Patty Montone has a big heart and an even bigger love for animals and teaching. In her retirement, she has combined these interests as a volunteer Pet Professor for the Animal Protective Foundation (APF) in Scotia.

“I enjoy every minute of it. Where else can you go and talk about pets all the time,” she said good-naturedly.

Pet Professors teach humane education programs at the shelter on Maple Avenue and other locations, such as scouting meetings and after-school programs, on request. There are two volunteer Pet Professors now, and the shelter is looking for more.

You don’t need to have been a teacher, but you should enjoy being with both animals and children.

As a child, Montone said she was the one who brought strays home, and at one point had nine cats, two dogs and a guinea pig. Today, the Schenectady resident has three cats, all adopted strays.

A teacher for 33 years before retiring, Montone understands how to keep a child’s attention and uses humane education materials on animals to teach math and science as well as lessons on service dogs, caring for pets, the responsibility of pet ownership and how to react properly when face to face with a stray dog.

She also has developed packets of information on difficult subjects, such as grieving for pets, which parents of school-age children can request.

An energetic and enthusiastic person, Montone continues to substitute teach in the Shenendehowa School District. She said she is known for her lessons on animals and added that students clap when she enters a classroom because they know what type of lesson will be taught.

Humane Education

APF’s Director of Communications and Outreach Marguerite Pearson said that when she was hired in 1998, there was no staff dedicated to humane education but there was interest. “I knew that we needed to reach children especially, because it is so important for humane values to be instilled and reinforced at an early age.”

The APF had some programs such as the still popular “Tails and Tales,” which consist of an animal story, special animal guests and a shelter tour. In addition, the shelter provides KIND News — an acronym for Kids in Nature’s Defense — to about 100 elementary classrooms in and around Schenectady County.

“We sponsor these subscriptions, and each child gets a monthly newspaper throughout the school year. Kids and teachers love it, and we get lots of positive feedback. Our goal is to make teaching humane education easy for teachers and enjoyable for the kids, and this publication does it very well,” Pearson said, adding that APF hopes to expand this program “but funding is an issue. Each subscription costs $23.” The publication contains math and science puzzles, facts about unusual animals and is geared toward elementary students.

To coordinate with this, volunteers, such as Montone, developed lesson plans for various age groups. Pearson said APF would like to get some more people who enjoy working with children on board.

Contest planned

The Pet Professors are also active with the annual Be Kind to Animals Poster and Essay Contest, now in its sixth year. “Patty has been very involved in this program, and she hosts our annual awards reception in May,” Pearson said.

This year the contest is being held in conjunction with the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society in order to reach more teachers. The theme is “Working Together as a Community to Make a Difference for Homeless Animals” and is open to grades one through five. The contest deadline is April 11.

For more information on the contest or Pet Professors, contact the APF at 374-3944.