I am a Belgian Sheepdog breeder, but I also volunteer 2 weekends a month to our local shelters. Volunteering at a shelter is one of the most uplifting and heartbreaking experiences I’ve ever done.

Usually when I am at the shelter I let the dog (s) I am working with out in the yard for a good 1/2 hour of running off some steam, then we walk. I try to teach them some leash manners, but if they don’t have them, I will go and sit at the nearby pond with them, just brushing them, talking to them and trying like hell to understand why these wonderful dogs were dumped.

Oh yes, I can look in their eyes and see them as puppies, why someone would want “a cute puppy” and I can also see how they grow up and people don’t want them anymore.

I foster dogs occasionally and I have a Heinz 57 dog myself who is going on 12 years old in January of 2008.

When people contact me for a pup I’ve bred, I always send them to Rescue or to their local shelter first. I haven’t bred a litter in 2 years and I believe it’s because of all the dogs I’ve met in our local shelters.

Thanks Mark for your story about Sprite. It’s people like you who make us shelter volunteers do what we do!

Judy from New Jersey