Paws Up donates shelters, hay to keep outdoor dogs warm over the winter

A local initiative is working with Indigenous communities to protect their outdoor dogs from the cold as winter approaches.

As the winter months approach, Paws Up Program (PUP) has built 26 individual shelters to keep outdoor animals in Indigenous communities warm.

“A lot of the dogs out there can’t survive without any shelter or protection, and with a lack of resources available out there for them, we build dog houses and provide them for those that need them,” said PUP president Kirsten Yakimowich.

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PUP works with Indigenous communities in Alberta to develop sustainable and culturally sensitive strategies that support animal care, health and well-being.

All of the supplies to build the dog houses, which are insulated and have shingles, were provided to PUP by Home Depot. Volunteers put in the labour to build the houses and deliver them, filling them with hay for extra warmth.

Volunteer Myron Bennett said the experience working with PUP has been rewarding.

“To know these animals are going through the stuff they do out at the reservation, and they finally get to a place where they’re safe and warm … it’s heartwarming,” said Bennett, who was loading houses onto a trailer Sunday.

While they are happy to be delivering the 26 shelters, Yakimowich said there are hundreds of animals that need some sort of care, whether that be a shelter or fostering.

“We have about 35 animals that are waiting to be surrendered, to come into care, but we don’t have foster homes for them,” she said. “We could build 100 dog houses and it still probably wouldn’t be enough.”

For more information on how to get involved, foster or donate, you can go here.

About 40 per cent of PUP’s board members come from an Indigenous background.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg