The Humane Society is always happy to have volunteers come out and help care for our animals. The animals like new faces as well.
Are you interested in Volunteering? Please contact HSoP and schedule your first shift! Due to limited space, HSoP can only accommodate so many volunteers at one time.
Volunteer Hours are available Monday through Friday from 2:00-5:00. We can schedule up to three volunteers at a time.
Sign up for your shift today!
Contact HSoP by phone at (208) 883-1166 or through email at
You must be at least 12 years old to be a junior volunteer. During their first volunteering shift, junior volunteers must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to go over rules, sign the application, and ensure their child understands the process.
After the initial supervised shift, junior volunteers can volunteer alone for up to one hour per day. Junior volunteers are not allowed in the dog kennels without their parent or guardian.
There is a 3-strikes rule! If we have to remind you about following these rules three times, you will not be allowed to return to volunteer without a parent.
HSoP cannot accommodate volunteers under the age of 12 at this time.
***Junior Volunteers can socialize with animals that are already accustomed to younger people. If an animal is not comfortable or socialized with children, you will not be allowed to interact with them.***
Our dogs love getting to go on walks! These mini adventures offer a fun break from the shelter environment, and give our pups a chance to practice their leash skills before going home. If you'd like to help our pups get some relaxing walks in, we would love to have your help!
If you haven't already, be sure to fill out and submit a volunteer application.
Next, fill out and submit the dog walking form above. Be sure to carefully read all guidelines.
Just like that, you're all set to walk some dogs! We will ask to hold onto your ID while you're out.
***Junior volunteers cannot walk dogs by themselves. If they are accompanied by an adult parent or guardian, then the junior volunteer can accompany the adult for the walk, but may not control the leash.***
Group Volunteering
Group Volunteering
Thank you for considering HSoP as the beneficiary of your groups’ philanthropy! Due to space restrictions at HSoP, we are unable to accommodate large groups of volunteers on site. However, groups can do a lot for the animals currently at HSoP by organizing fundraisers, pet food drives, or pet supply collections for the homeless animals of Latah County.
While we aren’t able to accommodate groups at our shelter, your group efforts can still make a huge difference to the homeless animals found within your community.
After your group has organized a fundraiser, supported a pet food drive for our Pet Food Pantry, or done a supply collection, a tour is a wonderful way to top off the experience! This is a great way for your group to see exactly how your efforts have benefited your pet community.
To schedule a group tour, or for fun ideas for group projects, please contact us by phone at (208)883-1166 or through email at information@humanesocietyofthepalouse.org.
Fun ideas for how groups can help:
Car washes
Volunteering at HSoP events
Bake sales
Supply donation drives
Pet food drives
Making dog toys
Making dog treats
Making cat treats
Making cat toys
Making blankets for our kitties!
Our cats and kittens love to lie on handmade blankets. You can knit, crochet, or tie blanks out of fleece. The recommended measurement is about 18-20” x 18-20” when you’re finished.
Thank you for your interest in serving your mandated community service hours at the Humane Society of the Palouse. Individuals seeking to fulfill community service requirements do not participate in the volunteer program: they complete projects and tasks that do not involve any contact with the animals or the clients at the shelter.
Community Service Volunteers must read the guidelines, complete information profile, and sign the code of conduct/waiver in order to get started. Please note that the Humane Society of the Palouse reserves the right to refuse a Community Service Volunteer for any reason.
Community Service Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.
Volunteers must schedule in advance
Time slots available are from 9:30 am – 12:00 pm, Monday – Saturday
To sign up, please contact HSoP by phone at (208) 883-1166
HSoP reserves the right to turn away any Community Service Volunteers who do not show up on time, and to ask Community Service Volunteers to leave early if there is not enough work available.
Shifts are filled on a first come, first serve basis and HSoP can only accommodate 1 volunteer per day.
Duties may include laundry, dishes, sorting donations, cleaning, and more.
Dress Protocol
To prevent slipping, exposure to harsh cleaning chemicals, and injuries, all Community Service Volunteers must wear flat, enclosed rubber-sole shoes at all times.
All Community Service Volunteers must not wear thong sandals, flip flops, or any shoe with an open toe, torn clothing, cut-off shorts, T-shirts with controversial or offensive messages, halter tops, backless shirts, half-shirts, muscle shirts, tank tops, dangling earrings, or other jewelry that may interfere with volunteer duties.
DIY Volunteerng Ideas
DIY Volunteering Ideas
Are you interested in helping HSoP but are unable to come into HSoP during our hours of operation?
This page has ideas for how you can still help homeless animals. Did you know that providing homeless dogs and cats with toys is very important for their well-being? The ideas on this page can help you make some very special critters their own toys that are theirs to keep both at HSoP and in their new home.
Do you have a large group that would like to help HSoP?
These ideas are great for a large group to do together and then bring into HSoP. Under each idea, you will find how many volunteer hours you can receive for donating these DIY items.
