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Barks worse than bites

Becoming involved with the SPCA

When I first arrived at the University, I was immediately struck by the hyper-involvement of my peers. As someone who is not part of Greek life, a sports team or any huge time commitment beyond my column, I live a simpler life.

I have time — in theory — to do all my reading. I can survive the occasional “True Detective” marathon and I can read for fun when it suits me. However, maybe because of my competitiveness with my older sister, my New Year’s resolution — to get into law school — or just boredom, I entered this semester looking for more ways to get involved.

While I have a number of ambitious plans for the future — pursuing a distinguished major, fly-fishing the great rivers of Virginia and restoring my golf game to its former glory — Charlottesville-Albemarle’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was my first priority. Their Tails on Trails program involves walking and playing with dogs at the local shelter to help socialize them for adoption. As a dog-lover, I have wanted to become involved in the program for a while.

Driving up to the shelter, which houses basically anything with fur, the first sound I hear is a chorus of dogs barking. However, when I actually reach the dog area, it is a depressing sight. As soon as someone walks in — especially someone carrying a leash — the 20 or so dogs start jumping at the fences, barking desperately to be let out. My own dogs, both Lab-Golden mixes, have been relatively quiet, only barking mildly to go outside. These dogs bark as if the louder and more desperately they howl, the better chance they have of being taken out.

The dogs only grow louder when I open one of the cages. While it is great to see the excitement of the dog being let out, I feel like, by choosing one, I am rejecting the others. Adding to my guilt is the fact that some of the larger dogs can only be led by walkers with a certain amount of experience. Even if they have been caged up for most of the day, new volunteers must pass them by for a dog they can actually help.

Once a dog is out of the kennel, its behavior changes dramatically. Dogs who were trying as hard as possible to get my attention are calm and cheery, stopping to sniff piles of leaves, marking their territory on a regular basis and tensing up when they see a squirrel. In contrast to the stereotypical image of the neurotic rescue dog, once these dogs are out of the cage, most of them are friendly and playful. It is hard to view them as anything different than loving pets. My only real scare came on my first day working alone, when one of the dogs, which moments earlier was sitting with his head in my lap, went from playing to mouthing my forearm just a little too tightly. I wondered whether I was about to become left-hand dominant before he calmed down and we finished the walk.

For me, the SPCA is a perfect way to deal with long periods away from my own dog. When I let a dog off the leash and she immediately runs to her favorite toy, it is hard not to think of my dog showing off her mildew-infested toy fox. Working with SCPA has made time away from my dog more enjoyable — but it has not made me want to pat myself on the back quite yet. Instead, seeing these dogs desperately whine for their 20 minutes of playtime whenever I come to the shelter gives me the urge to help even more.

Christian’s column runs biweekly Fridays. He can be reached at c.hecht@cavalierdaily.com.

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