Volunteer Spotlight: Deb Apted

Two decades ago, Deb Apted’s husband Dan took her out for a birthday dinner. He handed her a gift in a cute little box that looked like it might contain jewelry. But it wasn’t a bracelet or necklace inside – it was an HSMO adoption form filled out in Deb’s name for a dog neither of them had ever met!

Despite having never met the dog, Dan knew Kino the German Shepherd was the perfect dog for Deb. They visited the next day, but Kino didn’t engage much with the couple or their daughter Dani. He kept trying to get out of the get acquainted room, and Deb recalls that she just “didn’t feel it.” They went home. But the following morning, Dani told her mom they were going to go get Kino. She knew there was something special about him.

“When we met with him the second day, it was like he was a different dog,” Deb says. “Kino was very housebroken, and he only got out once a day. HSMO had a good crew of morning walkers, but not afternoons. Some of the very housebroken dogs would hold it all day. I told that counselor the day Kino and I walked out of the shelter, ‘I’ll be back. I’ll walk the dogs in the afternoons.’  That’s what I did.”

Deb has been walking dogs at HSMO’s Macklind shelter several days a week since then. She’s had many rewarding experiences over the years volunteering, but she says working with the dogs from the big Missouri 500 dog fighting case was the most fulfilling.

“That was my first experience with pit bull terriers,” she says. “I’m not going to lie – knowing I was going to be interacting with dogs that were involved in a dog-fighting ring was unnerving. But the dogs that I handled were the most loving, affectionate, appreciative dogs that I’d ever been in contact with.”

Deb says she’s learned so much about dogs in general, along with breed characteristics over the years.

“Each breed is unique and has different personalities, mannerisms, insecurities and energy levels,” she says. “As volunteers, we handle shy, fearful, high-energy, strong… some, very strong. I tend to gravitate toward mischievous dogs. They’re my jam!”

In the years she’s volunteered, Deb says she’s made many lasting friendships with both staff and other volunteers. She’s loved helping her friends find their perfect pup and the workout walking dogs provides.

“We are all there for the same reason: to make an animal feel compassion and love.”