About ten years ago, Barry was inspired by a program called Houses for Hounds, which provides dog houses to lower-income residents with pets in North Carolina. As it turns out, building dog houses can be used to teach the basics of constructing a human home.

“The framing technique and terminology for pet housing is the same as for a regular house," explains Barry. "The floor system, wall system, roof system and all the actual parts are identical. So, every part we use on the pet houses we can reference to the correlating part in the home. I realized that it would be easy enough to work into what we were doing in the classroom. It was a good fit.”

Additionally, students are tasked with identifying and rolling out structural improvements as they work on their projects. One adjustment was creating an off-center entrance to shield dogs from being hit directly with wind and rain. They also work on feral cat houses with removable roofs that allow for easier cleaning and access to kittens that need medical attention.  

Barry says that this project teaches students to think about the reason behind everything. "Even a really good idea can withstand some improvements,” he says.

Since Barry started teaching his students how to build, they've donated over 600 dog houses and 110 feral cat houses. Currently the pieces are donated to Friends of Jacksonville Animals. This is such a great way for kids to learn new skills while also developing compassion for others!

But thanks to a watchful pup, Juan wasn't alone. A Yellow Labrador Retriever, that Juan had encountered a few hours before, found him and stayed by his side through the cold night. Juan hugged the pup and took advantage of the extra body warmth. In the morning, Juan says the dog even led him to a puddle where he was able to drink some water.

When rescuers found the pair, 44 hours after they began their search, Juan and the pup were airlifted to safety. Juan was dehydrated and malnourished, but he quickly recovered at the hospital. Juan's family was so grateful for the dog's help that they requested to adopt the pup. But it turns out the Lab's name is Max and he already has a family in the area (it's not clear if Max was lost at the time or is allowed to wander for days at a time).

As an avid hiker, this story underscores the importance of being prepared when in the wilderness. However, I'm glad that Juan and Max found each other and that this story had a happy ending!

We've written before about dogs that help conservation efforts for endangered species around the world. But in some south-east Queensland, Australia suburbs, dogs are hurting the at-risk koala population.

Following a mandate this month from Environment Minister Steven Miles, a group of koala experts—University of Queensland's Professor Jonathan Rhodes, Central Queensland's Dr. Alistair Melzer, and Dreamworld's Al Mucci--have been working on possible last-ditch solutions to stop koala extinction in Redlands, Pine Rivers, and other critical areas collectively known as the “Koala Coast.”

They found that past government policies to protect the koala's environment were not enough to manage the main threats--dogs (both domestic and wild), cars, disease and habitat loss.

One past study found that seventy percent of the 15,644 South East Queensland koalas that died between 1997 and 2011 were struck by cars, mauled by dogs, or killed by stress-related disease. As many as 80 percent of koalas have disappeared from the Koala Coast, causing some to fear that it's already too late.

According to the expert panel, koalas are found in small numbers, so the massive declines they've been seeing recently is likely to result in local extinctions for some populations within a small number of generations.

The group has come up with a number of potential solutions, one being a dog ban in these critical areas. I'm certainly not a koala expert, so I can't say if there might be a way to save koalas without eliminating dogs (also not all of the pups in question are pets, some are wild). But this issue does raise the importance of any of us with dogs to be aware of the effect our pets have on others and the world around us. I see this including everything from preventing our pets from jumping on strangers to not letting our pups run into bird nesting areas when playing on the beach. This is an important responsibility we have as our dogs' guardians.

Muncie Animal Shelter Superintendent Phil Peckinpaugh noticed droves of people walking and playing Pokemon Go. He thought to himself how awesome it would be if they each had a dog. So the shelter started encouraging Pokemon gamers to visit and borrow a dog to take on their next walk. All you have to do is show up at the shelter, sign a waiver, and they'll match you up with a pup. So many people came during the first weekend that the shelter ran out of leashes. 

But if you don't live near Indiana, you can still help. Many people have been promoting the use of WoofTrax's Walk for a Dog or the ResQWalk fundraising apps during their quests. Both apps are free and allow you raise money for animal rescue organizations by logging your steps. This way you can run the apps while hatching eggs and searching for critters on Pokemon Go, earning money for homeless pets with little extra effort.

As long as people are careful and sensible with the dogs they're caring for, it seems like a win-win to me!