How to count hours for raising a service dog?

[afterdarkreader]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Basically what it sounds like. My school has a program where you can volunteer to raise a service dog and I definitely plan on doing it (not in small part because I am desperate for animal companionship). How do I count those hours? Do I need to keep a time sheet of how many hours I spend training them/taking care of them? Can I even count these hours?
Thanks for any advice!

 

[stayathomemom]

I'm going to lump on to your post and ask how to count hours for hosting foreign exchange students in my home. Yay for unique and fun experiences!

 

[labscience]

Definitely count these hours! I had a dog sitting business that I reported on AMCAS and have been asked about it in interviewers who thought it sounded awesome. No need to keep any formal record of these hours, but have a general timeframe (months or weeks spent doing it) in mind and multiply those by how many hours you actively took care of the dog per day. That's what I did-- it wasn't formal or exact by any means, but it was a substantial amount of time and a great talking point.

 

[afterdarkreader]

Yeah this makes the most sense. When I read an application, I like to see what these ECs mean in the context of your life. So raising service dog for a year something like would be 600 hours (approx) (50 weeks at 10-15 hours a week). That is reasonable to understand, easy to explain, and shows how many hours in this and can be put in perspective with rest of application

Thanks! I guess it would be 900 hours then because you raise the dog for 18 months 🙂