If you volunteer at Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control, you will do real, meaningful work that truly makes a difference — and you’ll also get quite an education. Plus one of the best very parts of all? You get to pet lots and lots of dogs and/or cats! 

Volunteers at Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control are officially known as Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) because AACACC is an agency of the county’s Police Department.  Shelter volunteers undergo the same background check as other police volunteers, and receive an official identification card that grants access to the Animal Care & Control building during some nonpublic hours. The background check is one reason AACACC asks its volunteers to commit to 16 hours a month and does not take short-term volunteers or anyone under 18. It’s also part of the reason why it can take several weeks to be approved as a volunteer. 

Once you have been approved to be a volunteer, you will go through an evening orientation session and receive a comprehensive volunteer manual. After that, you can start coming to the shelter for hands-on training with more experienced volunteers. Another plus once you’re officially a shelter volunteer: You’ll now be eligible to become a member of Friends of Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control. Come join the shelter’s volunteers…come join us!