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In September the junior members did an afternoon on dogs. During the afternoon, called Dog Days, we explored a whole range of dog-related issues. Once again it was a bit action-packed and busy so there was no time available to sit and twiddle thumbs! After the starter activity we did something called ‘Mrs Irresponsible’. Mrs Irresponsible is a character I have devised who gets it all wrong through her careless actions. She gives her surplus animals away having spun a sob-story and then the recipients are left with a pet they have not planned for. Shockingly this is still an all too familiar pattern of how people acquire their pets and needless to say our juniors usually only have soft toys to deal with. On this occasion we had brought in 5 well behaved and well socialised dogs belonging to the youth leaders and the juniors didn’t end up having to take them home! However they did have to put together, in their groups, detailed lists of issues they should have thought about prior to taking on this new responsibility and of the expenses that a new dog can bring to a family home. Of course anyone adopting a new pet from a rehoming centre like Woodside goes through this process as part of the adoption as we are helping our new owners to fully consider their responsibilities to ensure that the new pets are planned for and have all of their needs catered for and planned for. It was very impressive to see what our junior members put together in a very short space of time.
We then went on to some practical activities including prevent-a-bite which shows youngsters how avoid being bitten by a dog and how to behave around dogs. We then did some dog handling where the junior members were put through a dog training session with Kirstyn, one of our resident experts, to demonstrate some of the techniques that are used to help owners communicate and train their canine companions. The afternoon was topped off by a tour of the kennels and a quiz. As with other afternoons, all the junior members go home with a pack of information and other activities to complete and in this case it was made up in a Woodside poo bag just to keep it topical!
Quotes
Elizabeth: “Dog days was my favourite. I like the more hands-on things like dog handling”
Rebecca: ”Dog days was my favourite activity afternoon. I think the going home packs are very useful”
If you would like to join in with these Sunday afternoon events next year, you will need to join the Animal Action Club. This means you will need to send off your membership to the RSPCA at Horsham and we will then send you the new programme in February/March. We look forward to seeing some new faces in 2009 and hope that you will enjoy these special afternoons with us.
Ruth Lane
Junior Membership Coordinator for Leicestershire
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