improving the lives of pets outdoors

This handsome senior boy is Cujo! He lives in Grayling, and his family requested a house for him as part of the Straw For Dogs 2025 River Project.

Cujo's current family inherited him after his person (their grandfather) passed away. This sweet gray faced cutie is 13 years old....He did have a house but his people were concerned about his level of comfort at his age. They were unable to find anyone to build him a house in Grayling but another resident told them about the Straw For Dogs River Project....and now here we are!

Hopefully our insulated house which is built up a little higher on legs will not only offer him more protection from the elements but also be easier for him to get in and out of. (I actually think this is one of our prettiest houses with the knot design across the top and bottom, not that Cujo cares...)

A big thank you to David Lambert, Lotto Alaska, and Ruby Marine for making our 2025 River Project possible. We could not help as many of the dogs living outside in Alaska without your support. Thank you so much for making this possible.

These little cuties are Coba, Cain, and Luna from Nulato! These 3 puppies received new insulated dog houses and straw from Straw For Dogs as part of our 2025 River Project.

These sweet furries had houses but needed an upgrade, their family said the houses were very old and falling apart. At the time these pictures were sent Luna and Cain had jumped right in and were happily using their houses but Coba was not.

Sometimes the dogs are used to having a larger doorway and are reluctant to go inside a smaller opening. This is when we advise leaving the roof off for a few minutes to allow the dogs to go inside without the roof first, then put the roof on half way and let them get used to that and eventually putting the roof back on all the way. It takes a little time and patience....and treats can really help with this....When we have worked with dogs in person we have been able to get the them comfortable using their new houses within about 15 minutes, it's pretty easy....(especially with some good treats). There is also a short video about this pinned to the top of our FB page.

We have reached out to see if Coba had started using his house yet but have not gotten any feedback. Hopefully he has tried it out and realized it is not so bad! 🙏

We would like to thank Dave Lambert and Lotto Alaska for funding our 2025 River Project again this year, and Ruby Marine for graciously delivering ALL 113 HOUSES to our 2025 river doggies free of charge. Without these people/organizations we would not be able to offer this service to the families and puppies who need it, so please thank them for supporting us!

A big thank you to one of our most devoted volunteers/members RON GOSSEL!

Ronnie made a special trip to Nenana for Straw For Dogs yesterday (Sunday). He loaded up his kiddos and they drove an insulated dog house to Nenana from Fairbanks for a sweet boy who was waiting for his shelter.

Ronnie has also helped us build houses at Ruby Marine in Nenana several times. He is always willing to help and we are so grateful to him for all the time and energy he has donated to helping us get houses out to dogs who need them.

Thank you RONNIE GOSSEL for all that you do to help dogs living outside in Alaska!

CLIFFORD has his new house! It usually doesn't happen this fast (unfortunately) but all the stars aligned for this guy...His family built his new house as soon as it came in and sent us this cute picture.

We did a Sponsorship Fundraiser for CLIFFORD, so thanks to all of you, Clifford went from sitting out in the rain with a rubber garbage can for shelter, to a big insulated dog house (remember the family took him in spur of the moment and were not set up for him, so they were doing the best they could)....

We have been INUNDATED with requests for help over the past 10 days but I am trying not to overdo it on the sponsorship posts. But if you can donate, we sure could use the help! You can donate at www.strawfordogs.org 🙏

Thank you to our friends at Northern Air Cargo and Ryan Air, INC. for donating the shipping to get this house out to this sweet boy and also for getting it out to him so quickly.

We are so grateful to all the air carriers who support us and to everyone who donates. Our goal is to be able to help any dog in need and that is only possible with a ton of support!

FUNDS RAISED THANK YOU EVERYONE!

We will just do one more for now....sorry to do these back to back.

This sweet girl is Luna! She is another one of the 4 dogs in a rural community in Interior Alaska in need of an insulated house and straw before winter!