Pet Blogging

Darren Genson, who volunteers with Anne Arundel County Animal Services every day, including Christmas and New Years.
“It’s cheaper than therapy,” Genson said. “It consoles your soul.”

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— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) December 28, 2025 at 10:00 PM

Like Darren Genson! Per the Washington Post, “No holidays off: One man’s daily commitment to walking shelter dogs” [gift link]:

On Christmas mornings at about 7 o’clock, Darren Genson goes to an animal shelter and spends two hours walking dogs. He will do the same on New Year’s Day.

“The dogs don’t get a break,” said Genson, who lives in Millersville, Maryland. “These dogs don’t have the luxury of having someone they live with.”

“Unless I’m sick or there’s something going on, an obligation I can’t avoid, I’m there pretty much every day,” Genson said, adding that the shelter is about a seven-minute drive from his house.

Genson became acquainted with the shelter when he adopted a dog, Charli, in 2015. He and his wife had visited the shelter to donate food after their pit bull, Rock, died. The couple met Charli, also a pit bull, and decided to take her home.

Shelter staff warned the Gensons that Charli had been returned twice after being adopted — likely due to destructive behavior. The Gensons were undeterred.

“She ended up eating four couches within the first couple of years,” Genson said. “Two of them all the way down to the frame.”…

A few years after adopting Charli, in 2018, Genson and his wife brought home a senior cat from the shelter. One of the volunteers encouraged Genson to become one, too.

“I immediately fell in love with the idea,” he said. “I’m getting very close to the age of the retirement, and I want something productive to do after I retire.”…

About a year or so into volunteering, Genson became drawn to the more difficult dogs — those who were skittish around humans, perhaps due to abuse or abandonment. There was a dog named Ace who was deemed “unadoptable,” and Genson pledged to work with him to improve his behavior.

“They had dogs that simply did not get out,” Genson said, explaining that they were considered “high risk” for biting or bolting, and therefore didn’t go out on walks with volunteers.

Genson worked with shelter staff and animal control officers to learn how best to approach these dogs and get them to warm up to him…

Genson — who has four rescue dogs at home, including Charli, now 11 — said even on the days when he’s tired or busy, it’s not hard to find his motivation.

“I think the dogs deserve it,” he said.

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