Volunteers

If you are interested in volunteering with Cavalier Rescue USA, please contact the Regional Chairperson for your area.

Strong preference is given to people who already have or have had a Cavalier, and the process of becoming a volunteer includes an application, vet reference, discussion with the regional chairperson, and a home visit. 

A key role in volunteering is fostering.  You don’t have to be a dog expert to foster, but you do have to have time and love to give, and to be able to balance your heart and head.  Parting with the foster dog can be difficult, but is a necessary part of volunteering. While foster families do occasionally adopt their foster dog, this isn't the purpose of volunteering, and the dogs tend to be older or special needs dogs for whom placement outside of the rescue team is more difficult.

The foster family’s role is to bring the Cavalier into their home, get needed medical care completed, assess the dog to determine the best type of new family for the foster Cavalier, and work with the regional representatives to place the Cavalier into a loving and appropriate new family. This work isn’t always easy, but is almost always tremendously rewarding.

We have other volunteer opportunities available too that are very critical, such as doing home visits with prospective new families, providing transportation for Cavaliers, and assisting with fundraising activities.

Please volunteer to help with rescue if you can.  Working together, we can help all Cavaliers find a way home.

To learn if you might be a good fit for our volunteer team, please contact the Regional Chairperson for your area.

Rusty's Story:
Just slightly tongue in cheek...

My wife Lauren and I are volunteers for Cavalier King Charles Spaniel USA rescue. We have owned CKCSs since 1988 and have adopted several.  As volunteers, you never know when the call will come in to help a dog that needs assistance.

It was July 4, 2007. We received a call about a dog in need of assistance who needed immediate pickup and foster. A family, about 50 miles away, had adopted a 4 year old Cavalier boy and they called to say that the adoptee was vicious and they had to have him removed from their home immediately. We were the closest rescue volunteers available on the holiday weekend.

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We quickly rearranged our holiday plans, called the family for directions and set off to pick up Rusty. On the way, we discussed the need for possible precautions when we got Rusty home, both with our four other dogs and with our son. We could not understand how a Cavalier could turn vicious and were worried if we could handle this rescue. We agreed that if he were truly vicious, we would have to transfer him as soon as possible

When we arrived at the home, Rusty was in the kitchen. He greeted us with tail wagging. As the husband and wife started to tell me of Rusty’s vicious proclivities, Lauren was on the floor face-to-face with “vicious,” rubbing his jowls. Rusty practically fell asleep from the rub.

We asked the family for more detail on the dog's issues. Rusty’s first offense came when he apparently growled at their daughter’s boyfriend when he tried to drag him from the crate. Rusty’s second offense came when the son approached him from the rear with a leash and when startled, he growled. The husband admitted that they were not “dog people,” that no one had prepared them how to deal with a “vicious” dog and that they had to get rid of him today because the kids were away at camp and they wanted a clean break. They gave us Rusty’s two toys and escorted us to the car. They didn’t even say goodbye to Rusty.

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