KENNEBUNK — On a sunny patch of grass Monday outside the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk, Wells Middle School student Caleb Huiland laid his head down, closed his eyes and laughed as a litter of puppies swarmed upon him and licked his face.
Huiland belongs to the Humane Action League, a group of children from area schools who gather at the site every Monday to learn about shelter work and pet care. The enthusiastic animal lovers gain information on bite prevention, spaying and neutering, puppy socialization and overpopulation.
But on days like these, classroom time is limited. Whenever the children get a chance to socialize with the animals, they take it. Huiland couldn’t have been happier.
“I’ve had a dog for a while,” he said, “but I’ve learned why it’s important to spay, and neuter, and stuff like that. When I was younger, I thought a shelter was just like a pet store. Now I know what it really is.”
For Lona Ham, humane educator for the AWS, that’s precisely the goal. While the students who attend her class are technically too young to volunteer at the shelter, the weekly ritual gives them a chance to help out around the facilities, feed the animals and learn about the shelter process.
“They require volunteers to be 18 and older,” said Ham, “so this is for the school kids to get a chance. Hopefully at the end of the class they understand the shelter here and what we do.”
The program also has the goal of encouraging proper animal care, Ham said. Many of the animals that find their way to the shelter do so after enduring some kind of hardship, oftentimes at the hands of an owner’s ignorance or outright neglect.
Learning proper care at an early age, said Ham, is important.
“Our focus is to educate kids on animal welfare issues so when they grow up, we don’t see some of the problems we do now,” she said.
For student Allison Jarvis, the benefits of the Humane Action League run even deeper: Before joining the class, Jarvis was afraid of dogs. In the past few months, she’s slowly grown accustomed to them, and on Monday overcame her jitters by playing spirited games of tug-of-war with the energetic new litter.
“I still get jumpy when they jump on me and start licking me,” she said. “When they start kissing me, I feel like they’ll bite my finger off or something.
“I just don’t like to get too close to their mouths,” said Jarvis. “Other than that, I love dogs.”
The combination of warm, sunny weather and the presence of such a spirited group of pups conspired to limit the gathering’s class time Monday. The youth spent much of the afternoon outside playing with various animals in their outdoor pens, and wrapped up their weekly meeting by mixing wet and dry dog food for the dogs’ mealtime.
“At the end of the day, it’s time to wind everything down,” said Ham, “so they’ll do whatever the staff thinks they should do.”
It’s valuable pet care experience, and Huiland thinks it will make him a more conscientious animal owner when he’s an adult.
“I know why different dogs have different personalities,” he said, “and what can make them that way.”
— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.
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