

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

EQ: How can animal shelters best promote animal adoption?

Answer #2: Animal shelters can best promote animal adoption through special animal adoption events because it attracts a lot of people, easy to broadcast, and is not limited to any time frame.

1. The events are not contained to any size so it can be as big as the shelter wants or it can be a small event.
2. Advertising for the events can range from ads in the newspapers to handing out flyers, it is not limited by expenses because it is up to the shelter that is hosting the event what method they want to use and how much they are willing to spend for it.
3. These events can be held at any time the shelter wants whether according to any holidays coming up to help create a theme or any date that the shelter wishes to use.

Research:

• Swanson, Debbie. ʺShine a Light.ʺ Animal Sheltering. The Humane Society, Nov.-Dec. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
• Petfinder. ʺAnimal Placement Tips and Strategies.ʺ Petfinder Animal Placement Tips and Strategies Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
• Bestfriends. ʺHow to Promote Shelter Dogs for Adoption.ʺ Bestfriends.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
• ʺAnimal Shelter Tips: Valentine's Fundraising and Adoption Ideas.ʺ Animal Shelter Tips: Valentine's Fundraising and Adoption Ideas. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.

Concluding Sentence: Animal adoption events are very helpful not only for the new arrivals but also for the senior dogs and the ones that have been at the shelter for some time, this is why shelters have events to find loving homes for their animals.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

Please review the component contract at page 12 of the senior project packet.   The independent component 2 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research.  The goal of the component is for you to explore your answers in more depth.  On Friday April 25, 2014, you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

·       Log of hours on an digital spreadsheet (with total number of hours included)
·       Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts
·       LIA
 The senior team expects that your log will be on the right hand side of your blog with your WB, independent component log 1 and mentorship log.   In addition to this,  we expect that you will be able to prove the total 30 hours of work by submitting evidence to the blog by the due date.  For this blog post and approval, please answer the following questions.

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
I would like to concentrate on trying to talk to the manager see if he would let me change something's in the shelter such as the adoption bios. I would like to make those for all of the animals instead of just some of them. Through out this time I have not been to a shelter event that is something I would like to try to accomplish. I will be looking into that to see when is the next one and where or to see if my shelter can host one.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
I will be taking photos of the things I will be doing as well as keeping a log of my 30 hours. Also if my shelter gives me permission I will be writing adoption bios.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
By going to a shelter event I will be seeing things first hand, I feel like it would be a great experience especially if my shelter can attend.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.
Done

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal:

     (a) I, Briana Arreaga, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
     (b) I was able to complete my independent component through my mentorship at the Upland Animal Shelter.
     (c) Done
     (d) During my independent component I did the usual routine of checking on the dogs then cleaning anything that need to be done such as dishes, litter pans, and blankets. On occasions I sweep the halls. However I tried to focus more on helping the people that came through the shelter. I was able to show cats and dogs to the people who were interested. I answered all their questions to the best of my abilities; some of the questions they would ask is how big would a certain breed grow, aggression, personality, dog aggression, whether they are house broken or not, costs required to adopt the animal of their choice.

Interpretive:

A little guy that was giving me the puppy eyes to take him out. (I eventually gave in and took him out for a walk)

Near Christmas my shelter takes holiday pictures for owners who have dogs. In the background there is a Christmas tree and the doggies can sit on a bench like the one in the picture. Sometimes the owner/s can choose whether or not they want to join the picture with their pets. After several pictures they can choose which they like the best and have it printed out there and take home a Christmas picture!

A little puppy that was trembling of cold, so I gave him a blanket to help him stay warm.

A sweet pit-bull mix named Balto, was recently adopted but when I went back on Saturday he was being returned. I wish he could find a home already, it is not fair for all of these animals. I gave him some treats to cheer him up a little.

Applied:
     This component helped my understand the foundation of my topic better by allowing me to interact more with the people. Not only was I able to work on my communication skills but I noticed that I had to study a lot in order to answer any question they may ask me. In the beginning I was stumped when a man asked me which one is more aggressive a female pit-bull or a male pit-bull. This component helped me realized that I had to gain more knowledge on dog breeds as well as cat breeds. By knowing this information I would be able to present the animal better to them therefore allowing me to complete an adoption more fluidly.