It seems to me there are a couple of issues here. I don't think a shelter wants just any JoeBloe walking in one day to say "hey I'd like to help by walking your dogs". The shelter needs to know something about its volunteers though a criminal check might be a bit much. If someone has been volunteering at a shelter for some time so the staff knows them and now new policies are being put into effect, then the shelter should have some sort of informational meeting/handout for all its volunteers so they know what and why. And even when volunteers have been accepted, some mini-training should be included for handling dogs. Many shelter dogs have been abused so I wouldn't want a volunteer who grew up under the "old" system of training with spanking and collar yerking now handling a special needs dog. Actual certification for dog walkers - no - the government intrudes enough.
We're back in Germany
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Well after spending 45 days in the states we are back in Germany. Have to say I didn't want to come back, not back to Germany but back to work LMAO.
The dogs did great, but I am not happy with American Airlines and will never fly with them again. In Dallas they took them off about 20 minutes after we landed and then they sat on the tarmac until all the luggage was off and then took them away. United and Alaska/Horizon have ALWAYS taken the pets off first and carted them away and pets are always last to get on and don't come out to the plane till about 10 minutes before they are put on.
When we got back to Germany, I came down the stairs to the baggage area and could hear Tiggy screaming, of course this had me freaked because he's NEVER done anything like that. So we rush through customs and I run over to where the boys are and then see why Tiggy is screaming, some lady was talking to them and that got him riled up. But as soon as he saw me and I talked to him his screams went to the loudest yodel he could muster lmao and he just kept yodeling and making baroo noises OMG was it funny. Reggie was wiggling so much I thought he was gonna knock his crate over. I took Reggie out and gave him water and then gave Tiggy water but made him wait to get out of his crate, mostly because I was still helping Dave with the luggage and Reggie will (and did) just sit right by the cart his crate was on.
They both were very happy to get outside and pee and poo LOL they dragged me to the grass outside the airport. Though as we waited for our ride we had to dig out sweaters for the boys because it was about 35 degrees out. Dave ended up picking up Tiggy and zipping him up in his jacket. For Reggie we put one of Dave's sweatshirts on him LOL, Reggie looking so cute!! Then when we got home they had to run around everywhere and smell everything.
Only thing that wasn't good about being home is we have one VERY unhappy kitty. She at first hide when I went to our friends house to pick her up. She wasn't very happy to see Tiggy and Reggie. That part I don't understand because our friends have a boston terrier/cocker spaniel mix, and Lizzy is just as energetic as Tiggy. Pigmy actually growled her unhappiness about us leaving her for that long. She did warm up after about an hour and got out of her tree and started wandering around again. It took a little longer for her to stop hissing at Tiggy, but Reggie just pinned her down and groomed her (she growled but that was it, growled more when Tiggy helped). But she is fine and pulling out her toys and scattering them around LOL.
And that my friends is the adventure of my first day home, well there was sleeping for about 9.5 hours because we didn't sleep on the plane. We laid down about 08:30 am and got completely about 18:00 , I had gotten up at about 16:00 and took the boys out to potty and run around a bit then crawled back in bed because I had a migraine. Then after we got up we went to eat and then went and got Pigmy.
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Glad you're back home… What an experience!
Did you figure what that lady was doing or saying that got Tiggy all riled up?
And how come they were already in the baggage area before you? Is it because of the customs that caused the delay? Or the baggage area was pretty far? (It's an international flight and have never been to Germany so I was just wondering what's different or how it was different from a domestic flight.)
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Glad you're back home… What an experience!
Did you figure what that lady was doing or saying that got Tiggy all riled up?
And how come they were already in the baggage area before you? Is it because of the customs that caused the delay? Or the baggage area was pretty far? (It's an international flight and have never been to Germany so I was just wondering what's different or how it was different from a domestic flight.)
She was just talking to him in general and since he had been without people contact he just started making noise and hollering, he wasn't freaked out or upset he was just being noisy.
The pets are the first thing off the plane so they go to the baggage area first and are usually there before you are. It's not that far to go and the customs area is right next to where you go for baggage. The real only difference between it and domestic flights is before getting to baggage you have to show them your passport and then it gets stamped, thats about it. Sometimes in the states pets are put out the same times as the luggage.
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Ah, seems all is well… That's good!
And now, you have to give lots of attention to Pigmy - she probably figures it's her turn!
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yep, she's good now. She's back to her old self of being a instigator and getting tiggy to chase her and laying on our laps
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Maya,
How much longer do you have in Germany? Will you take orders back to the US?
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Welcome home:D to not so sunny but snowy Germany (well where we are it is)
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Glad you & all the boys made it back to Germany safely
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Maya,
How much longer do you have in Germany? Will you take orders back to the US?
Well I have 10 months left in the Army, don't know if I'll reenlist to stay longer, but I don't think I will. My husband has till September 2010, but because of his hips he will most likely be medically retired before then. I've been in the Army for 10 yrs now (this June), and I'm done with it, tired of it, time to move on to something else. So we expect to be back stateside by this time next yr
Welcome home:D to not so sunny but snowy Germany (well where we are it is)
I wish it would snow here, I get little flakes that go away as soon as it stops. I love the snow and haven't seen any since moving to Germany. Really I'm serious, it hasn't snowed (at least snowed and stayed) in this area at all. Here it is chilly and wet, we got hail earlier but now its raining of and on
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@WBL:
I've been in the Army for 10 yrs now (this June), and I'm done with it, tired of it, time to move on to something else. So we expect to be back stateside by this time next yr
I thank you for your service, but that's great news…....we want you back in the USA!:D
