Become a Volunteer at Second Chance Dog Shelter In Thailand

We genuinely believe that our dog shelter volunteer programs are the best in the world. As well as being fantastic programs, held in a beautiful location, they are also run by very experienced professional dog trainers who have worked on tv shows, lectured in canine behaviour at universities as well as training dogs for military and police k9 teams around the world. And of course having trained thousands of pet dogs and rescue dogs. The location is Pattaya a short 90 minute drive from the capital of Thailand , Bangkok. Located on the coast it is an idyllic place to volunteer with shelter dogs. Lessons will be carried out at the shelter in a dedicated training area, but also at the beach, even in dog friendly cafes and restaurants. And when you aren’t training the shelter dogs you can take advantage of being in Thailand to the full. Thailand is famous and quite rightly so for its great food, but there’s so much more, you cab jump on a speedboat and visit different islands, go snorkelling, skydiving, jet skiing, visit an elephant sanctuary, take cookery classes, relax on the beach the list goes on.

The most important thing is you will learn a great deal about dogs. You will learn how dogs learn, how to train them to do things, or train them not to do things. While you volunteer with us you will see a shy , abused , fearful dog blossom as you rebuild its confidence in people as you guide it through confidence building activities such as swimming and agility. You will learn the importance of patience and how sometimes sitting quietly with a dog is the best way to bond with them.  Volunteer with us and you will learn a huge amount about dogs, not in a pressurised way, but in a fun way.

Throughout the entire course you will have a professional trainer teaching and helping you, also encouraging you to take you time, there is no rush with dogs.

When your day is over your free time is yours to do as you wish, you can go and relax in your accommodation or maybe head to a beach side cafe and have some food and watch the sun set. There is so much to do here you cannot get bored there is something for everyone.

Assistant Dog Trainers Course

This is the perfect course for people with an interest in dog training and dog behaviour, who at the same time have a genuine interest in improving the lives of the shelter dogs here.  During the 2 week program you will work side by side with very experienced professional dog trainers and teach the shelter dogs obedience, dog agility and hopefully some Barkour ( parkour for dogs, where we use obstacles we find on walks to use for jumping over etc ). It will be primarily a hands on course, there will be some theoretical aspects covered and Q & A times as well. But the vast majority will be spent. with dogs. It is very rewarding to see a dog come out of its shell through training, and when you see your dogs go from shy and unruly to confident and obedient you will feel a sense of achievement. We also will take pack walks , to the beach or town, take dogs swimming and hopefully get them on the surfboard.  Each day will be fun and varied for both you and the dogs.

Course Content

For the obedience section we will teach the dogs to

  1. Walk nicely on a leash
  2. Sit
  3. Lay Down
  4. Spin
  5. Go to Bed
  6. Stay
  7. Place
  8. Run around an object

The agility section, which is where we build up the dogs confidence and trust will use the following types of obstacles

  1. Weave Poles
  2. Tunnel
  3. Fence Jumps
  4. Long Jumps
  5. Barrel Jumps
  6. A frame
  7. High Walks

We will also socialise the dogs to traffic and crowds by taking them to beach areas.  We can stop off in dog friendly cafes and have refreshments and hopefully help prepare these dogs for a life after the shelter.

Each dog is different and will pose different problems to you, but these problems are learning moments. 

Who Will Benefit From The Course

The obvious answer is the street dogs will benefit ! They will get trained and have fun, it will enrich their day. There will be photos and videos of them doing cool things with you, these can be shared to encourage people to adopt them. Also these will help increase the visibility of the shelter and that can only help. A trained dog is much easier to adopt though so the biggest beneficiary is the dogs you work with.

What about the Volunteers ?

Everyone will find something to take away from the course if they love dogs.  If you are a dog owner, or want to be in the future, everything you learn here will give you a better relationship with your dogs. You will know how to train them, how to encourage them, how to build their confidence. If you can do that with a shelter dog you can do it with any dog.

But then there are people who work with dogs or want to work with dogs. Vets, Vet nurses , Dog walkers, Groomers,boarding kennel staff the list goes on. You will definitely learn and gain confidence with dogs. 

But honestly the course is fun, in a fun place, loving dogs and wanting to know more about dogs is the basic requirement.

Assistant Trainers Course

2-4 Weeks
$ 1250 2 weeks
  • 3 Weeks $1600
  • 4 Weeks $1950
Popular

Shelter Assistant Course

This is our summer program, the weather in Thailand is sunny, warm and glorious, however it can get too sunny warm and glorious to train dogs, they just don’t want to. Volunteers on this program will follow the assistant trainers program as long as it’s weather permitting. On the days when it’s too hot the following types of activity will be covered.

 

  1. Take the dogs to the beach
  2. Swim with the dogs
  3. Teach the dogs to go on the surfboard
  4. Go on feeding runs to feed street packs
  5. Go on dog rescues as a nd when they happen
  6. Socialise puppies in the shelter
  7. Give the dogs a spa day
  8. Take out the handicapped dogs in their wheel chairs
  9. Learn to care for injured dogs
  10. Learn to care for handicapped dogs
  11. Take dogs on a pack walk 
  12. Take dogs to pet friendly venues and socialise them
  13. Take dogs to the vets

 

There are many more things you will get the chance to do, Second Chance gets called all the time to help injured dogs on the streets, you may get the chance to go on a rescue and literally save a dogs life.  It’s a very flexible program, it will be both fun rewarding and educational. You will also learn about dog training and dog behaviour.

Shelter Assistant Course

$ 1100 2 weeks
  • 3 weeks $1400
  • 4 weeks $1700
summer course

6 Week Certified Dog Trainers Course

This course is still in the developmental stage ,what we can tell you now. 

  1. Fully certified course  with international registration
  2. 6 weeks long
  3. The first course will run at the end of 2025
  4. Combination of Practical and Theoretical lessons
  5. Exams and Practical assessments
What are the course Requirments?

The Second Chance Dog ShelterThailand volunteer programs and courses are open to people from all walks of life, you can be students, professional animal care specialists, people interested in learning about dogs and street dogs in particular, or just people who want to take part in something genuinely meaningful whilst on holiday in Thailand. The only thing we insist on is you must love dogs.

Eligibility Requirements 

  • Volunteers must love of dogs
  • Volunteers must be 18 years of age ( for people under the age of 18 please contact us and we will see if we can accommodate you )
  • Volunteers must be in good physical and mental health
  • Violunteers must provide proof of rabies vaccination on arrival
  • Volunteers must speak English or Chinese

Having the time of your life ! That’s a serious answer our goal is to give you a great experience.

What you do depends on the course you sign up for, but even within those there is an element of flexibility. Life in a dog shelter in Thailand is varied there are a multitude of things that can happen at the drop of a hat, and no matter what course you are on, you are welcome to join in. The following are things you can do, if you want to, but its your choice.

Fieldwork- Second Chance Shelter as well as the dogs in the shelter also cares for street packs in the Pattaya Thailand area. Our long term goal is to sterilise dogs in the area, to stop the constant supply of new street dogs. You can go along with the team and feed and check up on our packs. 

Daily Care Of Dogs- This is also available to everyone, but is part of the Shelter Assistant Course. The volunteers can clean the kennels, feed the dogs, then take them to the beach for socialisation, swimming and enrichment. Our volunteers provide a lot of enrichment for the dogs through play and this helps destress the dogs. 

Health Checks-Second Chance Shelter is home to about 40 handicapped dogs. These dogs need a lot more care than most dogs, for example one of our dogs has no tongue. He can’t drink easily, we have to maintain his fluid levels to keep him healthy in Thailands heat. We do this by syringing water into his mouth. Other dogs cannot urinate due to spinal injuries, you can learn how to manually evacuate their bladder. There are many other things you can help with for all our dogs, they need bathing, checking for ticks, you can learn a lot here.

Media and Social Media- If you have an interest in media or social media, we would be happy for you to photograph and video what we do, we have lots of equipment you can use from drones to water proof cameras.  If you want to document your volunteer experience in Thailand with us, you can.

