RENFREW — Cathy Brickner’s work for the Butler County Humane Society may be fulfilling, but some days it can leave her dog tired.

“My husband calls it my second job. But it is my passion, and I totally love it,” Brickner said.

“I wanted to give something back to the community, whether to people or animals.”

Brickner, 49, has been a volunteer with the humane society, headquartered at 1015 Evans City Road in Renfrew, for two and a half years.

She is the organization’s volunteer ambassador, training new volunteers, running the spay-and-neuter program and, of course, tending to the animals.

“I spent about 50 hours there in December, but usually it’s about 25 hours per month. Once you start volunteering, it becomes incorporated into your life,” Brickner said.

She works full time in sales at Magnotti & Son, a maker of granite and stone products in the South Hills, then finds time to put in a few hours with the animals she adores.

“I used to live above an Animal Friends shelter and I kept saying, ‘I’m going to go and help them,’ but I never did. When we moved to Evans City, it was only a few miles from the Humane Society. It was like fate,” Brickner said.

In less than a year after its 2007 inception, the humane society’s spay-and-neuter program, overseen by Brickner, had gathered help from enough veterinarians to spay or neuter every animal in the shelter.

Brickner called the feat a “wonderful accomplishment,” but said it would have been impossible if not for the cooperation of the veterinarians.

Of course, Brickner is not the shelter’s only volunteer.

More than 200 people donate their time to the shelter, the only Humane Society shelter in Butler County, acting as companions to the pets, fundraising and providing foster care for animals yet to find a home.

The foster program is particularly important because it acclimates animals to normal living conditions — those outside of a cage, according to Michala Smith, the shelter’s volunteer and fundraising coordinator.

“Our volunteers are vital to our success. They don’t need to donate money. They donate something much more valuable: their time,” Smith said.

The shelter offers incentives like the Golden Paw program, which offers adoption fee discounts to those willing to welcome older animals, typically the most difficult to adopt out, into their homes.

In 2008 alone, the shelter took in 384 cats and 630 dogs, some of which were strays and some surrendered by owners who could no longer care for them.

The shelter has been a no-kill operation since 2000.

“It’s not exactly a revolving door. But our volunteers work hard to find every animal a home,” Smith said.

Sometimes that permanent home is with the volunteers.

Brickner and her husband have no children but care for three dogs and a cat, all but one of which was saved from a shelter.

Though she looks for dogs with a “spark for life” and an upbeat personality for her own home, Brickner specializes in working with difficult animals at the shelter, those with aggression issues or who do not mesh well with other pets.

“I honestly cannot see myself quitting volunteering. No matter what goes on, I always have a new dog coming in when another is headed out, and I have to finish what I started,” Brickner said.

<b>Address: </b>1150 Evans City Road, Renfrew<b>Volunteer coordinator: </b>Michala Smith<b>Number of animals served: </b>In 2008, the shelter took in more than 1,000 animals, including 383 cats and 630 dogs.<b>Number of Volunteers: </b>200<b>Started: </b>1877<b>Phone: </b>724-789-1150<b>Web site:</b> http://members. petfinder.com