A few weeks ago I volunteered at a dog shelter. It is a passion project, and it didn't even have employees for another week later after I went there.

     The two owners just managed to get the place, barely moved a few days before me going there. They managed to get all the dogs moved from the various clinics where they resided before. All of these dogs were rescues, either from bad owners, certain death or meat trucks (if you don't know what those are just do a quick search for Yulin festival). Some of them showed signs of being house broke, others were still partially feral. None of them was aggressive towards humans, I have been told not turn my back on a few certain ones.

     During that period the owners were basically living at the shelter in a container house, except for 2-3 hours they needed to go feed the cats and get a change a clothes from home. They had a large online community (by numbers), but most of them are dormant.

Lesson 1: The size of your audience is of a very small importance and is never an indication of the success of your enterprise. What you need is passion.

     I spent two full days there, most of the time being spent either socializing with the dogs, or cleaning / catching dogs for "playground" rotation (dogs had to be taken out in groups, some couldn't stand others). My first contact with the dogs got all of them in a frenzy, especially a few of the larger ones. I did my best to use a soothing voice, but in truth, only towards the end of the two days I actually got accepted as an authority figure by (most) of them. The first crack in resistance appeared after I let them out for the playground time, and I was the only human around to play around with them, but also to feed and give water.

Lesson 2: In a new environment, using authority at your first appearance will, at best, cause resistance. Trying to be kind and nice to others will just reduce the amount of expressed opposition. As you're the newcomer, it's better to start by showing what are you able to do for the team. Treat everyone fairly, but keep in mind that you don't know them and they don't know you!

I have to end here for today, as work doesn't wait for anyone, but come back for more in a few days

Part 2 is live and kicking.