You will find street dogs in every nook and corner of this country. There are over 35 million stray dogs in the country and most of them are not well treated as people despise them due to fear, but most of them are not threatening. Due to the hatred of street dogs, people tend to not feed them and also beat them. The street dogs have to struggle to find food but they end up finding close to none so because of that most street dogs are malnourished and weak.

Through one of my friends, I came across an organization called CARE CLUB based in Surat whose sole purpose is to feed, support and protect dogs. I joined it. I joined the care club on 6th October 2020 and I also asked a few of my other friends to join me. The club was divided into many groups as per the area people live in and the people go to feed the dogs in their area once or twice a week. I was in the Piplod, Vesu group and we took care of the dogs in our area.

Learning outcomes achieved: 4, 5, 6, 7

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The thing which made this activity difficult and then commitment was required was when the group were deciding to go to feed but you had other work to do, then I had to show commitment to the activity and go to feed on my own at a suitable time to cover up what I missed. Showing commitment was important as I am doing my part for the community and I would not like to missing out on these opportunities.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

Usually working in a group can be difficult for me as, if there is someone who causes chaos then it really annoys me as that can distract everyone. Working with my group here was easy for me as they were all friendly, focused, and caring. Working collaboratively was important here as there were many dogs in our area so we divided the work, everyone went to separate directions in pairs of two to feed as many dogs as possible. Also, the leader of the group was dedicated to the task and often lead us and guided us on what to do.

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

This issue of animal welfare is extremely important globally as all animals require food and care to survive so Care Club exactly addresses this issue and provides food, care, and protection to the street dogs in Surat. Knowing about issues like this helps me and other people take action for it. So me taking part in the club and every other person taking action against global issues such as this is important and necessary for the welfare of the planet.

LO7: Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions

There was one ethical issue which was feeding dogs could be dangerous for volunteers, this is because some dogs seem really angry and there is a chance that they are not vaccinated, if they bite any of us it can cause rabies which can be fatal. This made me feel a little uncomfortable and nervous at first but I didn’t forget that we were there to provide care for them and shouldn’t be afraid of them. After giving food to dogs a few times the fear passed away and I was glad to serve society and the dogs.

To conclude, I developed the learner profile caring and communicator during this activity. Caring as we nurtured and provided care to the street dogs in Surat and during coordinating with other members of the group I developed the learner profile attribute communicator. This club is a great success and a very good initiative for the dogs as it will help them survive longer and live a better life. The highlight in this experience was that in some dogs I could see the happiness when we were about to give food, their tails started wagging and that really made me happy. Even though my CAS experience has ended I will continue to feed dogs time to time.