My partner and I volunteer at an animal shelter, here are some "work" stories. 

Back when Pokemon Go was a thing, my boyfriend and I saw a post on Imgur about a shelter that allowed people to walk shelter dogs while they walked their pokemon! We took that to heart and our local shelter gained two new volunteers. There have been a lot of ups and downs already.

This is basically the story of my life. Its really hard not to fall in love with each and every dog there so you need to have a barrier up to distance yourself from the dogs. Even with that, some of them leave real holes in your heart when they are adopted. This particular dog we wanted to adopt so badly, he was perfect for us, but due to our lease terms we are not allowed to have a dog and cannot afford to move yet. Seeing him go was one of the most heart-wrenching things at the shelter and I cried in front of his new family as they took him away.

This one was frustrating, of course a dog is going to use the restroom in a new place when he is unaware of his new surroundings. It takes time for a dog to get used to a new home and people. I wish they would have waited some time for him to settle in, plus potty-training is a thing. If you ever adopt a dog, understand that there is a settling in period that can be a few weeks or a few months. Understand that dogs have feelings and thoughts and can't just immediately fit in. He is still at the shelter now.

A lab at our shelter kept getting cauliflower ear and needed surgery. A guy who visited the shelter but couldn't adopt fell in love with her and paid for her surgery! It was really nice of him! She is now completely deaf and is learning hand signals!
Here is a video of that - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0NlXXCod6I

I am not sure of this dogs past, but she was traumatized at some point and became too afraid to leave her kennel. Even getting her to go out to the back to do her business was difficult, let along go on a walk. After a year at the shelter and TONS of traingin and handling, a volunteer decided it was time to take her outside to a secluded business park on a weekend where there was a path along the bay. Having a car that could fit her kennel, we were brought along to play taxi. :) After a slightly nervous car ride, she jumped out and became a normal dog! It was lovely to see her calm and collected. Here are some pictures from that morning - http://imgur.com/a/bXi6I

While volunteers usually go around the same days/times each week, sometimes things come up and everyone is busy. The paid workers are also busy doing their own jobs so there is no one to take the dogs out. We came into the shelter that day to, well, poop. And lots of it. We tag teamed where one of us would take the dogs in a kennel out to the back and the other would clean up the room. Managed to clean it all up before the next few volunteers showed up!

This is the story of my first break down at the shelter. There was this lovely dog who had just came in. His name was Romeo. He was severely underweight and malnourished, very shy and unsure of his surroundings. I spent an hour with him one day trying to get him to get out of his shell. I didn't get much progress, but I was confident that he would be a happy normal dog in no time. I noticed a strange bump while interacting with him and mentioned it to the staff. They put him under anesthesia to check it out but unfortunately it was too much for him. I still cry when I think about him and blame myself for his death.

Ok, I am just going to admit it, I. Hate. Puppies. This experience solidified my feelings about them. I was pooped on, peed on, and their little teeth hurt when they missed the toy and bit my fingers instead. My partner, however, loves them. I let him deal with their shit while I hang with the older dogs.

The shelter has a rating system of sorts for dogs. Green dogs are easy to deal with and pretty much friendly with everyone. Yellow dogs are friendly with people and probably other dogs, but be slow at first. And then there are Red dogs. We only have a few Red dogs and they can be marked as so for many reasons, too energetic, super nervous, difficult to handle, and aggression to name a few. Hercules was a Red. Since I had never met him before I decided to put him last on my list so I could spend more time with him after all the other dogs had been looked at. When I first entered his kennel, "Hercules" didn't move an inch, he wouldn't even look at me. I tried coaxing him with a treat but he didn't care about it. So I just sat down. After giving him a few minutes to get used to my presence I put my hand up for him to smell. After that got a small sniff response, I tried petting his nose. He seemed to like that so I moved to his head. I stopped petting him and he let out the most pathetic whine I had ever heard! A few minutes later he crawled next to me and sat down, letting me pet him everywhere and whenever I would stop he would paw at my hand until I continued! My SO joined us then and after a few minutes he was switching between both of our laps for pets. The backyard was then clear so I decided to take him out back. As soon as I got his collar on him he just lit up! It was amazing seeing his quick transformation. He started jumping around the kennel super excited. Outside he was a whole different dog. He ran around us, playing and barking at us out of excitement. It was the best moment I had ever had at the shelter. We ended up staying later then we planned on just so we could play with him longer. We both cried when he was adopted, but he went to a magnificent family.

Honestly many of the shelter dogs are like this. They are super wild inside the kennel, but as soon as you get them outside and give them a chance to get their energy out, they are different dogs. Same can be said about dogs who are quiet in the kennels, get them outside and they light up!

Oooh a FP Edit: If you have the time or extra money, I urge you to help your local shelter! Volunteering is seriously amazing and rewarding, and all of the sad feelings never measure up to all of the joy I get there. If volunteering is not an option, many shelters like the one I help at run solely on donations from the public. Every cent counts and the cost to adopt a dog doesn't compare to what it had cost the shelter.
If you can adopt or foster a dog or cat I will love you forever! There are so many amazing dogs in shelters that need love and support. I will probably do another of these in a few months after I have some more stories and will try to include a few more of our available dogs in the post!

This was my second breakdown at the shelter. This little puppy came to the shelter and was so lively and beautiful, both inside and out! She had been there for a month and during that time her personality had been changing. She went from this lovely puppy to a dog who was frantic and desperate for attention. I wanted so badly for someone to adopt her, so when this lady came in and met with her, I got super excited. She introduced her own dog to this one and they got along well. But she ended up leaving without the shelter dog. I cried the whole way home. I don't know why but being at the shelter and seeing all of the amazing dogs without homes just got to me and I broke down. This story does have a happy ending though, a week later another family came and adopted her, I can't tell you how happy I was!

To put this into context, the shelter can have up to 50 dogs on the floor at a time, so 97 in one month is amazing! I am constantly impressed by the cleanliness of the shelter, friendly personalities of the dogs, and the amazingness of the staff. With all of the volunteers there, the dogs are able to be socialized with humans to a point where they are friendly and loving. The extra time they take with the special dogs is incredible, and they NEVER give up on a dog. Their perseverance to adopt out every animal astounds me and I am so happy to be part of them.

Dog tax! This is 8 y/o Zeus. He has bad heart murmurs and needs help. He has a lovely personality and is so friendly! Someone go adopt him :3

http://www.petsinneed.org/

If you have free time I urge you to look into volunteering at your local shelter. It is a very rewarding experience and is just plain fun!

I also urge you to adopt a dog rather then go to a breeder. Every dog deserves a great home.

I am Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered. Goodnight everybody!