Yesterday I spent the morning and early afternoon at the Peninsula Humane Society. I was lucky enough to take out two great dogs. The first dog I spent time with was Shadow, a one year old female black lab and pit bull mix. She has been at the Humane Society since April 1st. She was extremely eager to get out of her kennel, so much that I had a hard time getting her harness and leash on her. However, I was prepared for her to be a lot to handle because she was marked as a dog that only certain volunteers can take out. Some dogs at the Humane Society, for whatever reason, maybe they are just very large or strong or overly aggressive or overly shy, that are marked as dogs that beginner volunteers are not allowed to take out. Once I got Shadow out on the Bay Trail though, she was not too hard to handle (despite being pretty strong and pulling on the leash). I worked on her training with her, like behaving around strangers and other dogs, as well as walking better on a leash. She just seemed to glad to get out and to stretch her legs. I feel so bad for the large dogs in the kennel who don't always get out every day, let alone at least once a day. Shadow was very sweet too, and I am sure she won't be at the Humane Society for too long.

Here is Shadow's video from the Humane Society:
http://www.youtube.com/user/peninsulaspca#p/search/3/oAhHwu7OCPw

The next dog that I worked with was named Nutella. He was an one year old, gray terrier mix who certainly had an interesting name. He arrived at the Humane Society on April 16th. I initially picked him to take out because he had just been neutered and had a cone around his neck, so I felt bad for him. He was a little timid at first, shaking in my arms as I carried him outside. But Nutella quickly warmed up to me; he was so happy to be outside and away from all the barking dogs. After I walked him a bit, I tried to work on some commands with him in the play area, but I soon learned that he was much less interested in working on his training and much more interested in getting affection. Nutella must have just sat in my lap for more than a half an hour. It was clear that Nutella missed getting attention on a daily basis. He was such a nice, cute dog, that I have a hard time believing that he won't get snatched up soon. It really made me sad, though, that such a sweet dog had to be locked up in a kennel with five other dogs at all.