Help by donating time
Help on site at the Tiny Shelter
The Associação Tiny Shelter is purely donation-based. This means not only dog food and veterinary costs are financed by donations, but also all helpers do this voluntarily in their free time. Including Isabel.
This requires a great deal of commitment. And so that the many dogs can be adequately cared for, a lot of helpers are needed. Therefore we are always searching for someone who helps us with the following jobs:
- Regular Volunteers
- Volunteer for our studio
- Dog Walker
- Supervision for the dog walker
- Supervision of the studio volunteers
- Photographers
- “Reading nanny/uncle
- Help with the socialisation of our dogs
- Handicraft support
- “Medical” support
- Help with pre- and post-adoption checks
- Organisation of collection and fundraising events
- Help with collection and fundraising events
People and dogs are always happy about every visitor who wants to help.
Do you live in the Algarve and want to get involved regularly? Or are you on holiday in the Algarve? Then come and visit us! Visit the Tiny Shelter and get a personal impression of the whole thing.
All contact possibilities you find down below.
Regular volunteer
What: Weekly assistance with the care of the dogs. This includes feeding, cleaning crates and exercise areas, changing and refilling water, “making dog beds”, giving medication and other light medical care as needed.
Requirements: Love of dogs, commitment and reliability.
Time needed: 3-4 hrs each week; shifts are 10am-1pm and 3pm-6pm.
Volunteer in the studio
What: Free living in the studio on the shelter grounds in return for helping to care for the dogs 30 h / 5 days a week. This includes feeding, cleaning crates, changing and refilling water, “making dog beds”, giving medication and other light medical care as needed.
Requirements: Love of dogs, commitment and motivation.
Time needed: at least 2 weeks
You want to know more? Look here: Be a Volunteer in our Studio
“Reading nanny/uncle”
What: Someone with patience and calmness to help us re-acclimate new arrivals and especially traumatised dogs to people. It actually helps to sit with them and read to them. Hence the name 🙂
Later on it is also about careful getting used to touching, giving treats, putting on a harness and walking on a leash.
Requirements: Patience, empathy and time
Time needed: flexible
Help with the socialisation of our dogs
What: Someone with dog experience and/or up-to-date training skills (we work non-violently and positively according to the latest findings! Our dogs have all had to experience enough pressure, violence and trauma in their lives!) to help socialise our difficult dogs with other dogs and get them used to a life as a pet.
Requirements: Patience, knowledge of current training and learning theories.
Time needed: flexible
Dog Walkers
What: Regularly walk our dogs (weekly would be great, but it can be more irregular).
Requirements: Love of dogs, be good on your feet
Time needed: flexible (we establish fixed walk times to start with to get to know the dogs)
Handicraft support
What: Someone who can either help with the renovations/extensions that need to be done or with the repairs that need to be done every now and then. Sort of like a caretaker.
Requirements: Craftsmanship, time, love of dogs.
Time needed: flexible (at the moment we have two professionals still working to build the shelter and one nice guy helping; but they can need help anyway)
Be a Volunteer at Tiny Shelter!
Cuddle and play with our doggies
Help us train and socialise our dogs.
Play with our dogs
Help us caring for the ones that need help
Help us with your handicraft skills
Join our fundraising events
“Medical” support
What: Not so much someone with real medical knowledge as someone who can take vet trips, keep an eye on when vaccinations are due and take the dogs to the vet by appointment.
Requirements: a car and dog sense
Time needed: varying, depending on new dogs taken in, illnesses, accidents, etc. but will often be flexible to fit in.
Help with pre and post-adoption check ups
What: Someone to check up on potential adopters, ask them everything that is important, do house checks and follow up on the adoption to see if everything is fine with the dog.
Requirements: a car, the willingness to help our dogs and get to know our adoption philosophy, and time to talk to potential adopters and visit them if possible.
Time needed: rotates depending on adoption enquiries; times to be arranged individually.
Supervision of Dog Walkers
What: We would like to establish walkers on certain days, so that interested walkers can just drop in without having to register in advance. We need someone to look after the walkers who arrive, who knows the dogs and can assign them, and who has an overview of the appropriate harnesses.
Requirements: reliability, a little organisational skill and the willingness to get to know our dogs
Time needed: 1-2 times a week 2-3 h
Supervision of the studio volunteers
What: We have a small studio where international volunteers can stay for free in exchange for help at the shelter. Since we are regularly fully booked there, we are looking for someone to
- say goodbye to the departing volunteers
- clean the studio and take care of the laundry,
- welcome the new volunteers, show them the most important things around the studio (electricity, keys, Chromebook, bicycles)
- and possibly do the first big shopping (including water, which we provide) with them.
Requirement: a car and flexible time on the days volunteers arrive and depart (dates are fixed well in advance but cannot be changed)
Time needed: varying, up to 4 days per month
Photographer
What: Yes, professional photos of all our dogs would be great! But what is actually even more important would be someone who regularly goes to the shelter and takes pictures and small videos of the sponsored dogs for the sponsors/newsletters and provides them to us in the Google Drive folder or sifts and sorts the pictures and videos of the volunteers.
Requirements: Time to go to the shelter at regular intervals and take pictures/videos; love structure in helping us with our Google Drive folders.
Time needed: flexible but at least 1x a month
Organising collection and fundraising events.
What: You love dogs, but only from a distance or in moderation? You want to support us, but not necessarily visit the shelter because you want to take all the dogs with you? You like to organise and have great ideas? Then why not help us organise fundraising events and collection drives!
Requirements: Organisational skills and communication skills
Time needed: variable; more time is needed before new events than after them.
Helping with fundraising events
What: We always need people to help with our food and fundraising events. Someone to approach people, answer questions, hand out flyers, collect donations, …
Requirements: Time and love for communication (Portuguese would be great! English is a prerequisite)
Time needed: usually a shift is 3-4 h per day and event
You want to support us on site?
Just make an appointment and we will tell you the exact address of the shelter.
Write us an email at [email protected]
Contact us via our Facebook page: @tinyshelteralbufeira
Or simply fill out the contact form below.