Anyone is welcome to visit the shelter during our open hours!
We do have some restrictions about who can see and interact with shelter pets:
- You must be at least 18 years old to enter our dog kennels or to interact with our adoptable dogs without a parent or guardian present.
- You must be at least 18 years old to interact with our adoptable cats without a parent or guardian present (unless you're working a junior volunteer (https://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/_files/ugd/255cdc_8b3978b65fdf41148bbc3b3de92de8c8.pdf)shift).
- Those 17 and under are welcome to visit the shelter and interact will all of our adoptable pets, so long as they're accompanied by a parent or guardian over the age of 18.
We offer volunteering for those age 12 and older. HSoP cannot accommodate volunteers below the age of 12.
Junior volunteering is offered 2:00-5:00pm Monday through Friday. Junior volunteers must be accompanied by a parent or guardian during their first shift, and can come in for one unsupervised hour at a time following that. Junior volunteers cannot enter our dog kennels or interact with our dogs without having a parent or guardian present.
Be sure to visit our volunteer page (https://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/volunteer)to learn more about junior volunteering!
HSoP is open for volunteers Monday through Friday from 2:00 PM through 5:00 PM. To volunteer, call us ahead of time at (208) 883-1166 to get on our volunteer schedule.
Lots of different things! Our volunteers help in a multitude of ways, here are a few examples:
- Spend time playing with our dogs outside
- Exercise our cats by playing in the adoption room
- Help HSoP staff with laundry and other cleaning duties
- Make special treats that provide enrichment for our pets
- Spend time brushing out both cats and dogs
- Take cute pictures of our pets to help them gain attention online
- Give some attention to our friends in the small animal room
Volunteers can also help us with special events like fundraisers and shelter clean-up days!
Wear long pants and flat, closed-toe, waterproof shoes. Please wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty!
During your first volunteer shift, a HSoP staff member will give you a short orientation. They will walk you through our facility and explain how you can stay safe while you are volunteering and how you can help keep the animals safe as well.
The staff member will show you our volunteer board that has different tasks you can sign up for helping HSoP with.
In order to volunteer with the Humane Society of the Palouse, you must complete the required volunteer form (https://4a4fc64e-7b4a-4ada-9745-8fbae020d19b.filesusr.com/ugd/255cdc_b0ceb34a5ed0453889376f1316eb038b.docx?dn=Volunteer%20App%2002.22.2022.docx)and arrange a time to come in for your first shift. Please call HSoP at 208-883-1166 to get on our volunteer schedule.
All of us here at HSoP are grateful for all the interest in group volunteering. However, we do not have the space in our tiny facility to accommodate groups larger than 3 at one time. If you are interested your group helping HSoP, we have a list of group volunteering ideas and DIY volunteering ideas listed on our volunteer page.(https://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/volunteer) You can also email us at information@humanesocietyofthepalouse.org (information@humanesocietyofthepalouse.org)with any group volunteering ideas.
During our regular hours of operation, having such a small facility, there simply isn’t enough space for large groups of volunteers and potential adopters. We are very grateful for the interest in having groups come in helping the homeless animals. However, allowing enough space for potential adopters to come in during our hours of operation is what is needed in order to find homeless animals their forever homes.
Yes. HSoP can take in volunteers needing to complete disciplinary community service Monday through Saturday from 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM. You must schedule in advance by calling us at (208) 883-1166. For more information, visit the Court Mandated Community Service section on our volunteer page.(https://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/volunteer)
That’s great—thank you for your previous service—however, each humane society, animal control facility, or rescue group is an independent agency, so very few of us are connected locally (as in some states) or to any organization on a national level. Therefore, our policies and procedures might be completely different from the facility where you previously volunteered. Most shelters adhere to a “Standards of Best Practices/Care” so there are certainly some similarities; however, we need you to be familiar with our shelter and our policies/procedures. This includes training for dog walking.
As with people, dogs need to slowly build up muscle strength and endurance in order to avoid potential injury when running or jogging. The dogs HSoP has up for adoption have not had the training needed to prevent injury or to build the endurance to sustain them on runs. To avoid injury, we do not allow running or jogging without first being conditioned to do so.
Our pets would absolutely love some snuggly homemade blankets! We can typically use any size blanket for our pets, but some dimensions do work better for our cat kennels and dog beds.
For blankets that fit each of our cat kennels, we would recommend the size to be about 20"x 24".
For blankets that fit the beds in each of our dog kennels, we would recommend the size to be about 24"x 36".
There are many ways to support our work!
Make a financial contribution. Visit our Donate page f(https://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/donate)or options.
Make an in-kind donation. With just a few simple clicks, you can send much needed supplies to our shelter through our Amazon Wish List,(http://a.co/aG94dgi) our Kitten Supplies Amazon Wish List (http://a.co/i6FEbsv)or our Wish List for donations (javascript:void(0))that may be dropped off at the shelter during open business hours.
