Life-saving dog houses taking shape in College Heights construction classroom
December 2, 2015
GUELPH, Ontario – Students at College Heights Secondary School are working together to send 50 much-needed dog houses up north before winter.
They’re learning about teamwork, using skills that will serve them in real-life work experiences and are getting involved in something that will have an impact well beyond the classroom.
The construction students, grades 9 through 12, are building dogs houses that will become life-saving shelters for dogs in a First Nations community in northern Ontario.
“These are free-roam dogs,” explained Janice Hannah, senior education and research specialist at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and manager of the Northern Dogs Project.
Free-roam dogs are not wild and they’re not strays. They have owners, however they spend their days and nights outside. They are typically not confined by leashes or fences and are able to roam, socialize with other dogs and look for food and water.
However, in the harsh winter months, food becomes scare and finding shelter can be a matter of life or death.
For the second year in a row, College Heights construction students are building 50 shelters for these northern dogs.
This year, rather than the build taking place over two semesters, 50 dog houses will be built in just three to four week. The houses will ship north in mid-December, so they can be utilized by the northern Ontario community right away.
The community has around 275 dogs, of all different breeds.
IFAW is working in the community to provide veterinary services and vaccinations for the dogs, and to help education the community, teaching them how to care for the dogs.
The dog houses provide respite for the free-roam dogs in the bitter cold winters and hot summers.
“These dog houses are also really important for puppies being born in the winter,” Hannah said. Without shelter, most puppies born in the winter do not survive, as they are wet when born and freeze to death.
“It’s so great that College Heights stepped up for this project,” Hannah said.
During the build on Tuesday, Hannah showed the students a photo of one of the dogs that received a dog house last year – sitting contently (on a warmer day) on the roof of the shelter.
Seeing photos of the dog houses in the community helps the students connect what they are doing in the classroom with how it will affect the dogs’ lives. “We had to explain to the kids last year why they make the roofs flat,” said teacher Carol Beatson.
“Because they love sitting on the roofs,” said David, a grade 11 student who also worked on the project last year.
Beyond providing help to dogs in need, the project also gives the students real-world skills that they’ll use down the road in the workplace. “It’s a good experience for the students,” said College Heights construction teacher Steve Riddolls.
Riddolls said the project teaches them about teamwork and is a great real-life work experience, as the skills they are using during the project are more closely related to construction, rather than woodworking, he said.
The dog houses are expected to be finished within the next few weeks. They will then be loaded onto a truck and driven up north to the First Nations community.
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For more information:
Heather Loney, Communications and Community Engagement Officer
519-822-4420 ext.725
[email protected]
Categories: Spotlight On Schools