Making a Difference

Volunteers Mike & Katherine

Katherine and Mike started volunteering with Homeward Pet after adopting one of the twelve American Bulldog/Pit Bull "miracle pups" that were dropped on HPAC's doorstep around Thanksgiving of 2008. Katherine was taking a break from work, and started volunteering in March of 2010 as a Monday dog walker. Mike started in November of 2010, when Katherine went back to work and suggested Mike take her Monday slot since he had the luxury of setting his own schedule with his software business. Katherine still continues to occasionally fill in extra shifts when there is need and helps with special events.

Mike and Katherine added, "The highlight of the volunteering efforts has been the privilege of helping with the transformation of Babs, also one of the 'miracle pups'. Babs came back to HPAC with little or no training, a lot of energy, and her enthusiastic mannerisms made her a bit more difficult to adopt. With a lot of training work and a lot of 'additional personal visits' Babs turned into a much more focused and controlled dog. Babs was even working on earning her Canine Good Citizen certificate before she finally found her forever home. We were happy we could be a part of that." Every dog that has been through training has been adopted so far, which make Katherine and Mike very happy. Mike especially has a soft spot for the pit bull mixes and spends extra time with a dog that is going through their training, reinforcing what they learned between classes a couple days during the week just like they might in their forever home.