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A sweet story and another reason the "after pictures" are so important!
This compassionate young dog lover is Sonny, and the little fuzzball behind him is Luna. Sonny's dad, Harold applied for a Straw For Dogs house for Luna and when it arrived Sonny got right to work putting the house together for his furry friend.
Harold told us Sonny loves dogs and while they were watching a mushing race recently he had expressed concerns over if/when the dogs were going to be able to eat and drink..... (Just when you feel the most discouraged you come across someone like this and you realize there IS HOPE for change in the way animals are treated in Alaska).
When Harold sent in these after pictures of course we thought they were super cute so we asked his permission to post them.
BUT...when we saw the very last picture which shows a second dog with an older house, I immediately panicked and thought I missed something on the application and we were actually supposed to send 2 houses.... So I looked it up, and the application did say they had 2 dogs but they were only asking for 1 house. (In many cases families do have more dogs but some live inside so this is not really unusual). However, we COULD NOW SEE there was a SECOND DOG living outside so we called Harold to ask if this dog needed a new house as well.
Harold said he had only asked for one house because he didn't want to be greedy, and the other dog (named Princess) had a better house than Luma so he just asked for 1 house for Luma.
Long story made a little less long....we are sending a house out for Princess next week, her house was better than Luma's but she still needed an upgrade.....so both dogs will soon have our insulated dog houses.
We would have NEVER KNOWN this family actually needed 2 dog houses if we had not seen PRINCESS in that AFTER PICTURE. We are so grateful that she happened to be included in that last photo because she REALLY needed a new dog house too.
Thank you to Harold and Sonny for being such compassionate dog lovers. Thank you to Lynden Air Cargo, and Ryan Air, INC. for sending this house out to Luma....and for thank you in advance for sending the second house out to Princess next week!
This compassionate young dog lover is Sonny, and the little fuzzball behind him is Luna. Sonny's dad, Harold applied for a Straw For Dogs house for Luna and when it arrived Sonny got right to work putting the house together for his furry friend.
Harold told us Sonny loves dogs and while they were watching a mushing race recently he had expressed concerns over if/when the dogs were going to be able to eat and drink..... (Just when you feel the most discouraged you come across someone like this and you realize there IS HOPE for change in the way animals are treated in Alaska).
When Harold sent in these after pictures of course we thought they were super cute so we asked his permission to post them.
BUT...when we saw the very last picture which shows a second dog with an older house, I immediately panicked and thought I missed something on the application and we were actually supposed to send 2 houses.... So I looked it up, and the application did say they had 2 dogs but they were only asking for 1 house. (In many cases families do have more dogs but some live inside so this is not really unusual). However, we COULD NOW SEE there was a SECOND DOG living outside so we called Harold to ask if this dog needed a new house as well.
Harold said he had only asked for one house because he didn't want to be greedy, and the other dog (named Princess) had a better house than Luma so he just asked for 1 house for Luma.
Long story made a little less long....we are sending a house out for Princess next week, her house was better than Luma's but she still needed an upgrade.....so both dogs will soon have our insulated dog houses.
We would have NEVER KNOWN this family actually needed 2 dog houses if we had not seen PRINCESS in that AFTER PICTURE. We are so grateful that she happened to be included in that last photo because she REALLY needed a new dog house too.
Thank you to Harold and Sonny for being such compassionate dog lovers. Thank you to Lynden Air Cargo, and Ryan Air, INC. for sending this house out to Luma....and for thank you in advance for sending the second house out to Princess next week!
When we ask for "after pictures" it is for many reasons.
1. We want to make sure the house is put together properly.
2. We use the pictures to thank/recognize our donors and sponsors.
3. We use them to show what our organization does/gain support.
4. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY....we take a good look at the dogs to see if they need anything like a better tie out, new collar/too tight, grooming help, or in some cases we notice they may need vet care.
That was exactly what happened with this "after picture." Frist we noticed how sweet this puppy looked and what a good picture it was of him with his new house....BUT WE ALSO noticed his little eyes looked like they were in need of some help.
We asked his family for more pictures of his little eyes and sent them to our friend Christine Witzmann and Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc. ARVO graciously offered to provide vet care to this sweet boy if we could get him to Anchorage....Next our animal loving friends at Lynden Air Cargo offered to provide this puppy with donated air travel to Anchorage and back to his family when he was better.....and the last piece needed to make this happen...animal advocate JEANNINE FAULKNER found a foster to take care of this guy while he is receiving vet care in Anchorage.
So thank you to this puppy's family for sending the picture which caused us to notice he needed some help.
Thank you to Christine Witzmann, Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc., Lynden Air Cargo, Jeannine Faulkner, and the FOSTER in Anchorage for each providing important pieces needed to help this sweet boy!
He will be heading in for vet care very soon! It really does take a network of people to get things done and we are so grateful to our AMAZING NETWORK!
1. We want to make sure the house is put together properly.
2. We use the pictures to thank/recognize our donors and sponsors.
3. We use them to show what our organization does/gain support.
4. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY....we take a good look at the dogs to see if they need anything like a better tie out, new collar/too tight, grooming help, or in some cases we notice they may need vet care.
That was exactly what happened with this "after picture." Frist we noticed how sweet this puppy looked and what a good picture it was of him with his new house....BUT WE ALSO noticed his little eyes looked like they were in need of some help.
We asked his family for more pictures of his little eyes and sent them to our friend Christine Witzmann and Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc. ARVO graciously offered to provide vet care to this sweet boy if we could get him to Anchorage....Next our animal loving friends at Lynden Air Cargo offered to provide this puppy with donated air travel to Anchorage and back to his family when he was better.....and the last piece needed to make this happen...animal advocate JEANNINE FAULKNER found a foster to take care of this guy while he is receiving vet care in Anchorage.
So thank you to this puppy's family for sending the picture which caused us to notice he needed some help.
Thank you to Christine Witzmann, Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc., Lynden Air Cargo, Jeannine Faulkner, and the FOSTER in Anchorage for each providing important pieces needed to help this sweet boy!
He will be heading in for vet care very soon! It really does take a network of people to get things done and we are so grateful to our AMAZING NETWORK!
Thank you Kae Bertz-Siebels for making us this awesome reel. Thank you to Lotto Alaska, David Lambert, and Ruby Marine for making our River Project happen for the 3rd consecutive year!
AND SO IT BEGINS!
Yesterday we built the first 20 houses for our 2026 RIVER PROJECT!
Thanks to Lotto Alaska and Ruby Marine we will be sending houses out on the barges for the 3rd consecutive year!
Our amazing partner Jim with Arctic Chicken Coops made a special trip to Nenana with the house panels so we could meet the deadline for the one and only trip to Allakaket, Hughes, and 1 of only 2 trips to Huslia!
We had 2 new volunteers Kae Bertz-Siebels, and Cameron Siebels who devoted their Saturday to building dog houses for dogs who needed them.
Most importantly we had 3 furry helpers. Jim's dogs Jordy and Badger, and the Siebel's dog Ria! There were only 5 of us on this build but it could not have gone any smoother!
This is the first 20 of probably at least 125 houses that will be shipped out to the dogs living along the rivers this summer.
Thank you to David Lambert and Lotto Alaska for funding our River Project for the 3rd year! Thank you to Ruby Marine for donating the shipping for over 100 dog houses each year for the 3rd year!
If not for these 2 amazing organizations we could only help a fraction of the dogs living outside along the rivers without proper shelter.
If you have a dog living outside along the rivers that Ruby Marine services who needs an insulated dog house and straw please apply at www.strawfordogs.org
PS we are TRYING to get our Instagram going so if you feel like following us we are at strawfordogsak. Thank you!
Yesterday we built the first 20 houses for our 2026 RIVER PROJECT!
Thanks to Lotto Alaska and Ruby Marine we will be sending houses out on the barges for the 3rd consecutive year!
Our amazing partner Jim with Arctic Chicken Coops made a special trip to Nenana with the house panels so we could meet the deadline for the one and only trip to Allakaket, Hughes, and 1 of only 2 trips to Huslia!
We had 2 new volunteers Kae Bertz-Siebels, and Cameron Siebels who devoted their Saturday to building dog houses for dogs who needed them.
