Volunteer
We are now recruiting volunteers in various different roles, the list of ways you can get involved is endless and we want to hear all about what you would like to bring to the charity!
If you have regular free time and can commit to taking on a small job on a long-term basis, we would love to hear from you so please do fill in an application form.
This recruitment drive will be processed over the next 2 months, we will get in touch with every single applicant in due course.
Examples of voluntary roles:
The dogs need people to walk them and play with them, following instructions and guidance from the training team during each visit.
For those who would like to progress upwards through the ‘hands-on’ animal care roles, there will be lots of opportunities to learn new skills whilst at the kennels and accompanying the dogs on days out and socialisation trips.
Experience is preferred but if you are willing to learn and have a calm nature around dogs we would love for you to sign up, you won’t be expected to handle any dogs independently until you are fully comfortable with them and full training will be provided.
For those with previous experience and those who wish to gain it here, there are opportunities to progress into more senior voluntary roles.
We are currently using Instagram and Facebook as well as this website and would really appreciate any pointers from social media savvy volunteers!
- Are you familiar with WordPress? We would love to hear from you!
- We would like to post stories more consistently which means we have at least two vacancies for keen photographers to join in with the dogs’ daily activities and help document their progress, you will get front row seats through the highs and lows of dog rescue!
- We will need a volunteer to help with posting to all accounts to help get the residents noticed by potential adopters.
- Do you use TikTok? Our gorgeous dogs love taking part in video diaries and we think we could make a really fun account with updates and dog training tips, if you think you could throw yourself into managing an account please get in touch!
- Youtubers, we need your help too! We are looking for someone to rearrange the dogs’ playlists and get them up to date ready to link to their pages on this website, the videos will be the ones posted on Facebook and Instagram. It will be a big task to begin with but once it is up to date it will just need regular maintainance.
If you specialise in any particular type of training or behavioural work, based in positive reinforcement or holistic therapies we would love to hear from you!
- Our residents enjoy a wide range of activities like agility, flyball, the K9 Fit Bone, basic obedience and scentwork and we find it really valuable to approach rehabilitating rescue dogs from multiples angles and perspectives.
- There are some restrictions which include any prong or e-collar use or negative reinforcement techniques, we always prefer to use some fun reward based training.
We are in desperate need of hands-on event volunteers throughout Essex, particularly in Southend, Pitsea and the Dengie!
We are also looking at alternative fundraising methods which are mainly online so there are new roles to consider:
- Someone or perhaps two people with a basic knowledge of online fundraising guidelines or a willingness to learn, who are able to manage an online fundraising page
- People to help brainstorm new creative ideas, a keenness to be proactive in bringing them to life is a huge help
- People to contact companies to ask if they would consider donating items or raffle prizes and to promote social media posts looking for donations and promoting fundraisers,
- Somebody who would like to research grants that could benefit our residents.
There is always a lot of admin to do and it is a team effort to share the load so if you have an area of expertise, enjoy organisation, have a basic knowledge of computers or really love maths we would love to hear from you!
There are multiple jobs where transport is needed, if you have your own fully insured vehicle and some spare time we would love to hear from you.
- There are donation collections to arrange, usually from our donation collection points at The Dog Salon in Burnham on Crouch or Pets at Home in Pitsea. When there is a large volume of food it sometimes requires multiple cars or a van to take it to storage, foster homes or kennels so we greatly appreciate people popping their name down.
- There are also dog transport runs which will require some training, a suitable vehicle with a safe and approved restraint or crate and some experience of handling and husbandry (which can be gained as a dog walking volunteer if you don’t already have it). There is an opportunity to be insured to drive charity vehicles for this role in some cases.
Every potential foster carer and adopter must pass a home check before they can move forward to meeting a dog, it is one of the most essential steps in the process. As a home checker your role would be to meet the applicants at home, make sure that their property is safe and find out all about them and their lifestyle to help us match them to the right dog.
There is full training for this role where you will learn more about what we are looking for and how to stay safe during your visits, you will be shadowing an experienced volunteer for as long as you need to feel comfortable and can remain paired up if you prefer.
If you have a skill or area of expertise to share that you can channel into a passion for dogs and animal welfare please get in touch, we are always looking to grow the team and collaborate to improve our standards across the board.
Change a life today
Get in touch today and start making the difference.