Volunteer at Appledown

We rely on the help of volunteers in so many areas. The work they do is invaluable in supporting the kennel staff with their day-to-day work and in helping our fundraising team raise as much money as possible. We guarantee that whichever way you choose to work with us, you will find it incredibly rewarding, even if that is cleaning kennels in the depths of winter!
Please note that all volunteers must be over 18 years of age and no accompanying children or dogs are allowed on site. In some of these roles, you will be interacting with stray dogs with an unknown history and please bear in mind, it can be very cold and very muddy.

Have a read through the opportunities listed here and then complete this simple registration form. We might not always have vacancies but if you submit an application, we will contact you when we do.

Volunteer Form

 

Dog Walkers

We advertise vacancies for dog walkers when we need them. Dog walking takes place between 10am to 1pm or 2pm to 4pm, each day of the week. Appledown is an extremely busy environment and as a dog walker you must be prepared to wait to receive attention from staff. In this role you will:

  • Have a consistent, kind and caring approach to handling dogs
  • Attend a training session to learn the basics of how we walk and train our dogs and the commands and language we use and stick to our rules
  • Commit to a regular day of and time of walking during the hours set out above
  • Walk a variety of breeds

Kennel Helpers

Volunteers must be aged 18 or over and must be capable of working by themselves when necessary.
In this role you must possess a kind and understanding attitude to the dogs, excellent levels of hygiene, a good understanding of safety requirements and of confidentiality/discretion. Ideally you should be able to commit to at least one morning a week.
We start at 8am and need you to start at the same time and be prepared to stay for a minimum of three hours, after which it is your choice how long you stay. In general we aim to stop for lunch at 1pm, but we do have a drinks break mid-morning. Tea, coffee and water are available at all times, as is a fridge to store human food and drink.
Duties may include any of the following:

  • cleaning kennels
  • feeding
  • washing up
  • laundry
  • exercising
  • handing dogs to dog walkers
  • keeping store areas tidy
  • miscellaneous tasks that may crop up

You will receive training by working alongside a member of staff. The time before lone working is allowed will depend on you – so no pressure! The work can be very physical but is also extremely hands on with the dogs and you will get a real sense of what we do.
We insist that the dogs are treated with consistency and kindness and will teach you the “commands” that they know. Basic rules must be observed as the dogs will be confused if these are changed depending on who is working with them.
Please wear waterproof shoes or boots and layers of clothes. We do use bleach for cleaning and this can stain clothing, so don’t wear anything that you would like to also wear elsewhere.

We have parking in the field which is on the right as you come in off the road; we save the parking on the office side for customers. Please specify any particular areas you are interested in when you complete your form.

Home Checkers

Our home-checks are carried out where possible using Zoom over the internet. As a home-checker you will therefore need access to a PC with Zoom and be proficient at using it, or happy to learn quickly. You must be available at least one day a week during work hours (holidays, sickness etc allowed) and happy to provide us with at least one method of contact so that we can get hold of you with the expectation of a timely response. You will need to be comfortable and confident talking with people from all backgrounds and prepared to advise only in the ways and methods we use, even if you do things differently yourself, particularly for training, vaccinating, settling in times etc.
As important as answering questions is being happy to admit that you don’t know the answer to a question but can refer them back to us.
Finally we ask that you do not use the opportunity to advertise or promote any business or service.