PRESENTER: Good afternoon everyone and thank you for coming to my talk about our new volunteer-run animal shelter Pups for Pals. My name is Paul Eckhart and I’m the founder of the shelter. To give you a little background, I opened the shelter seven, no, eight years ago now, right in the heart of London. Why? Because for years I’d wanted a dog but wasn’t able to afford one and didn’t have the time in my day or the space in my flat to be a full-time dog owner. Nonetheless, I wanted to spend time with a dog, so I came up with the idea to create a shelter that is run by volunteers for homeless animals that can be rented. This may sound unusual at first, but let me tell you a little bit more about how it works and how you can get involved if you’re interested in being one of our volunteers.
First of all, we house 37 dogs right now, which is the most we’ve ever had. We started with only three but have grown significantly. We’ll take any breed of dog at any age, although most of the dogs we have are between two and eight years old. We house them and feed them and take care of their medical needs as they arise. However, rather than act like a traditional shelter, we allow people to rent the dogs for either one day, three days or a week at a time. This both allows the dogs some freedom from the shelter and also allows people like myself to have a dog companion for walking, hiking or running.
The cost for renting a dog is a flat £20 for one day, £50 for three days, and, our best deal, £80 for one week. All of our dogs have received their shots and vaccinations. If, after renting a dog for a period of time, a customer decides to buy the animal, we sell them for £100. Now, many people wonder about the safety of renting out animals. What if the dog is lost? What if the dog isn’t returned? In order to rent the dog, we keep a customer’s credit card on file, and for every day that the dog is returned late, a £50 fee is accrued. None of the dogs have collars or dog tags. Instead, each dog has a microchip so that it can be tracked electronically in case it goes missing.
Now, you may wonder how Pups for Pals continues to run. Yes, it’s expensive and time-consuming to maintain the facility. Overall, there are 40 kennels and, uh, they require constant maintenance to ensure that they stay sanitary. This is where our volunteers come in. I now have a team of 17 volunteers that run the shelter. I started out with only a team of two and am amazed at the support I’ve received over the years. In order to become a volunteer, you simply need to pass a background check be able to commit to at least 10 hours per week. This can be divided up throughout the week or done mostly on the weekends. Previous work with animals is helpful but not required.
If you’re not interested in volunteering but would still like to contribute to our organisation, you can donate money. The money goes to supplies for the dogs, and maintenance costs for keeping the shelter up and running. On the other hand, you may sponsor one of our dogs. Sponsoring an animal comes with a picture of the dog as well as free access to take the dog you’ve sponsored out for the day whenever you’d like until it is sold. Sponsoring a dog costs only £18 per month and your money is used to cover the costs of food and healthcare.