During the AARF spotlight, we ask a different board member and lead volunteer the same five questions to learn more about them and how they became involved with rescue and AARF. Today’s spotlight is on Beth French, who helps oversee our dog fosters and works with them when they need extra TLC!
What was your first pet? My first pet was a pointer named Jill. I was 6 when we got her and she lived for 16 years with us. I loved that dog and grew up with her. She was afraid of loud noises like thunder and fireworks so she was my first “behavior” dog I ever worked with in a sense. MY first pet as in the first dog I owned by myself is my rescue pup JJ, a JRT/Chihuahua mix. He may have some issues but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.
How did you get involved in rescue? My dog JJ has some behavior issues so I hired a trainer and through that trainer I met tons of my “dog” friends and learned about the shelter in the city – BARCS. I thought, “What a great place to volunteer!” So I started volunteering there and have been there for 3 1/2 years. As I got to know more people in rescue I started helping out with rescues like AARF.
What drew you to AARF? My friends Betsy and Robin both volunteered for AARF and I had heard such great things about them. So when I started thinking about helping out a rescue, Robin suggested I help walk dogs we had in boarding since I couldn’t foster and that was the beginning of my time with AARF.
What’s your favorite thing about AARF? I love how dedicated our fosters are. I work with the “behavior” dogs and that can range from house training to leash pulling to separation anxiety. The dedication I have seen from our fosters to help these dogs learn how to “dog” and just be better amazes me.
Where do you want to see AARF go? I want to see AARF grow. I want to see AARF get more dedicated fosters and be able to help out as many animals as we can.