Become a volunteer

As a dog walking volunteer, you will play an important role in ensuring our dogs waiting to find their new forever homes receive daily socialisation and exercise, helping them to stay healthy and happy. Our dog walkers are fit and confident in handling large, energetic breeds such as Huskies, German Shepherds, Rottweilers and American Staffies.

This team has a very special role in providing temporary, loving homes for pets who are recovering from surgery, undergoing behaviour training, are too young for adoption, or need some extra TLC outside of the busy shelter environment. As a Foster Care Assistant you will help with the administration of our foster and rescue programs. You may be involved in answering phone calls, data entry and processing forms as well as packing food and equipment for foster carers, plus time to give animals love and play.

If you’re passionate about helping animals, but looking for a volunteer role that’s not directly hands-on with the cats and dogs in our care, getting involved at the LDH as an Administration Assistant is a great way to make a significant contribution to our work. We have a variety of admin roles in fundraising and community engagement with tasks including data entry, mail outs, packing orders and general admin duties.

One of the key elements of our adoption program is having fantastic photos of our animals that we can post on the website and social media. As a Photography Assistant volunteer, you will play an important part in showcasing the wonderful pets we have available for adoption. As the role calls for some expertise, successful applicants are usually qualified photographers or photography students.

We’ve got extensive grounds and gardens at our North Melbourne and Cranbourne sites and can always use the skills of Maintenance Assistant volunteers to help us out. This is an ideal role for a handy person who’s retired and enjoys doing a variety of maintenance and gardening activities. Although you’re not hands-on with the animals, you’ll be making a huge contribution to their environment and the facilities for staff who are doing the hands-on care.

It may not be the most glamorous role at the shelter, but our laundry volunteers are important in helping us to keep the animals in our care warm, comfortable, and happy.

In this role, you will sort, wash, dry, hang out, and fold blankets, towels, and toys so they are ready for use the next day. You may also sort through our daily donations.