Ride With P.J.
Volunteer Ride-Along Program
If you are interested in seeing first hand what P.J. and Gateway Pet Guardians does on a daily basis and helping her feed the dogs (and some kitties), contact us to set up a ride-a-long date to go with P.J. to East St. Louis and feed the strays. If you have any questions about this program, please do not hesitate to ask. We would love to hear from you! You can also take a look at our videos to get a better idea of what a ride-a-long entails. Visit our volunteer page to see other ways you can get involved with Gateway Pet Guardians.
A typical Ride-along entails meeting P.J. and company in the wee hours of the morning (between 6 and 7am depending on the time of year) in Lafayette Square and heading across the River. She has very specific areas that she visits on a daily basis and knows each and every one of our feeding route pooches by name! Unless there’s a rescue to be done, you’ll be home by 10am.
P.J. has a dedicated crew of people who take turns riding with her every day. If you’d like to be one, fill out a volunteer application and let us know!
There are so many more stray dogs in East St. Louis than the ones you see on our website and Facebook page, there are hundreds of dogs on the streets. There are some strays that P.J. sees everyday, and sadly there are some she sees one day, and never again. There are others that she sees consistently, and then one day they just disappear. But you have the power to change that by becoming a foster.
The best part of what we do is when we have an open home for a dog and he gets to come home with us that day. The look in their eyes is one of excitement and contentment that this is their very last day of living on the streets.