My oldest kid has started regularly volunteering with a dog rescue group, helping out at adoption events. It's the perfect volunteer opportunity for her, she's so good with dogs. But... gosh I don't need more dogs.... even really cute sweet ones... danger danger danger!
@sundogplanets
3,2,1
Aug 8, 2026, 8:35 PM@sundogplanets Congrats, you are now the dog shelter. Dogs and lost planets.
@sundogplanets
She mustn't bring her work home!
@sundogplanets time to put dog costumes on the goats and ducks.
Aug 8, 2026, 8:54 PM@sundogplanets im sorry, you know it's inevitable. You still have time to get used to thought, use it well 😁
@sundogplanets that's why my daughter is NOT allowed to visit/help/volunteer at the local cat rescue center...
@sundogplanets
My daughter volunteered at a rescue.
We ended up with two rabbits, two cats and a lizard.
She still loves animals.
@NorcalGma2 @sundogplanets I've volunteered for cat rescue groups for decades. We have our own three cats and a revolving group of fosters. Right now our fosters are one-year-old brothers Charlie and Buster and a 13-year-old stunner whose owner is dealing with brain cancer. She may or may not be able to take him back but he's safe with us regardless. He'd be happier if we got rid of all those other cats though.
@LPerry2 @sundogplanets
My daughter brought home a Persian cat that was gorgeous. The owner had lung cancer and so did the cat. The owner passed first so the cat lived with my daughter for as long as it had left. A much loved cat.
@sundogplanets It's a good opportunity to discuss boundary settings and the necessary conditions for responsible animal care!
Enjoy it while you can.
My son did the same. Became friends with an employee. So we had foster puppies for 3 months.
It was only evenings and some overnights. Only saw a puppy for a week or so till they were adopted.
It was great. So much puppy time.
@sundogplanets
I wish you the best of luck and/or please show us the pics.
@sundogplanets My partner does a lot of dog rescue work and we foster several a year much to the distress of our cats. I’m a little worried now as she’s moved up to learning how to train bears. :)
@Chigaze BEARS?!!
Yeah, that's the one thing that is keeping us from fostering dogs right now - our indoor cats would very much not like it.
@sundogplanets Her PhD is in animal behaviour and for the last few years she’s been building a partnership with a wildlife park in Innisfail. This year she’s doing a kind of apprenticeship and learning how to train bears.
@sundogplanets counter point, I volunteered at a shelter walking dogs for about 7 years. The first few months were definitely "oh this one is so cute" or "maybe I could..." But after a bit it started to become a lot more clear that there were some dogs that I just connected to better. And seeing those was pretty rare. I almost missed out on the one I did adopt being 3rd in line when I finally decided.
But then there's also countless foster failures so ... YMMV
Also it's great they volunteer!
@sundogplanets Same with my youngster some years ago. And yes, we eventually adopted one...