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Experience from inside the daily life of Villa ADAP, our center for the recovery and rehabilitation of abandoned animals.
You will be part of its real routines: feeding, cleaning, walks, socialization, rehabilitation, and care.
You will share the experience with other volunteers, surrounded by nature, and you will meaningfully contribute to the welfare and recovery of animals waiting for a new opportunity.
25 hours of help per week
Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.
Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.
Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.
2 days off per week
Team Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other people.
Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.
Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.
Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.
Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Dedicated Workspace: Specific space for you to work remotely
Beginner Spanish
Between 20 and 60 years old
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Travel insurance
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
Villa ADAP is the rehabilitation, shelter, and care center for abandoned animals run by ADAP, a non-profit association founded in 2012. Since then, more than 2,000 animals have been part of our story.
Our shelter is located in an old 1947 country estate, surrounded by nature, which over the years we have rehabilitated and transformed to create a safe space where dogs and cats can recover and start anew.
We do not understand Villa ADAP merely as a place where animals wait for adoption. Each one arrives with a story and different needs: some need to recover physically, others to learn to trust again, socialize, acquire routines, or simply have the time and stability they never had.
That is why our work is based on getting to know and accompanying each animal as an individual, respecting their pace and helping them move toward a new opportunity.
Villa ADAP is entirely run by volunteers. We do not have hired workers and the people responsible for the association balance the project with our jobs, families, and personal responsibilities. Daily operation is possible thanks to the collaboration between local volunteers and travelers from different parts of the world.
During your stay you won't just be someone who comes a few hours to help us: you will live at Villa ADAP and will temporarily become part of this team and the shelter's everyday routine.
You do not need professional experience working with animals. We will teach you our routines and you will receive instructions about the needs and particularities of those you will be collaborating with.
What we do need is commitment, responsibility, respect for the animals, capac
The collaboration is 5 hours per day, 5 days per week, with 2 days off.
We organize into two daily shifts, morning and afternoon, of approximately 2.5 hours each. The schedules may vary depending on the time of year, temperatures, and the animals' needs. We divide the day because we work with living beings who need feeding, walks, and care at different times of the day.
During the shifts you will participate in the real operation of the shelter:
• Walks and outings of the dogs.
• Preparation and distribution of meals.
• Cleaning of kennels, yards, and the animals' spaces.
• Collection of excrement, changing of beds and blankets, and replenishing water.
• Laundry, organizing, and preparation of materials.
• Socialization and accompaniment.
• Enrichment and mental stimulation.
• Support in the routines of animals with special needs.
Some of our animals have arrived with fears or insecurities and need time to regain confidence. You will learn to respect their rhythms and relate to them following the team’s instructions.
Taking care of animals also means cleaning, picking up, washing, organizing and repeating routines every day. Not all the work is playing or walking, but every task is necessary to ensure their welfare.
You do not need prior experience: we will teach you our routines. What we do need is responsibility, commitment, willingness to learn, and respect for the shelter's instructions and protocols capac
Villa ADAP is run entirely by volunteers. During your stay you will share accommodation, responsibilities and living together with people from different cultures and nationalities.
We look for responsible, empathetic, respectful, and team-oriented people. We also need autonomy and initiative. The people responsible for ADAP balance the project with our jobs and personal lives, so we are not physically at the shelter all day. You will have guidance and clear routines, but we expect that, once learned, you can operate alongside the team.
Daily communication is mainly in Spanish. You don't need to speak it perfectly, but you should understand basic instructions and be able to communicate with your teammates. We work with animals and good communication is important for their safety.
Villa ADAP is in a natural setting, 2.5 km from Sant Martí Sarroca. We live in an old masía that has been rehabilitated: the accommodation is simple and shared, not a hotel or a hostel. There are animals, fur, dirt and everything that living in a shelter entails.
We are far from shops, leisure, and public transport. If your priority is to visit Barcelona frequently or to have urban life on a daily basis, this experience probably isn't for you.
Respect for the animals and their spaces is essential. Each one has their needs and the team’s instructions must always be followed.
Bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms and common areas must be kept clean and tidy by everyone. These tasks are part of living together, not part of the 5 hours of collaboration.
The 2 days off are organized weekly according to the shelter's needs, trying to respect everyone's preferences.
