Every month at Mad Hat Asia, we look forward to our exciting team activities while infusing some of our M.A.D into it. Sometimes we fire up a barbecue at the Mad Haus, or work up a sweat with a good hike (followed by a picnic of course), and other times we keep ourselves up at night by huddling around a horror movie together. Only this time it was a trip to PAWS because there is nothing like getting sloppy kisses from doggies (and scratches from cats).
People often walk into an animal shelter and think how fun and easy it should be to play with the furry faces and waggly tails. To an extent, it is fun but it also takes a lot of hard work and we definitely know this now. Safe to say it was an eye-opener and, for many, a first hands-on encounter handling that many dogs and cats. So what did we learn?
Dress for the occasion
Meaning wear comfortable pants and a T-shirt that have seen better days. Leave your jewellery, especially dangly earrings, at home. Please don’t bother with makeup, it will inevitably be licked off your face. But, yeay to sloppy kisses!
You are in for some serious workout, buddy!
Hate doing dishes? Well no excuses here because you will be washing over hundreds of doggy and cat bowls. Our advice is to have a system with your buddies. One can do the soaping, the other the rinsing, and the other for drying and organising the clean bowls.
Don’t Let ‘Em Walk All Over You
Taking a dog for a walk might seem as simple a task as tying your shoelaces, but giving the dogs a little exercise involves more than just grabbing a leash and heading out towards the door. Remember to hold on to the leash as tightly as possible, because boy can these furry friends run!
Here comes the hardest part, unfortunately some dogs are aware of the saying, “All good things must come to an end,” so you may encounter a little resistance when your companion realises he’s about to head back into the kennel. As much as possible, resist those puppy dog eyes! Just like children, dogs needs to be disciplined as much as they need to be cared for and loved so be stern but let em’ know it comes from a place of love!
Goodbyes are hard.
You saw this coming, but know that every time you volunteer, you are fuelled by love. And that kind of fuel is different from greed, or fear, or competitiveness. It will give you the strength to do things you never thought you could do and knowing that you left the place by making a difference. This will impact and inspire you to do more. We give four paws up to these amazing people everywhere who work hard everyday helping shelter dogs
PAWS (Paws Animal Welfare Society) is a non-profit animal shelter in Petaling Jaya that accepts all sorts of unwanted pets and strays like puppies, adult dogs, kittens and adult cats. Currently, they have 250 dogs and 250 cats under their protective care, and they're waiting to be adopted by anyone with a kind heart.
PAWS is solely funded through generous donations and through funds raised by charitable events. These funds are used to take care of the animals properly, and to get them vaccinated, dewormed, and are neutered /spayed when necessary.
They also have a volunteering program, and you can find out more about it here.
PAWS Animal Welfare Society
Pilmoor Estate,
Subang Airport Road,
47200 Subang, Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel: +60 (0)3 7846 1087
Website: http://www.paws.org.my/
Opening Times:
Monday – Friday: 9.00am – 4.00pm
Saturday – Sunday: 9.00am – 4.00pm
Wednesdays: CLOSED