Helping in shelter... risks for my own dogs

I volunteer at our shelter twice a week and haven't brought anything back to Rafe yet.  What I usually do is wear scrubs over other clothes.  This works out really well in winter time, but in summer time I try to wear a thin pair of athletic type pants with scrub pants over them and a tank top with a scrub top over that.  That way, when I get home, I can just strip out of them outside, put them in a plastic bag, and then take them straight to the wash.  That might be over-doing it, but I feel better.  I think the worst thing you could really bring back (if your dogs are up-to-date on vaccines) is ringworm. 

To reduce the spread of disease between dogs in your shelter, I'd suggest washing hands after every dog you touch before touching another dog.  Most shelters already require you to do this, but I'm not sure how "with-it" yours is.  I know they vary greatly!  Our shelter here isn't the greatest, but its been getting better.  Good luck!  :)

I work at a shelter and honestly I don't do a whole lot other than taking my shoes off when I get in if I haven't been directly interacting with the animals.  If I interact with a lot of dogs on a particular day I just change clothes.  My girls are up to date on everything, but even when Maggie didn't have her bordatella vax a few years back and I was volunteering every other day walking dogs we never had a problem. 

If you had a young pup at home, I'd be more cautious since parvo seems to be pretty much endemic in many shelters, but other than that, the worst I've done is brought home a flea or two which promptly died when exposed to my Frontlined dogs. :)
 

A good friend of mine does a ton of shelter work in Texas ... and given the weather there and the incidence of parvo and distemper she does things quite differently.

She brings clothes and shoes with her.  They have a room past where the dogs are and she strips off her clothes there and changes shoes.  Usually she puts plastic bags over her feet to get TO the car or at the very least before she steps into her car she takes OFF her shoes and puts them in plastic. 

Then the instant she gets home she again changes BEFORE she goes in.  Sounds overboard but all it takes is literally a couple of molecules of parvo to transmit it.  And it's not just taking it "home" to your dogs but it's simply spreading it AT ALL that is such a risk.

Not a shelter volunteer, but am a vet tech (thus we get ALL of the illnesses) When we treat a dog (or cat) with a respiratory illness, we spray ourselves off with a disinfectant made for such things.  When we're doing parvo treatments (and parvo season is starting up here...4 positives in the last five days) we disinfect our clothing, bleach hands, and bleach our shoes.

I work in a shelter, as a tech, with sick cats and dogs - and honestly - I don't do too much. Casey is up to date with his vaccines. I work directly with kennel cough (when we have it), parvo, and every other disease under the sun. Same goes for cats. I also bring home my 'work' - I've had URIs and ringworm in my house before - and so far so good. I do take my shoes off when I come home, and step in bleach frequently throughout the day and sanatize my hands and arms. I shower soon after I get home, but not right away. I'm not too paraniod about anything - mostly because I know what I am handling. If I'm working with parvo and I have a pup at home, I am more careful about changing as soon as I get home.

I would not be worried at all. There are hundreds of people going in and out of shelters on a daily basis.

Thank you so much for your insights.

 I am trying not to be paranoid either but we've just had a bout of parvo in the parish shelter; they euthanized several dogs and puppies because of it. I will contact both places to ask about their way of doing things but from what you're saying I gather I will need a pair of shoes to be worn only there (disinfected and bagged) and that bleach will be my best friend.  I do not have a puppy home and the monstresses are Frontlined on schedule so it seems that the risks can be kept minimal with a few precautions which is good to know.

Since your dogs are older, they are not at a great risk to catch parvo. And - since you will be a volunteer, you shouldn't have to handle parvo, or really any sick dog, at all. Our volunteers only walk the healthy dogs that have passed their behavior evaluations.