VOLUNTEER INFORMATION

Volunteer Form

Pets on Wheels of Delmarva

Volunteering Step by Step

Volunteering for Pets on Wheels can be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. Our volunteers and their pets make an important difference in people’s lives.

Here are the steps to becoming a Pets on Wheels Therapy Dog volunteer.

Fill out our Volunteer Application and Animal Health Certificate forms. These can be found on our Volunteer Forms Page. Your dog’s rabies vaccination must be current, and you must include the results of a fecal test performed within the last year. Have your veterinarian sign the Animal Health Certificate.

Send both forms to your County Coordinator, listed on the Contacts page. County Coordinators also can answer questions about this process.

  • Volunteers are required to submit a pet health certificate annually to verify current rabies vaccination. An annual fecal test with negative results is also required.
  • Upon receipt of your forms, your County Coordinator will call or e-mail you to arrange a mutually convenient time and place to evaluate your pet’s temperament and basic obedience skills. Note that other family members, along with friends, can be approved to handle your best friend during visits and they have each completed our evaluation with your pet.
  • Once you and your dog have successfully completed the temperament and basic obedience evaluation, you are ready to visit! Your first visit will be a supervised one, so you will be accompanied by an active volunteer from your county. They will acquaint you with the visiting process and also answer questions on how to handle your pet in a facility and how to meet residents who want pet visits. You can arrange additional supervised visits if you are not ready to start visiting alone. You may also want to request a supervised visit when starting at a new type of facility: it you want to move from an assisted living facility to a school, for example. Note that many of our regularly scheduled visits are made by groups of dogs and handlers, and you are welcome to join in these fun visits as well.
  • Following the completion of your supervised visit, you will receive a Pets on Wheels (POW) name badge, and your pet will receive a POW scarf for your dog to wear while visiting. Once you become a volunteer pet team, it is important to visit regularly. POW requires a commitment of 12 volunteer hours a year.
  • Volunteers also are asked to use Tickspot (Tick for short), which is the on-line program we use to keep track of volunteer hours. Tick makes keeping track of your volunteer hours easy and simple. You will receive  a link for downloading (Tick works on your phone and/or computer) along with guidelines for getting started.
  • Once approved, visiting teams are covered by Pets On Wheels insurance..