improving the lives of pets outdoors

Thank you to The August Fund in Fairbanks and The August Fund for taking in so many dogs who would otherwise have no where to go. We are proud to be part of the AUG DOG team but you guys are doing the actual rescue work.

Doesn't this first picture look like a picture of a sweet little puppy....comfy in his new Straw For Dogs insulated dog house? WELL GUESS WHAT....IT'S NOT!

HE ONLY LOOKS LITTLE BECAUSE HIS CUSTOM MADE HOUSE IS EXTRA LARGE!

This is Teddy! He is a BIG PUPPY, he's only a year old and already weighs 111 pounds.

His family reached out to Straw For Dogs to get a house for him, but after seeing his size, we decided Teddy would not fit comfortably in one of our large houses so we made a custom extra large house just for him.

Lucky for us Teddy is a local dog and we got to set the house up and meet him in person. This big guy was so much fun. He has a family who loves him very much, but most of the time Teddy prefers to be outside. He has a fenced yard so he is NOT on a chain which was SO NICE for us to see for a change.

His family had tried several other dog houses but Teddy refused to use them. At first he seemed reluctant to go in this one too so we left the roof off and gave him treats and pets to get him to walk inside and check it out, then we put the roof on but lifted the back up a bit to give him more treats and pets through the opening, pretty soon the roof was all the way on and Teddy was coming and going like he owned the place.

We set his house up on Monday and his family reached out to us Tuesday morning to say he slept in it and seems to love it. We are honored that our house passed the test and is Teddy approved.

If you would like to help us provide houses for dogs like Teddy who live "mostly outside" in Alaska. Please donate at www.strawfordogs.org
or you can mail a check to PO Box 58012 Fairbanks AK 99711.
Every dollar helps! Thank you for your support!

This sweet puppy lives all the way out on St. Lawrence Island. With the help of our friends at Northern Air Cargo and Ryan Air, INC. we were able to get Big Boy a new house.

He had "kind of a house" but with the front wide open and a pallet for the floor it was not ideal protection from the elements. His people reached out to Straw For Dogs to get him something better. It took a while for his house to make it out to him. There was a lot of bad weather in the region.

But it is there now and we hope Big Boy will be much warmer and happier now!

As we have said many times before, we wish all dogs could live inside as part of the family (at least when they want to be inside), but the fact is many dogs in Alaska do not have that option. Sending insulated houses and straw to the dogs who need help is what we CAN do to offer immediate assistance. More and more people are reaching out to us which means more and more people DO want better living conditions for their dogs.

This is FAR from perfect but these are baby steps in the right direction. We will keep working, one dog and one house at a time, while also working toward making bigger changes in the way people see dogs and their roles as important members of the family.

IF you would like to help us continue to help the dogs living OUTSIDE in Alaska please donate at www.strawfordogs.org

Thank you!

This good boy is Ballz, he lives in a village in Northwest Alaska. Ballz did not have any shelter at all. When we saw the picture of him lying out in the snow on a frozen blanket we knew this was another emergency situation. We sent an insulated house and bale of straw out for him right away.

With the help of the people at The Nordic Home who did a fund raiser for Straw For Dogs to raise money for shipping costs, a generous discount from Everts Air and a donation from BERING AIR we were able to send this house out for Ballz and 3 others houses for more dogs in need in same village!

Thank you The Nordic Home, Everts Air, and BERING AIR for your support. Thank you from this sweet puppy who no longer has to curl up in the ice.

Ballz' people sent us a picture of him in his new house. They were able to get it set up right before a big snow storm hit. You can see the snow is already up to the doorway, (they may have to shovel soon), but at least Ballz has some shelter now!

We agree with everyone who is going to post that no dog should ever live outside in Alaska without shelter but the fact is that many of them do... and this is what we can do to provide IMMEDIATE help for them. Everything else will take time, education, and support. It takes time to help people understand there are different ways of doing things other than "the way it's always been done."

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our mission. We are so grateful to every person and every business that makes it possible for us to help more dogs who are suffering out in the cold.

In honor of this little guy and others out there like him Straw For Dogs is going to try to add another layer to our mission. We are going to see if we can help provide indoor resources that would allow "outside dogs" to spend some time inside with their families.

A baby gate, and x-pen, a large crate or anything that could be used to provide a safe inside space for dogs to spend time with their families.

Adding this layer will take more funding but it will be worth it if we can help any outside dogs get a little inside time. Please help if you can.