Because you are working with dogs we need volunteers to be 18 years of age, but if you are volunteering with an adult and have parental permission, then maybe we can accommodate you. Under 18s need to contact us to discuss it all.

Second Chance Shelter is located in Pattaya City, it’s about 90 minutes from Bangkok the capital of Thailand. It’s a great location as it is the nearest beach to Bangkok. It is close enough to Bangkok that you can go there at the weekend to see the sites, but Pattaya is also action packed and has many opportunities to keep your free time exciting.

Because our programs are educational, there is a minimum stay of two weeks for volunteers. There is a lot to learn on the Assistant Trainers Course or the Shelter Assistant course, any less and you would miss out on a lot. We will be adding different programs in the future.

The Thais are quite conservative in some ways so you must always be dressed respectfully.  So Tee shirts and shorts at all times ( not on the beach )

The weather in Thailand is either hot or very hot, or hot and raining or very hot and raining. Our training area is undercover, but if you go out on a beach lesson, or a pack feeding run, its best to have light breathable clothing, a hat, and closed toe shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. We also encourage volunteers to use sun screen and a mosquito repellant.

We work with several landlords in Pattaya, so the available accommodation is varied. There are twin rooms available, double rooms for couples and if we have a big group we have houses for people to share. All accommodation has aircon, tv and is comfortable. If volunteers don’t want to share they can pay a little extra, otherwise the accommodation is included in the price of the courses.

Go grab a cup of coffee because this section might be long.

Pattaya as mentioned is 90 minutes from Bangkok, you can easily go to Bangkok for a weekend. So you have everything Bangkok has to offer. We won’t cover that here, we will just talk about what you can do in Pattaya.

  1. The Beach, not just any beach either but a beach ranked in the top 10 in the world.Beach in Pattaya , 90 mins from Bangkok
  2. Temples, there are many temples you can visit, or you can join a tour.temple in Pattaya near Bangkok
  3. Visit an elephant sanctuary ( this is actually included in all our programs free of charge )
  4. Go island hopping on a yacht
  5. Go to the water park
  6. Go on a dirt bike tourdirt bike tour of Pattaya near Bangkok
  7. You can go and see the world famous Tiffany’s cabaret showladyboy cabaret show in Bangkok Thailand
  8. Fly around in a paramotor see views of Thailand from abovedog shelter volunteer flying above Pattaya
  9. If flying around above the city isn’t enough , you can jump out of a perfectly good plane and enjoy a tandem skydiveskydive near Bangkok
  10. Learn to cook a couple of Thai dishes and impress your friends when you get homeThai cookery class in Bangkok
  11. Go to the stadium and watch the Thai national sport of May Thaithai boxing in Bangkok
  12. Go parasailing ,banana boating or jet skiingparasailing in pattaya

 

There is so much to do here, coffee shops, shopping, floating markets, bars and night clubs, relaxing on the beach and hundreds of different tours and day trips, you will never get bored.

The Volunteer Program Includes

  • a pre arrival guide to get you ready for the program
  • Transport to and from the airport in Bangkok
  • Accommodation 
  • Training and support all the way through the courses from professional trainers
  • 24/7 support while you are with us
  • Excursions to the elephant sanctuary, for people who stay for 4 weeks there will be further excursions
  • Help in planning things to do at the weekend
  • A great opportunity to learn about dogs, meet new friends and have a great time in Thailand.

Dog shelters in Thailand receive no government funding. Everything we do is funded by donations, so our volunteer programs are an attempt to become self sufficient.

The volunteer fees cover 

 

  • airport transfers 
  • accomodation
  • excursions
  • donation to second chance dog shelter fees

The donation will allow us to improve the shelters infrastructure, pay vets, rescue more dogs, start a TNR ( trap, neuter and return ) program to decrease the number of street dogs.  Everything we do is to improve the lives of our dogs and also to reduce the number of street dogs in Thailand. We have many more things we would love to do, and it all boils down to money, we want to do outreach work in local schools to educate the next generation. The volunteer fees are well spent and go towards helping street dogs in Thailand.