Be a D90 Volunteer!
Whether you’re a dog person, a cat person, or maybe just a people person, Dallas Animal Services has a volunteer opportunity for you! Take a look below at some of the ways you can be a #D90Lifesaver by volunteering.
Not a volunteer yet? Click here to learn more and apply.
Featured Opportunities
D90 Dog Runners
Are you both active AND a dog lover? In the D90 Runner squad, the only personal trainer you need is four-legged and furry!
The D90 Runners are a group of DAS volunteers who provide high-energy dogs with the exercise and stimulation they crave. When high-energy dogs get the exercise they need, they have a higher quality of life, are less susceptible to illness, behave better in their kennels, and have higher chances of adoption.
Each participating dog runs one mile, which may seem small to seasoned runners, but it makes a world of difference to a shelter pup. The D90 Runners can run with 1-3 dogs during our group runs which also allows you to customize your workout for the day.
After the run, the dogs typically fall asleep quickly with wagging tails and big smiles on their faces.
Click-for-Calm
Click for Calm volunteers walk through the kennels using positive reinforcement operant conditioning techniques to reinforce calm behavior from the dogs in the kennels. Once a dog has all four paws on the floor, or if the cat comes to the front of the kennel, the volunteer pushes a clicker and gives out a treat. This helps our pets put their best face forward for adopters!
Enrichment
Have a knack for crafts? You might enjoy our enrichment shifts. Create a tasty frozen treat, a treat puzzle or snuffle mat, or other enrichment items for our pets and distribute!
Cat Socialization
Socializing the cats in our care helps them to become more adoptable down the line! If you’re a cat person, this is a great volunteer opportunity to make friends with our felines! Simple acts like playing with and petting our felines can greatly improve their quality of life while they’re at the shelter.
Fraidy Cat Team
Any shelter environment can be stressful for a cat. Sometimes, our adoptable cats arrive very scared and shut down because of the stress they’ve undergone. Our Fraidy Cat Team provides enrichment and introduces our “Fraidy Cats” to socialization which allows them to come out of their shells and makes them more adoptable.
Dog Playgroup Assistant
Eligible DAS dogs have the opportunity to participate in daily dog playgroups. Playgroups are not only a great way for us to asses how dogs will behave with other dogs, but they also give shelter pups the outlet and exercise they crave! As a Dog Playgroup Assistant, you’ll help our playgroup staff by shuttling dogs to and from playgroup and get to observe DAS pups have a little fun.
Dog Walking & Socialization
We can always use volunteers who are willing to get our dogs out of their kennels and give them a little extra human love! Walking our adoptable dogs or just spending time with them one-on-one in our play yards is a great way to help these pups destress and have a little fun. Plus, our volunteers teach us so much about the personalities of the dogs they spend time with which helps us find the PAWfect match!
Medical Team Volunteers
Be on the front lines of lifesaving at DAS by being a volunteer for our medical team! These volunteers assist our staff in prepping animals and supplies for medical procedures or daily care.
Animal Handler for Medical
These volunteers are the extra set of hands needed in the clinic! The run the animals who need medical exams to and from the clinic and help to keep DAS pets still and calm while they are being examined.
Animal Marketing
With so many pets coming into DAS every single day, our marketing staff can always use a little help getting the word out to the public about just how awesome our adoptable pets are! If you have a creative side and a love for your furry friends, these might be the purrrfect volunteer opportunities for you!
D90 Fur-tographers
Tier 1: Phone Fur-tographers
Does the camera roll on your phone have more photos of your four-legged friends than your two-legged ones? Our Phone Fur-tographers help us update pet photos within just a day or two of their intake. This volunteer opportunity doesn’t require any professional photography experience or equipment — if you know how to take a photo with your phone, you can help us save lives!
Because our Phone Fur-Tographers take photos of pets through kennel doors, there is no animal handling required for this opportunity!
Tier 2: Pro Fur-tographers
Our Pro Fur-Tographers have a little more photography experience and equipment than our Phone Fur-Tographers. If you have a DSLR camera and a love for both professional photography and animals, we want you on our team! These volunteers make our longer residents SHINE by giving them professional photographs that we can use to promote them on our website and social media. We pair our Pro-Furtographers up with Animal Handling Volunteers so that their time spent photographing is efficient and effective!
Customer Service Opportunities
Adoption Support
Help our team make #DASHappyTails happen by providing Adoption Support! These volunteers help greet DAS guests and answer any questions they might have about the DAS adoption process or the pets in our care so that our staff has more time to council and finalize adoptions.
Offsite Adoption Support
DAS often takes our pets offsite for adoption events all over the city of Dallas! Local pet stores, dog-friendly patios, even libraries in Dallas have all hosted these events.
Community Outreach and Education
Do you LOVE DAS and want to help us spread the word about the lifesaving work we’re doing? Become a Community Outreach and Education volunteer! These volunteers go with staff to offsite events or other opportunities and help hand out flyers and talk to the public about the amazing work we do, the services we have to offer, and how they can get involved
Foster Volunteers
Many of our volunteers also become foster parents and help to save the lives of the most vulnerable animals in our shelter by providing them a temporary home away from the shelter.