Hi all. I was a member here a little more than two years ago, but I lost all my account info and decided to rejoin. I am a lifelong dog owner and dog lover, and I recently started volunteering at a no-kill animal shelter in my area walking the dogs. My husband and I work at home, we have no kids (just five dogs of our own), and we have a lot of free time daily. We decided that volunteering there would be a good thing for the dogs, and for us too. On a daily basis we spend about 20 minutes with 15-20 dogs walking each dog about a 1/2 mile to help them release some pent up energy from being caged the other 23 1/2 hours. All tolled, we walk a good 5 miles daily and about 3 hours. It's a great workout and we've gotten to know the dogs. Many come and go quickly. They get adopted out rather fast. Some, though, are long-termers who've had a hard time dealing with the shelter lock-up. They haven't adjusted well . The shelter environment tends to breed aggression in some of these dogs, while others give up, lose interest in living. Some dogs come in friendly and stay so long that they turn aggressive. The labelling of 'dog aggressive' eventually makes them unadoptable, so they stay, and stay, and stay for months. They develop serious mental/emotional and behavioral issues. I feel for them all. Walking them is a joy for both my husband and me. There eyes light up when they see us coming because they know they will get to have a few minutes of happiness. I wish we could spend more time with each dog daily. A 1/2 mile walk is nothing for most of these dogs, but my husband and I both feel that leaving any dog out is unfair, therefore we have to divide the time up with one and all of them. It's a small shelter, and it is a no-kill shelter, otherwise I couldn't do it. I will be posting on another topic soon to address an issue with one of the shelter's pitbull terriers. This post is just for introduction.