They are a dog's best friends

Volunteers help walk and bathe dogs that are up for adoption at the SPCA
Eisen Teo, Straits Times 13 Feb 10;

IT IS 8am and the morning quiet is punctuated by the excited barks of dogs.

They leap animatedly at the cage doors and wag their tails in eager anticipation, seeming to know it is time for their two-legged friends to let them out of their cages for walks, baths and some serious play.

Here at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), dogs put up for adoption need to be cared for, just like any other canine pet.

The aim is for them to remain healthy and alert and ultimately leave the compound with a good foster family.

To look after them, they have Mrs Elizabeth Ellen Ng, 55, and her team of about 50 volunteer dog-walkers.

They take turns to walk 20 to 25 dogs every weekday between 8am and 10.30am.

While there are more than 100 people here offering dog-walking services, Mrs Ng's is the only volunteer programme under the SPCA.

The homemaker - presently the SPCA's longest-serving volunteer at 27 years - founded the programme in 1999 with about 10 volunteers, most of them expatriates.

Its ranks have swelled, and now nearly half of them are local teenagers or 20-somethings.

Many volunteer because they are unable to own a dog due to family or time issues, and this is their best alternative.

They head to the SPCA premises at Mount Vernon Road, sometimes up to three times a week. More will show up during the school holidays from May to July and in December.

Mrs Ng is kept busy the moment she clocks in.

There is the routine checking of the dogs and preparation of leashes, pouches and dog food. She also has to coach greenhorn volunteers through tasks such as leashing dogs, getting them to sit and, of course, cleaning up after them.

The volunteers walk the dogs, mostly mixed breeds, around Mount Vernon Columbarium, which allows them to use the premises provided the dogs leave no faeces behind.

On top of walking the dogs, volunteers also give them scrub-downs or let them run loose in playpens in the SPCA compound.

Their work never ends. The SPCA takes in about 200 dogs a month, and it can hold at most 80.

Between 25 and 35 are adopted, while the rest stay in the shelter, are put to sleep, or turn out to be lost dogs that are reunited with their owners.

Dogs may get adopted the moment they are taken in, or end up staying for years.

Boy and Handsome, six-year-old mixed-breed brothers, have stayed at the compound for four years, and will continue to do so barring serious health problems.

They have formed a special bond with Mr Tan Teck Chuan, 21, a first-year mechanical engineering student at the National University of Singapore who has volunteered fortnightly for half a year.

The dogs are eager to have him walk them whenever they see him, and on his part, Mr Tan is torn between wanting the dogs to be adopted and having them stay on.

'On the one hand, I'll be sad to see my favourite dogs go... on the other, I'll be happy if they go to a good family,' said Mr Tan, who does not own pets because he spends a lot of time in school.

The value of Mrs Ng and her volunteers to the SPCA is 'immeasurable', said its executive officer Deirdre Moss.

'She's done a great job of organising the programme herself... the dogs look forward to the walks,' she said.