Courtney McCorstinNovember 12, 2014ADSC 2300Pawtropolis Service ProjectIf you were to ask any of my friends or anyone who remotely knows me what my favorite thing in the world is, they would all answer the same thing, animals. My whole life I have been obsessed with animals and I have always known that when I grow up I want to do something that benefits the environment and the animals in it. I believe that itis our job to help make the animals lives better in any way possible. There is an enormous amount of homeless animals, such as dogs and cats, without a loving family allover the world. Most of these potential pets are caught by animal control and shipped offto the pound, where the days that they can live are numbered. When I think of a pound a black and white picture of a worn down, sad, rainy shelter comes to mind. I think about how terrible of a place it is for animals to have to spend the remainder of the lives. That is why I decided to volunteer at a shelter for animals and not only makes sure they are happy, but also will not put down any of their occupants. It is for this reason that I decided to volunteer at Pawtropolis.If you visits Pawtropolis’ website (www.pawtropolis.com) on the very first page you see their mission which is to, “...create an environment where dogs and cats are safe, healthy, and mentally stimulated.” Pawtropolis is a place where you can take your pet tobe looked after if you are going on a vacation and also a place that accepts foster animals.Pawtropolis’ amenities include doggie daycare, overnight care, a dog park, home pet sitting, dog grooming, training, pet taxi and a Kitty City. After researching a bunch of different volunteer options I decided to go with Pawtropolis because I truly felt like they put the care of the animals above anything else. While I was there, I learned that even though Pawtropolis is primarily for animals that already have owners, they do work with animals that need to be adopted out. When my friend and I went to volunteer, they had us working with one of their foster puppies, Luke.Luke is a 6-month-old white foster puppy with brown spots. The volunteer coordinator, Whitney, let me take him outside and play with him. We ran around the yardfor a good 20 minutes, exhausting the both of us. I then got a box of his treats out to try and train him to sit and lay down. Whitney had warned me that he was a difficult puppy to train and had previously not been very good at listening to directions. With this in mind, the both of us were very determined on getting him to learn how to sit and by the end of the hour he was a pro at it. Even though this was a very small accomplishment it made me feel like I did something good for Luke and his future. After playing around with the other dogs that were there for boarding, Luke was extremely dirty. I then took him to get cleaned up in the bathing room. As it turns out, baths are one of Luke’s worst nightmares. Even for a puppy he is a pretty big dog so it was a struggle to get him into the tub. Once we got him in however, everything went smoothly. It took two washes to get him clean but after we dried him off and sprayed some doggie cologne on him, he was good to go.Even though it seemed like playing with puppies is more of a treat for than for thedogs I know that Luke appreciated all the love that he was given. Pawtropolis has a very respected foster care so I know that Luke will find a home soon