Therapy Dogs at Devotions

Devotions Nursing and Hospital Care received a visit from Therapy Rescue dog Chloe. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Brittany Meyn at brittany@barriodogs.org.

Chloe and Hap: Our Therapy Dogs

Also in attendance at our recent Pet Awareness Event at Stephanie's were community heroes Chloe, Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R.E.A.D.), and Hap, Therapy Dog. These two rescued dogs do extraordinary work by giving back to the community through our various therapy programs.

If you are interested in volunteering for any therapy programs, please contact:
 
Susan Greene, Education Administrator – susan@barriodogs.org
Jennifer Washam, Tales to Tails Coordinator – jennifer@barriodogs.org
Brittany Meyn, Therapy Coordinator - brittany@barriodogs.org

This interesting article talks about different types of pet therapy programs in place at various colleges around the country. We love reading about the great things that dogs can do and are proud of Barrio Dog rescued dogs that participate in our therapy programs in Houston schools and homeless shelters. We plan to bring you more good news about our Barrio Dog therapy program in the upcoming months.

10 Colleges With Successful Pet Therapy Programs

Youth and Paws at Berry Elementary

Barrio Dogs is especially proud of the progress we have made with our Youth and Paws (YAP) program this year. We would like to share a few photos from our visits to Berry Elementary in Houston between November 28, 2011 and December 9, 2011.

During the holiday season, please think about our youth and donate to our Barrio Dogs Amazon Wish List so children like these can benefit. Unfortunately, Barrio Dogs is spending nearly all its available budget on veterinary and boarding costs for rescued dogs, leaving only a portion of funds available for the educational programs at the heart of Barrio Dogs' mission.

We look forward to our Youth and Paws (YAP) program reaching even more schools and children in 2012. If you are interested in volunteering or donating, please email susan@barriodogs.org.

Barrio Dogs Therapy Program at the House of Tiny Treasures

The Barrio Dogs Therapy Program is proud to partner with the House of Tiny Treasures, a nationally accredited early childhood education program. Located in the Greater East End of Houston, most of their families reside in area shelters and other temporary housing.  We are so glad to be able give back in this way.

Chloe, our Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R.E.A.D.) is a veteran now at

the House of Tiny Treasures.

Our new therapy dog Henry loved meeting the children and was comfortable with all the attention.

Our hope is that these children will have an early understanding of proper animal care. 

Therapy Dog Program

Barrio Dogs and Community Education

We believe it takes more than dog rescue to make a change. Because of your support, Barrio Dogs has been able to increase its community and youth education efforts. We hope you continue to support our growing grassroots movement for animal welfare in the low income communities of Houston, Texas and would like to share some recent highlights of our work.

After an educational presentation at Browning Elementary, Chloe, our Barrio Dogs Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R.E.A.D) hangs out with a new friend.

Henry, one of our newest Youth and Paws Education Rescues, had a great time with some of his new friends at the Pet Octoberfest in the Greater North Side.

Thanks to Barbara Johnston and Kathy Taylor with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for inviting Barrio Dogs to give a presentation. Grace Ruiz, Barrio Dogs Creative Director of Educational Materials and Barrio Dogs founder, Gloria Zenteno, truly love seeing an agency with employees who want to improve animal welfare in their community.

Halloween at the Barrio Center

Barrio Dogs and the Hispanic Business Student Association–University of Houston Chapter collaborated on a Halloween Party for children at the Barrio Center in the Greater East End. Barrio Dogs volunteers Maria Ivanez and her brother dressed up in Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes. Also, the children were excited by a special visit from Barrio Dogs Therapy Dog Tyler along with Education Volunteer Gurukarta Khalsa.  Our youth are the key to better animal care in the future and we are both privileged and grateful to have these opportunities to work with children.

Barrio Dogs Visits Browning Elementary

Barrio Dogs education volunteers recently visited Browning Elementary to spend time with some wonderful students. The Barrio Dogs Tales to Tails program helps children practice their reading skills by letting them read aloud to one of our therapy dogs, in this case, sweet Chloe.  Chloe is also one of our Rescue Education Ambassador Dogs (R.E.A.D).  Many thanks to Jennifer Washam and Maria Ivanez! Education is the solution.

Barrio Dogs Visits Fletcher Mission

 Barrio Dogs of Houston had their first Education Day at the Fletcher Mission. We were able to give the children there an educational presentation on animal welfare and let them meet some rescue dogs. Big thanks to Noe Ortiz with Fletcher Mission, Sophie’s Doggie Spa, Susan Giles, our Barrio Dogs Education Volunteers and Therapy Dog Pepper. The children also got to meet rescues Hap and Roxie.

A special thank you to those of you who donated books and supplies that helped make this event happen. We will be back at Fletcher Mission in the spring and look forward to our continued visits to educate these children about proper animal care. Thank you also to Nicole Bean for these photos taken during the event.

All photos by Nicole Bean

Community Education at Browning Elementary

Barrio Dogs Educational Volunteer, Jennifer Washam, U of H Interin Maria Ivanez along with Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R*E*A*D*) Chloe recently visited two 4th grade classes at Browning Elementary to give a presentation on the basics of canine care and behavior.

Through a video, question and answer session and a quiz on canine body language, the students were able to get a better understanding of how to not only properly care for their own pets but how to deal with unknown dogs they may encounter.

The students especially enjoyed the opportunity to hear how Chloe came from a background of abuse and neglect, but with lots of love and training, has learned to trust again and give back to the community. Barrio Dogs looks forward to more chances to reach out to the community on our educational mission.

