Shelter Care

I am planning to interview Jazzi, a dog trainer that has been training one of my friend's dog for some weeks now. I find this a perfect opportunity because my third answer is training and I hope she can give me some insight for my last answer. 

EQ: "What are the most effective strategies a shelter can use to increase the chances an animal will be adopted?"

Because I am interviewing a dog trainer that is not involved with a shelter, but with classes I would ask her:

1. How long have you been a dog trainer?
2. What drove you to become a dog trainer?
3. What prepared you to be a dog trainer?
4. Do you tend to know the dog's background before your training class?
5. Have you ever gotten dogs that were in foster care?
6. Have you ever gotten dogs that were adopted from shelters?
7. What is the most difficult part of your job?
8. What are the most common problems you encounter with pets in your classes?
9. What tips do you have for owners who are starting out with training?
10. When do you recommend for an owner to start training their pet?
11. Do you notice any difference in the different breeds that you train?
12. What are the basic tools you usually use for your training sessions?
13. Would you recommend training classes for every pet owner? Why?
14. Do you notice a difference in attention span from the different age groups of dogs you've trained?
15. Do you have certain methods for every behavior type of dog? (Hyper, Not motivated, aggressive, etc.)
16. Have you ever had a particular case where the dog didn't take on the training well?
17. What usually works to motivate the dog for training?
18. What is the most important thing an owner can do while training their pet?
19. Why do you think training is important for a pet?
20. If you can describe the perfect trainer, what would that trainer be like?

Jackson Brown is mentioned in my audio link from my interview.

The most important thing that I learned was that the importance of how kennel cards, shelter websites, and staff work is to the animals in the shelter. With the knowledge that my mentor shared with me in the interview some shelters that are kill shelters don't preform highly in these areas and are risking the lives of the animals in that particular shelter without the proper advertisement and care.

My approach on interview grew positively. Interviewing is still very intimidating because I don't like being clear with my questions and when I go back to write my transcripts, I do sound unclear and unconfident - it's something I need to work on, but I have learned from it. 

"What are the most effective strategies a shelter can use to increase the chances that an animal will be adopted?"

Jennifer King - Adoption Manager of Priceless Pets Orphanage in Claremont

"Have you ever searched online, took any courses, or seen anything informational that helped you manage Priceless Pets? If so what was it? Do you recommend anything that I should read?"

"To answer my EQ, "     ", what would you recommend me to do to better understand adoption?" 

"Was there ever a hard case for you to find a family to adopt? Can you tell me what could've helped with the adoption?"

"What have you noticed that usually gets a potential adopter take home a dog or cat?" 

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I am spending my mentorship at the Priceless Pets No-Kill Orphanage in Claremont with Jennifer King as my mentor. There, I am able to walk, pet, and play with dogs and also sometimes cats. Being a volunteer for Priceless Pets is really hands on and it's been a great experience to actually be with animals and see them get adopted. There are many local shelters, but there is another Priceless Pets in Chino.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you? 

I actually found my mentor from a previous senior from last year. I went to her presentation and she sighted where she did her independent component hours and I thought volunteering at a no-kill shelter would be perfect for me. No-kill non profit shelters really need dedicated and consistent volunteers and Jennifer already mentored before so she was familiar to this project.

 I really do feel pretty comfortable with my mentor because she's very easy to talk to and is so passionate about the animals, but I just wish I could go more often like the other volunteers. I try to go sometimes on Tuesdays and on the weekends when I can, but I usually go on Thursdays Most of the other volunteers either work or go there every day because their school is so much closer and has a program with Priceless Pets.

I felt like the interview was really casual and natural. It wasn't really a planned set of questions because I usually like conversational interviews so maybe having a more planned guideline would help me have a longer interview. I know because there was a pause of me trying to think of another question so I'll have more planning ahead for next time.

My mentor's name is Jennifer and she is part of the Orphanage Priceless Pet Rescue Adoption No-Kill Shelter. She is an expert because she has been part of the shelter for years and is there everyday of the week taking care of the animals and directs all the volunteers. Her daughter even volunteered for a few years. 

I knew this before, but having an actual veterinarian say it to my face that having a veterinarian as a mentor will be difficult was probably an important wake up call. I would probably rephrase the questions. Having a set of questions kind of threw me off and the way I just read it off the paper at first threw off Dr. Goldstein. 

I did ask Dr. Goldstein for additional resources and contacts, but he didn't recommend any specific source or place other than Google. However, he did say that checking with schools with vet programs could help. That was probably the most helpful because he thought the internet was the best source.

I researched him and he graduated from one of the best vet schools in America, which is Cornell and studied many other branches connected to veterinary.

I plan to interview a practicing veterinarian at a animal hospital that can possibly be my future mentor. I do have a location in mind near my house and I will hopefully get my interview there.

1. I'm interested in studying Veterinary. What could you tell me about it?
2. From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?
3. Who else would you recommend?
4. What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship?
5. What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

I plan to ask where the veterinarian where he/she did his/her schooling with specifics in what they majored in and where they completed veterinary school. Also, I would ask about special or interesting moments that has happened since he/she has been a veterinarian.