It’s Back To School With HOWS Project!
Have you noticed? The store aisles are filling with backpacks, notebooks, pens, and pencils, meaning the start of school is just around the corner!
What does that mean for HOWS? Soon our wonderful teachers and students will be building our dog houses, getting us ready for fall delivery!
The school-built dog houses are such a “win-win”. Local students gain skills in planning and design, carpentry, tool handling, and problem-solving as they create sturdy wooden houses with raised insulated floors and offset entries, size-appropriate to each dog.
Many of the students proudly attach a plaque to their house with their names, while others add an artistic touch by painting the houses. Check out the pictures for some of the amazing houses decorated by talented students!
Of course, the ultimate benefit of these well-constructed houses is the help for the countless number of dogs who legally spend day after day outside, at the back of the property. Alone. These dogs are left to deal with the temperature extremes (so frequent lately!) shivering in the cold as temperatures dip, abandoned by the antiquated laws that are meant to protect them. And because of this, for many outside dogs, cold temperatures mean aching muscles, dehydration, frostbite, hypothermia, and possibly death.
HOWS Project works to bridge the gap between what the law requires and what is more appropriate for a dog living outside in the elements.
Our work replaces the “before” shelters like King’s pictured at right. Calling this housing a “shelter” is a stretch, but it’s not unusual: we encounter wire crates like King’s, as well as plastic shells, metal barrels, dilapidated rotted boxes, or worse.
What a difference a wooden house with straw bedding and waterproof entry cover makes to help comfort a dog like King.
Which leads us to our goal for this season and why we’re reaching out early: we want to build at least 60 HOWS dog houses for newly found dogs in need.
We have Field Day teams led by HOWS Project Founder Stacey Norris ready to distribute the houses, so it comes down to funds to have them built. At an average construction cost of $200 per dog house, it adds up quickly. We are a privately funded organization and thus rely on folks like you to have the supplies necessary to help these dogs each year.
Can you help us meet our goal? Our dog houses are such a vital part of all we do to improve the lives of outdoor dogs, along with providing shade tarps for relief from the sun and heat, constructing fenced areas to free dogs from their chains, providing flea/tick preventive for greater comfort from these pests, and funding for spay/neuter. We also educate the dogs’ people and encourage them to bring their dogs inside when extreme weather hits.
All donations have a direct and positive impact on these animals and are also tax-deductible. You may donate online here or send a check to HOWS Project, P.O. Box 7058, Charlottesville, VA 22906.
For all those who benefit from your generosity, like Biscuit and King: Thank you!
