The simple answer to this question is, I love dogs.   I moved to Chico less than a year ago and attended the Home and Garden show in the fall.  At the show the Butte Humane Society (BHS) had a booth and I picked up one of their brochures.   I had been looking at volunteer options and the volunteers staffing the booth were all enthusiastic about the opportunities that BHS offered.  Seemed like it combined my love for dogs and my desire to help out the community.  Win – Win

My favorite activity is walking and playing ball with the dogs.   They are so excited to see you!  It warms your heart.  My second favorite part is finding out that one of my dogs found a forever home.   There is a part of you that is sad, but you know that they will be so happy being loved full time and they will also be happy being able to love full time back!

I am pretty sure I have friends who would like me to stop talking about the dogs I have met and how high they can jump or how enthusiastic they are about playing ball.   But that’s what you learn from dogs and animals, they are single minded and focused on their fun, on their food, on their walk, on rubbing their backs on the grass and on smelling for friends.   We can all learn from that.   Wouldn’t be great if we could remember to put our noses in the air, take a deep breath and focus on that moment and that moment only.

I was raised in suburbia with a dog and 2 cats.  I have always had a dog in my life.  In fact, thinking about it now, I don’t think I have ever gone a full year without having a dog, either at my parents house or owning one on my own, when I moved out.   My husband knows it’s kind of non-negotiable that we have a dog.   We very recently had to say good bye to our rescued German Shephard.  We adopted him at 7 years old and had him for over 5 years…. it was very hard to say good bye.  But he was a great dog and I would recommend rescuing an older dog… they still have a lot of love to give.   And who doesn’t need a lot of love?