{"id":5349,"date":"2023-03-28T12:51:04","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T12:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amigofielbombarral.com\/?p=5349"},"modified":"2023-03-28T15:11:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T15:11:05","slug":"volunteering-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amigofielbombarral.com\/en\/volunteering-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"A veterinary nurse student shares her experience volunteering at Amigo Fiel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Portuguese Translation Below)<\/p>

Review of my time as a volunteer at Amigo Fiel by vet nurse student; Maia Lervad<\/p>

I\u2019m 25-years old and training to be at vet nurse in Denmark. As a part of my study, I spent two and a half weeks working at Amigo Fiel in Bombarral, Portugal.<\/p>

My experience working as a volunteer at Amigo Fiel, was just great. The first days I was very overwhelmed by all the dogs barking, all calling for attention. I was overwhelmed of all the expressions that I had to process every day. At first, I didn\u2019t know anyone either dogs or the volunteer staff, who work there every day. I was very happy about being introduced to the sweet and very patient volunteer, Susan, who was taking care of me and made the plan for me. She had scheduled tasks for each day and was following up on me all the time \u2013 it was nice to get all the support and help as needed. Susan was brilliant (big thanks to her)!<\/p>

After a quick tour around, my first job was to walk some dogs and I slowly got introduced to all the different dogs. All the dogs are fantastic; they all have different personalities and have such great characters. Some were very frightened, and some were just happy and greeting to meet me. In my first days working and walking the dogs, they were all like the same to me; they were dogs I didn\u2019t know and was very aware of all my movements and watched me carefully. I felt like they needed to wait and look at me, before casting all their kind doglove after me. After only one week, I started to feel like I knew all the dogs \u2013 some more than others. That made me realize, that all the volunteers like Susan, that come by every day of their life to work hard for the dogs and keeping the shelters running, because of all the love from the dogs. It\u2019s obvious that you\u2019re doing a good thing, when you see the reaction and the growth of all the different dogs each day. I only spent a short time at Amigo Fiel, and I really got the feeling that the new dogs there developed into more kind and trusting dogs.<\/p>

Most of the dogs at Amigo Fiel are found on the streets, dumped by their previous owner, or just born in the streets; never known what it\u2019s like to have a home with a loving and caring family. Always starving, always running from bad people, who want them gone, throwing stones at the poor dogs. They never had a reason to trust a human. Every day at Amigo Fiel, volunteers work with the dogs to outwork the mistrust and fear. To overview and be a part of the daily work with the dogs at Amigo Fiel was amazing. The dogs took form in front of my eyes each day and I started to notice all their differences and I really started to care for many of them \u2013 fully understanding the volunteers; always coming back to the shelters, despite of all the poop, pee, mud, and dirt, despite all the damaged aggressive dogs, despite of the stressful and hard work.<\/p>

I really want to mention how I expected things would be like before I came to Amigo Fiel. I expected the dogs to be in a bad condition, being sick or dirty. I definitely didn\u2019t expect to experience that the dogs were vaccinated properly and getting their flea treatments and dewormings regularly. I wasn\u2019t expecting the dogs to get in such a good condition so fast here.\u00a0<\/p>

I later learned that the dogs get all they need to be healthy very fast. Amigo Fiel has a volunteer groomer, washing and cutting, treating the skin and fur as needed. They also have a vet attached, coming to the shelter every now and then; by the time I was there, the kind vet Dr. Joshua appeared there to check, vaccinate, and treat the dogs every Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>

Also, they have permanent cleaning staff, who have a salary and clean the whole place every single morning, keeping the place hygienic. What they have and all the things they get done is fantastic, with such little resources. That was the biggest surprise for me \u2013 and I was very happy to learn, that all the dogs get the care and treatments that they need.\u00a0<\/p>

The only thing they don\u2019t get and what they really need badly, is the feeling of being a part of a family and get attention as a family pet. The volunteers at Amigo Fiel work hard and do all their best to be there for all the dogs, to hand out the love and attention to all of them – but there is just not enough people or hours to give all the dogs the needed attention every day.\u00a0<\/p>

If it was possible to give attention for more than fifteen or twenty-five minutes for each dog each day, it wouldn\u2019t be as easy to overlook illness or for the dogs to hide pain, if they are hurt in some way.<\/p>

Even though Amigo Fiel does\u00a0 a great job taking care of all the dogs and gives them all the love they contain in their bodies \u2013 it\u2019s just not good enough for the poor dogs, who just need a family to take care of them.<\/p>

For me it was an adventure to get to know all the sweet dogs and the amazing team behind Amigo Fiel. Everyone filled up an important job for the place to run that well. Susan, who supervised me through the entire stay, was just great! She had this amazing overview of all the dogs and all the tasks at the shelters. She has a long list with dog names, which is her overview of who to do next; who are getting dewormers, going to the vet, who needs surgery, who needs flea treatment, etc.<\/p>

Anneke is taking care of all the training and socializing with the dogs and is making sure the dogs get the right training so that someday they\u2019ll be ready to adjust to a family as their pet. She walks the dogs and take care of the troubled dogs, who needs extra attention \u2013 she really does have an important role at Amigo Fiel.<\/p>

Paula, Isa, Susana and the other cleaning-staff are working hard as a cool \u201cdream clean team\u201d. They clean both the shelters and keep the place nice and hygienic. They taught me how to clean properly and did not get scared to get a little dirty while working at the shelter.<\/p>

And as the last but not least person, the chief of them all; Filipa. The president of Amigo Fiel, doing all the difficult and most \u201chair pulling\u201d work of them all. She is dealing with the government and all the time trying to get more support from the local authority in Bombarral.\u00a0<\/p>

She works day and night for the animal rights and is available at all hours to move out, if dogs and cats are in need of help. And right when I went to Amigo Fiel, she said that she had won a champion with the local authority; and that they now are able to give Amigo Fiel a little raise at their fundings!\u00a0<\/p>

Huge work paid out. And with more attention to this dog rescue centre, the better. The more volunteers from all over the world that join Amigo Fiel to help, the more it builds up and draw attention to the authority \u2013 to show the importance of their existence. Furthermore, the more donations the bigger Amigo Fiel will grow, and the more dogs can get rescued and the faster this situation of abandoned street dogs will vanish.<\/p>

So big thanks to all the volunteers that works hard every day, to help rescuing all the poor dogs and cats \u2013 they really do a great job, both the ones I have mentioned above, and all the others that I didn\u2019t. They all make a huge difference for so many dogs.<\/p>

It’s hard to really explain what kind of effort this place does for the dogs \u2013 it\u2019s something that needs to be experienced by your own body. You gotta try out on your own body to connect with all of the sweet souls of all the dogs, to understand why so many people put in all this hard work and long hours to make the life for our four-legged friends, just a little pinch better.<\/p>

I highly recommend this place and this amazing team behind Amigo Fiel.<\/p>

All my best to Amigo Fiel and all the sweet staff!\u00a0<\/p>

I hope I\u2019ll come back soon to visit!<\/p>

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