Barrio Dogs Educational Programs

Barrio Dogs, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) based in Houston’s Greater East End that began in 2010.  Our purpose is to educate and raise awareness about appropriate animal care in low-income neighborhoods through community-based interventions including canine therapy programs, youth education, and community outreach. We are proud to announce the success of a variety of our programs this past year.

First, we succeeded in providing a number of educational presentations at Browning Elementary School on animal welfare issues such as heart worm prevention and disease, proper pet care and the importance of spay/neuter.  Presentations were made to 4th and 5th grade classes and included activities that the students could participate in to help them retain the things they were discussing. 

Second, Barrio Dogs Tales to Tails program was very well received both at Browning and Cage Elementary schools. Tales to Tails involves individual students reading to a Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R*E*A*D*) on a one-to-one basis which provides participants with a comfortable environment free from stress and criticism. The program focuses on those who are struggling with their reading skills with the idea that providing a stress-free environment and an opportunity to read at their own pace will give students a stronger sense of confidence and self-esteem. At Cage Elementary, 1st and 2nd graders participated in four 15-minute sessions once a week while at Browning Elementary, the program worked with four 3rd grade students once a week with 20-minute sessions for 6 weeks. Jennifer Washam, Barrio Dogs Education & Therapy Coordinator, brought her R*E*A*D* Chloe to each of these sessions and noted a progression in confidence by all the students. The teachers at Browning and Cage Elementary as well as Cage's librarian also noted that many of the students showed more confidence in the classroom after participating in the program.

Third, Browning Elementary 4th and 5th grade students participated in Barrio Dogs first Read-a-Thon. For a period of two weeks in April, students kept a record of how many 15-minute reading sessions they completed and accepted donations for their efforts. The students enjoyed an ice cream social to celebrate the end of the event and awards were given to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd top readers from each class. Also, an award was given to the students who collected the most funds from each class. The event was a great success and the money raised went towards the Barrio Dogs' educational programs as well as animal-related books for the school’s library.

Lastly, Barrio Dogs enjoyed a unique opportunity to participate in a Spring Festival at J.R. Harris in May. Gloria Zenteno, Barrio Dogs' founder and Jennifer Washam, along with her therapy and education dog Chloe, represented Barrio Dogs during the event. They met many wonderful students, teachers and parents and appreciated the opportunity to share Barrio Dogs educational mission. 

Barrio Dogs looks forward to the opportunity to work again with the schools this coming fall. With such a great launch to Barrio Dogs' first year in our various missions, we are hopeful that we will have a wonderful growing year ahead. 

Barrio Dogs Youth and Canine Interventions Photo Book

A Barrio Dog volunteer has prepared a wonderful  photo book documenting the activities of the Barrio Dogs community education projects, in particular, those working with children.  

The book contains pictures of the great work that Barrio Dogs Education Coordinator, Jennifer Washam, is doing with Rescue Education Ambassador Dogs (R*E*A*D*) Chloe and Serenity in some of the local schools in Houston's East End.

Photo book Part 1
Photo book Part 2

Tales to Tails Reading Program at Browning Elementary

Jennifer Washam, Barrio Dogs Education & Therapy Coordinator, and Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R*E*A*D*), Chloe, have been working with four 3rd grade Browning Elementary students in the organization’s "Tales to Tails" program once a week since March. This program works with students on a one-to-one basis where they read to a therapy canine in a comfortable environment free from criticism and stress. The program's mission is to empower the students to gain confidence, self-esteem and fluency in their reading skills by being given the chance to read at their own pace while being comforted by an unconditional loving and critical-free companion canine. After only three sessions with these 3rd grade students a great improvement has already been observed. 

Barrio Dogs Visits House of Tiny Treasures

On March 17, 2011,  Barrio Dogs made a special St. Patrick’s Day visit to House of Tiny Treasures, a pre-kindergarten educational and day care center for homeless children.  On this occasion, Barrio Dogs’ Education and Therapy Coordinator Jennifer Washam was not only accompanied by her R*E*A*D, Chloe, but also by a new assistant, Laila Salameh, who helped with Serenity, a small rescue pup who will now be part of the therapy program.  Typically upon arrival, the Barrio Dogs group is met with cries of joy since everyone loves the canine visits.  However, on this visit, things were different and oddly quiet. We soon discovered that there were only four older kids in the Center's playground instead of the usual 12-14. This provided a unique opportunity for the older kids to have more one-on-one time with both dogs and gave the younger kids a chance to meet the dogs for the first time.  Barrio Dogs continues to be amazed at how the children seem to benefit from these therapeutic visits, especially since their own living circumstances are not very stable.  Barrio Dogs looks forward to increasing their visits to House of Tiny Treasures in the coming months.

Community Education at Browning Elementary

 Barrio Dogs’ Education and Therapy Coordinator, Jennifer Washam, accompanied by therapy dog Chloe, recently conducted a presentation at Browning Elementary School on the proposed Breed Specific legislation. Our organization hopes to help children understand the implications of this legislation and what it could mean to their own pets, many of which are pit bulls. We also encouraged the students to write letters not only to the sponsors of the legislation, Senator Kevin Eltife and Representative Chuck Hopson, but to their own local representative to express their opinions about the proposed legislation. As a result of this visit, the students at Browning Elementary took on a poster project to voice their opinions. Please view these beautiful educational posters. We are so proud of these students and also proud of the educational work that Jennifer Washam and Chloe have accomplished.  

For more information about Breed Specific legislation, please see this earlier post on this blog.