Straw For Dogs

06/13/2026

Here are some more of our VCA CHARITIES Sponsored dog houses!

VCA gave Straw For Dogs a generous grant after Typhoon Halong hit the west coast last October.

Here are some of the dogs with their new insulated dog houses and straw received because of VCA and this grant. Many of these dogs had damaged/inadequate shelter or NO shelter at all.

Thank you to VCA CHARITIES , Lynden Air Cargo, Ryan Air, INC. Grant Aviation, and BERING AIR for shipping these big heavy house bundles out for us!

If you know a dog who lives outside and needs an insulated house and straw or if you would like to donate to help us help more dogs please go to www.strawfordog.org

06/11/2026

PUPPY HIDING FROM MOOSE IN DOG HOUSE!

We received this video in April but I FORGOT to post it....and happened to come across it today....(Getting old really sucks!)

We sent 3 insulated dog houses and straw out to a family in Western Alaska. Shortly after they received the second house they sent us this video of a moose roaming through their yard. You can see one of the dogs, a sweet boy named Cujo, is hiding inside the house on the left....Poor guy must have been so scared, but he was very brave and did just the right thing and stayed tucked inside and by some miracle did not bark.

It really seems like that moose looks right at him but THANK GOODNESS that courageous puppy stayed calm and the moose moved on....(Cujo's family was also yelling from the doorway of their house to try to shoo the moose away).

Sharing this video to show that dogs living outside in Alaska face SO MANY challenges including close encounters with wildlife and having a dog house can provide SOME safety and protection for them as well as warm-ish shelter.

Who knows how this would have turned out if that poor puppy had nowhere to hide....it scares me every time I watch it....I am so proud of sweet little Cujo for being so brave and so smart!

06/09/2026

We got to set up a house in person yesterday! This is a rare treat for us so we really soaked it up (this is only about 1/3 of the pictures we took)! Precious and her family were very gracious and helpful throughout the process.

Sweet senior girl Precious, age 13 used to live in one of the rural communities near Fairbanks. When her owner passed away she was saved by a family member and moved to Fairbanks to live out her golden years.

Her new family reached out to get her a house for the time she spends outside. She is one of the lucky dogs who is not outside during the coldest times but she does prefer to be out when the weather is not bad. We also gave Precious a 60 ft run that her family is going to put up for her so she can wander around a bit more.

Precious was not really sure about her dog house, it took a lot of praise, chicken, liver treats, and finally our secret weapon...human "brother" Noah got inside the house to show her it was safe. Noah was the BEST helper and so friendly and kind to his dogs.

We also had to fashion a little step for her to make it easier on her 13 year old hips to get inside. In the end she could go in and out to get treats but never stayed inside for too long. We were hoping once the excitement was over she would be able to go in and relax....but when we checked in last night she was still laying in her spot in the porch...but we think she will use her house when she needs to.

Precious was incredibly sweet, she got lots of pets and love and we got lots of kisses and love back. We rarely get to set up houses for the dogs in person so we really milked our time with her...and it was so gratifying....It is nice to be reminded that every house we send out actually goes to make a difference in the life of a sweet furry little being like Precious.

PS Precious has one of our Gabe Tate houses! Built and donated by Gabe as his Eagle Scout community service project last fall.

If you know a dog who lives outside in Alaska who needs help or you would like to donate to help us help those dogs who live outside please go to www.strawfordogs.org

06/08/2026

We love Jeannine! She is a true hero for so many dogs!

UPDATE 6/9 : Our Give Butter Fundraising Campaign goal has been fully met! 2 Ruffland Kennels have been purchased and are already on their way to Jeannine! THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY OF GOOD PEOPLE!

PAWS of Nome is proud to spearhead the inauguration of WAAGA (Welfare & Animal Advocacy Groups of Alaska) - sharing our wealth of support is the first step to strengthening our communities and continuing to provide for those that feel that help is out of reach!

Just like every dog rescued adds up to thousands of lives saved every year - every dollar adds up to support the ongoing needs of outreach, as we address the root causes of the challenges we're facing across rural Alaska.

We are sponsoring a fundraiser for Jeannine Faulkner who needs and deserves some help getting those dogs out of hard-to-reach places. She operates outside of our service area, but her involvement has far-reaching effects and has a positive impact on the work we do for our communities.

Such a small ask for such a worthy cause, for a person who already gives SO MUCH for the animals and the people who love them!

DONATE FOR JEANNINE'S RESCUES!
https://givebutter.com/rufflands-for-rural-rescue-8tzcxi

06/06/2026

Update on Sweet Little Kiliua!

Remember this guy? When we got his "after picture" we noticed his left eye looked like it was bothering him....

Well it took us over 3 weeks BUT...this handsome boy made it to Anchorage last Tuesday, had surgery on Wednesday, and will be flying back home early next week.

It turns out Kiliua had Entropion in his left eye. This is a condition where the eyelid rolls inward causing normal hair and lashes to scrape the eye....OUCH......(just think how uncomfortable it is when you get something in your eye).

Thanks to Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc. Kiliua had surgery on his left eye to correct the Entropion AND he was also neutered. His amazing foster in Anchorage has been updating us and says he is doing really well. He is very friendly and sweet and gets along with her other dogs.

We just wanted to post an update because we have had quite a few people reach out to see how this cutie pie was doing.

Thank you again to Lynden Air Cargo for flying a kennel out, then flying Kiliua in for vet care, and flying him back home next week. Thank you to Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc. for sending the kennel, scheduling his surgery, and covering his vet expenses. Thank you to Jeannine Faulkner for finding Kiliua a foster in Anchorage and of course thank you to THAT AMAZING foster… and of course Dr. Closter for fixing this puppy up!

It took a lot of pieces and coordinating but WE GOT HIM FIXED UP! Thanks to all of you this puppy will be going home feeling much better!

PS including some pictures of Kiliua from the back just because he is so unique, he looks like two different dogs depending on which direction you are looking from. Handsome boy!

05/27/2026

As promised last month! Straw For Dogs has been shipping out the insulated dog houses and straw which were generously sponsored by VCA CHARITIES! VCA Charities is one of the 4 amazing agencies helping us sponsor houses to dog who were affected by Typhoon Halong.

We would like to thank PetSmart Charities, ASPCA, Banfield Foundation (VCA CHARITIES), and Lotto Alaska for helping Straw For Dogs help the dogs in need.

We have been working on sending these houses out since December of 2025 in the order in which the funds were required to be spent. So we began with PetSmart Charities houses, now Banfield Foundation/VCA CHARITIES, coming up next ASPCA and Lotto Alaska.

We have just started to receive some after pictures of the VCA Charities houses..... here are a few to get us started.....more to come as we get them!

Thank you so much to ALL 4 of these generous donors who saw the need to help the dogs living outside in Alaska with either no shelter at all or damaged/inadequate shelter.

Stay tuned for more VCA CHARITIES houses followed by ASPCA and Lotto Alaska to be featured next!

Thank you to Lynden Air Cargo, Ryan Air, INC., Grant Aviation, Northern Air Cargo, and BERING AIR for helping us get these houses out to the dogs who needed them!

05/24/2026

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!