Most importantly we had 3 furry helpers. Jim's dogs Jordy and Badger, and the Siebel's dog Ria! There were only 5 of us on this build but it could not have gone any smoother!
This is the first 20 of probably at least 125 houses that will be shipped out to the dogs living along the rivers this summer.
Thank you to David Lambert and Lotto Alaska for funding our River Project for the 3rd year! Thank you to Ruby Marine for donating the shipping for over 100 dog houses each year for the 3rd year!
If not for these 2 amazing organizations we could only help a fraction of the dogs living outside along the rivers without proper shelter.
If you have a dog living outside along the rivers that Ruby Marine services who needs an insulated dog house and straw please apply at www.strawfordogs.org
PS we are TRYING to get our Instagram going so if you feel like following us we are at strawfordogsak. Thank you!
Thank you to Straw For Dogs President Nick LaJiness for Borough Assembly and Representative Will Stapp as well as all our rescue friends who called and emailed in support of HB258. And of course thank you to all the non profits out there doing the work!
Since we saw the very first picture of Woody...Since the moment we learned about this special boy and the horrific tragedy in Caswell...all we wanted to do was hug him and tell him how sorry we were for the awful suffering he endured....and how sorry we are that people can be so absolutely vile and disgusting.
We would see the pictures from the animal shelter and talk about how lucky the tenders were to get to love and care for sweet Woody....we imagined how amazing it would be to be able to give him some much needed TLC too.... Last night thanks to our friend Michelle at Forget-Me-Not Animal Rescue we had the HONOR of being able to do just that.
I really thought I would cry when I saw him, my heart has been broken for him and his family for weeks....but when you actually see that cute fuzzy face you can't help but smile because he is doing so well. Sweet little Woody is such an amazing boy, after the absolute hell he has been through, he is still full of love and curiosity...and is open to meeting new friends.
We have no doubt that Michelle and Forget-Me-Not Animal Rescue will make sure he finds the most perfect forever home. This sweet puppy is in very good hands!
Before we left, I whispered to Woody how sorry we were for the nightmare he had to endure and how he is safe, loved, he would never be cold or hungry again, and his life was going to be amazing now....I also let him know about the very large team of people dedicated to getting justice for him and his family....and GAVE HIM EXTRA LOVES FROM ALL OF YOU out there who are on "Woody's team."
We would see the pictures from the animal shelter and talk about how lucky the tenders were to get to love and care for sweet Woody....we imagined how amazing it would be to be able to give him some much needed TLC too.... Last night thanks to our friend Michelle at Forget-Me-Not Animal Rescue we had the HONOR of being able to do just that.
I really thought I would cry when I saw him, my heart has been broken for him and his family for weeks....but when you actually see that cute fuzzy face you can't help but smile because he is doing so well. Sweet little Woody is such an amazing boy, after the absolute hell he has been through, he is still full of love and curiosity...and is open to meeting new friends.
We have no doubt that Michelle and Forget-Me-Not Animal Rescue will make sure he finds the most perfect forever home. This sweet puppy is in very good hands!
Before we left, I whispered to Woody how sorry we were for the nightmare he had to endure and how he is safe, loved, he would never be cold or hungry again, and his life was going to be amazing now....I also let him know about the very large team of people dedicated to getting justice for him and his family....and GAVE HIM EXTRA LOVES FROM ALL OF YOU out there who are on "Woody's team."
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how you can help
We encourage concerned citizens to work with caretakers in order to improve the life of a dog outdoors. Talk to your neighbors, offer support (not judgement) and do what you can, where you are.
Together we can make a difference!
Straw For Dogs is a 501(c)3 organization that depends on individual donations to support our mission of providing supplies and resources for pets outdoors.
Your donation is tax deductible, meaningful and accounted for.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
how we help
NEED ASSISTANCE?
Straw For Dog assists caretakers and concerned citizens with pets outdoors in Alaska.
Do you know a dog who needs a warm, sturdy shelter? Does your own pet spend time outdoors?
We offer free supplies such as doghouses, straw, food, toys, and treats as well as resources including spay/neuter services and training advice to Alaskan residents.
Please fill out our easy, online application form found on our Application for Assistance page.
