"Give a dog a home"

Doing PR work for the Dogs’ Refuge Home in Shenton Park has been one of the most rewarding and fantastic opportunities I have ever been given as a budding Public Relations Professional. I’m actually an intern at Shine Communications but my boss Ruth Simpson volunteers at the Dogs’ Home by doing PR work there, free of charge. She has taken me under her wing and being an animal-lover myself, I’ve gladly taken over at the Dogs’ Home writing media releases and organizing other media opportunities.  

I’ve done what seams like over 100 media releases starring Molly, Cindy, Sammy, Toby, Moosh, Moet and Spunky - just to name a few - who are in desperate need for what we call, a ‘forever home’. Not only do I get to develop my writing skills, I actually really enjoy having the opportunity to give these dogs a voice of their own. Each dog has their own story to tell, whether it be a sad one or a happy-ending, so it has become my job to display these stories in a way that will make them heard.

I’ve managed to get at least two in every three media releases in the respective local papers which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside for two reasons: one, the dog featured in the paper has been successfully advertised and will hopefully get a home soon, and two OH MY GOD MY STORIES ARE IN THE PAPER!!!! It’s a fantastic feeling to know that my media releases have been noticed by journalists and have been successfully chosen to appear in the paper.

The Western Suburbs Weekly (WSW) have been filming a ‘dog of the week’ segment and have been putting it up on their Facebook page every Thursday. This has become my responsibility to make sure everything runs smoothly. So every Tuesday afternoon I’ve been going down to the Dogs’ Home, where I meet with the volunteer and their chosen dog, run through the questions they might be asked and of course make sure they know the correct answers. Along with this, I also meet and introduce with the WSW crew, make sure they get the clip that they need and everything runs smoothly. All this responsibility makes me feel very important and superior – not bad for an intern!

I have not only developed a passion for helping these homeless dogs, but I have also become painfully aware of how this opportunity has been a fantastic start to my career as a PR professional. At first, the media releases would take me a good four hours to complete, now this time has been more than halved. The people I interview, whether they are volunteers or staff at the Dogs’ Home, or have recently adopted a dog, are lovely people who are kind-hearted and are very much willing to have a chat to me. Everyone involved at the Dogs’ Home are aware of every story that gets published which means my hard work does actually get noticed, which doesn’t normally happen with the unlucky interns! There has been nothing but positives coming from my time at the Dogs’ Refuge Home with Shine Communications and I hope there will be many more positive times ahead, I feel like I’m living every PR professional’s dream.