Make a Difference with the
MOAS Advocate Program
MOAS Advocates are a special group of volunteers who help us save lives by ensuring that animals that have been at the shelter the longest or have special needs (e.g., heartworm positive dogs) get the extra attention that they need to help them stay happy and healthy at the shelter and to help promote them for adoption.
Here’s a brief introduction to our advocate program along with a few things that you need to know:
Advocates select an animal or two to advocate for from our list of available pets. This includes a commitment to visit the cat or dog for at least one hour a week. This can be spread out over multiple visits during the week or can be done in a single visit. Whatever fits your schedule. During your visits you can also help their animals get exercise and enjoy some much-needed play time outside of their kennel or cage. This play time will help you get to know your animal and their personality. If you pick a dog, you can help with basic commands, leash training and even bath time! These activities will give your animal much needed confidence that he/she will be successful in their potential adoptive homes. We even challenge you to find someone who is interested in adopting a cat who knows how to give high-fives or who can walk on a leash!
Advocates take photos and videos of their chosen animal(s) and write notes about their personality. Advocates then post these to one of our volunteer Facebook page where staff can access them to help update our website and social media in the hopes of helping their animal(s) find a forever home! We can provide fun props and costumes to help with your photo shoots!
Don’t have Facebook? No problem - we can still work with you. Just let our Programs Coordinator know so that you can send updates via email.
Advocates must go through our normal volunteer training. Don’t worry our training is quick and easy! When you submit your volunteer application (if you haven’t already), you’ll be given a chance to schedule an individual training with our Foster/Volunteer Coordinator.
Want to learn more? Email our Programs Coordinator at Coordinator@moaspets.com . Ready to get started? Fill out our volunteer application here (if you aren’t already a regular MOAS volunteer). Our animals can’t wait to meet you, and with your help, we know they’ll find a forever home soon!
A Message From Our Board President:
More and more these days, people want to adopt shelter animals, but they also want an animal that knows basic commands, is perfectly house-trained, and won’t jump up on them, gets along with kids or other animals, etc., etc. At a shelter as busy as ours is, it’s sometimes hard for our staff to help train an animal to be able to provide everything that a potential adopter might want while taking care of 50+ animals a day. Now, all adopters should be prepared to work with their new pet to develop a routine and train them to meet their own expectations, but the more work we can do to prepare a pet with those skills that are generally sought after, the more likely they are to find a good home and to stay in that home after being adopted.
MOAS Advocates do not have to be experienced trainers or pet behaviorists; most of us aren’t either! But if you can help teach a dog (or cat!) to sit, you make that dog infinitely more desirable in the eyes of most potential adopters. It also doesn’t take much for you to be able to spend some time observing your pet to get a sense of whether s/he is high-energy or low key, whether they like to cuddle or whether they’re more independent, whether they like to play with toys or have no idea what one is, and more. Your observations are all incredibly valuable pieces of information that will help an animal find their purr-fect home, and also help potential adopters make the right decision when choosing a pet to adopt.
Here at MOAS, we are always looking for new things to try to help improve outcomes for our shelter animals, especially if it also involves working cooperatively with our regional partners, like Athenspets. So I am thrilled that we have now started this program with the help of our Programs Coordinator Erica Hendrix. I am excited that you’re interested in joining our Advocate team, and I look forward to meeting you at our shelter! If you have any questions about the Advocate Program or things that you can do with your pet to help get them adopted, please feel free to reach out to me and the rest of our staff at moaspets@gmail.com. We appreciate all that you are doing to help our shelter animals, and we want to be a resource for you!
Sincerely,
Sherrie Hines, Board President