UC Santa Barbara senior and Alpha Delta Pi sorority sister Alis Patterson completes her volunteer hours by having dog playdates with her housemates.

She has taken Milo, a German shepherd, and Zeus, a Siberian husky, for adventures around Isla Vista. She takes them to play in the sand and walks around the college town.

“Sometimes we will do it for six hours at a time,” she told Noozhawk. “We pick them up in the morning and have them hang out at our house and take them for walks.”

Patterson found the opportunity through the Santa Barbara County Animal Services Doggy Day Out program.

Across the agency’s three locations in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Lompoc, around 34 to 40 dogs go out on daily adventures.

Volunteers fill out a short application beforehand and staff matches up dogs with them. 

The program runs separately from the agency’s on-site volunteer program. On site, participants help with daily operations and interact with multiple dogs.

“Having the college be so close to our facility is definitely a big advantage for us because these students in most cases are not able to own an animal, but they can come and benefit from getting their puppy fix and giving a shelter animal a break from their confined kennel,” said Esmeralda Medina, community outreach coordinator for Animal Services.

For Patterson, volunteering at the shelter is the next best thing to having a pet. She says the program has given her an appreciation for college students who have dogs in Isla Vista.

Even though she loves dogs and wants one, it is not in the cards for her right now.

“As a senior, some of my favorite opportunities have come up at the last second, and with a dog, you can’t jump on those because you have a whole other being to care for,” she said.

Senior Jennifer Stein, a fellow sorority sister, also turned to the shelter for her hours and noticed volunteering at the shelter has become increasingly popular in Greek life.

She remembers showing up at the shelter and bumping into other sorority members.

Stein has volunteered twice with Daisy and Grizzly, both pit bulls whom she describes as having “the sweetest demeanor.”

When she went to the shelter, “they looked at me and said ‘you can handle a pit bull,’” she said laughing.

She says if she had known about the program when she joined her sorority she “would have been doing this since then.”

And just a walk over from the county’s Animal Services is the Santa Barbara Humane Society, which offers a similar program for dog lovers.

But, at the Humane Society, all prospective volunteers are required to complete an orientation during which they learn about the shelter’s philosophy and are trained in dog handling.

When volunteers take the dogs out, with both shelters, the dogs wear an “adopt me” leash or vest to let the community know they are available for adoption.

“When I see those dogs, I say ‘I should do that,’” said Joseph Jiran, a Santa Barbara Humane Society volunteer.

Jiran has been volunteering three times a week after work since 2018. While he has not taken a dog out himself, he says he is interested in participating.

“I am absolutely interested in doing that, especially when I see Adopt Me leashes and harnesses around town,” he said.

“It must be working, because I see those dogs getting attention from a lot of people.”

Jiran volunteers mostly on-site at the Humane Society, helping with dinner time, laundry and other chores.

“It’s like exercise, except instead of runner’s high or leaving the gym and feeling good, you helped a bunch of animals and it is a similar feeling,” he said.

But with both on-site playing and off-site adventures, not getting emotionally attached is a challenge.

“My housemates and I already had the problem where we want to adopt them every time, but I can’t be their forever home and there is someone who is better suited for them,” Patterson said.

Stein feels the same, remembering the heartbreak when dropping off Daisy back at the shelter and Daisy’s reluctance to leave her.

“Any person who is in an organization that requires community service, this is one of the most fun and easy ways to do it,” she said.