If you would like to complete community service hours at any one of our facilities, please complete the application below and someone will be in touch with you soon.

About Community and Public Service

Our community and public service program is designed for individuals at least 16 years of age looking to complete short-term volunteer opportunities at one of our three locations: Leslie A Malone Center, Buddy Center or San Luis Valley Animal Center. This can be for court-ordered community service, to complete volunteer hours required for school or work, or for those who want to help at our shelters but cannot make the six month-three hour per week general volunteer commitment.

Since community and public service volunteers go through an abbreviated training process, you will have no direct interaction with the pets at our shelters. If you are interested in a longer commitment with animal interaction click here.

Community Service Requirements

Time Commitment – Our Malone Center and San Luis Valley Animal Center locations accept court-ordered and school volunteers who have at least 12 hours of service to complete. Our Buddy Center in Castle Rock accepts a minimum of 8 hours.

Court-ordered Service – We ONLY accept the following charges: Gambling, Truancy, MIP (alcohol, tobacco or marijuana), DUI (alcohol), DWAI (alcohol), Traffic Violations, Petty Theft, Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief(misdemeanor ONLY) and Marijuana charges.

Physical Requirements Community service volunteers should be capable of bending, scooping, lifting, and standing for extended periods of time.


APPLICANT ACCEPTANCE– The Dumb Friends League reserves the right to deny any application to the community service program for any reason. Even if your charge is listed above, you are not automatically qualified as a participant in the program.

Community Service Process

1. Complete the application.
It will take up to four business days to process your application. The $7 application fee covers the costs of administrative processing and background-check fees.

2. Complete a background check.
We will send you a background check once your application has been accepted.

3. Attend an orientation.
Once your background check has cleared you will be invited to attend a community service orientation. Community service orientations are held twice a month at both shelters.

4. Start signing up for shifts.
Within 24 hours of your orientation you can begin signing up for volunteer shifts through our online web portal.