Pat McGowan is a respected volunteer at Michigan Animal Rescue League and she is here to comment on her experiences at the shelter answer your questions about adoption, animal care and more. If you have a question or comment for her please email it to: marleague@aol.com with the subject: Volunteer Blog.

Who Am I?

My name is Pat McGowan and I have been an active volunteer at MARL for 4 years. When I retired from Michigan Bell Telephone I felt strongly that I should find a volunteer position where I could feel useful and enjoy what I do. DOGS, DOGS, DOGS, they pretty much take up my life. I taught 4-H dog care and training for 20 years, I have also taught community education dog training classes for many years. I compete in conformation, agility, canine musical freestyle, obedience, hunt tests, field trials…you name it and I have at least dabbled in the sport. So what could be more fitting than volunteering to help…DOGS.

OK OK I know there are also some wonderful, beautiful cats that reside here, as a matter of fact, when I was a child during the 1950’s my family came to MARL and adopted a cat. How wonderful that this shelter has such a long, successful history.

When people find out I volunteer here the first comment is always “I couldn’t do that, I would want to take every dog home.” It is certainly true that some dogs have a way of tugging at your heart. Of course we all say “If I could have as many dogs as I wanted I would take (fill in the name) home. But in reality we lavish a little extra attention on our favorites and rejoice when they find their wonderful, forever home.

I am constantly astounded by the commitment the staff shows to all the animals here. Every animal is made to feel special, no matter how hectic the day is, every animal is loved, fed, cared for in every way and at night each and every dog and cat has a nice clean blanket to cuddle into, all done with compassion.

Part of my job as a volunteer has recently branched out to calling new dog and puppy adopters to make sure the transition from shelter to home is going well. The hope is that small problems will not become big problems if caught early enough. In addition to this and several other duties at MARL, I fancy myself chief treat distributer every Friday when I visit all of my four legged friends!

Email me your questions at marleague@aol.com and I would be delighted to answer.