NO MORE EXCUSES, Spay/Neuter Your Pet

I have heard so many stories recently about why people will not spay or neuter their pets. One woman trying to find homes for a liter of puppies stated pregnancies happen some times. Another said her dogs don't need to be fixed because they are indoor dogs and don't socialize with other dogs. Others have said they wanted their children to witness the miracle of birth, or the dogs won't live satisfied lives if they are fixed, they can't afford spaying/neutering, or they need to breed to be healthy. These are just excuses of irresponsible pet owners. Owning a pet is a responsibility. Houston currently has 600,000 to 1.2 million homeless dogs living in the streets and parks. City Animal Control receives 400 calls a day and receives nearly 2,000 animals a month. This does not include those brought in to Harris County, three other official shelters in the city, or those abandoned and rescued by volunteer groups. There are more than 140 rescue groups working in the Houston area trying to feed and rescue as many of these dogs as possible, but if people were to have their pets spayed/neutered, we would not have so many homeless/abandoned dogs on the streets.

Everyone knows puppies are cute and kids love them. They are hard to resist. I know, I have been swayed by that sweet puppy breathe and adorable antics myself. But before you say yes to that crying child or yourself, ask yourself if you are prepared to provide the best and healthiest home for that cute little pup. Puppies grow up to be dogs! While they are still under a year of age they must be de-wormed, given shots, and can be spayed/neutered at 8 weeks. After 1 year, healthy dogs require a yearly vet visit and rabies shot and may need other booster shots to remain healthy.

Small breed dogs can come into heat as young as 5 months so the younger you spay, the less chance you have of being one of those people that end up with an unwanted liter of pups. Spayed/neutered pets are also healthy and happy pets. Birthing and nursing a liter is a strain on even a healthy dog. If the mother dog is not monitored she may become malnourished and could even develop seizures. If you think you can't afford to spay/neuter your pet when get her/him, how do you think you are going to afford caring for a liter of pups??

Spaying/Neutering can keep dogs from getting ovarian and uterine cancers as well as testicle cancer. It also reduces the desire to roam and escape the yard. Spaying/neutering does not change your dogs personality, he/she will still be that lovable dog they were before the surgery. Spaying/Neutering may lead to weight gain in less active dogs, but your vet can recommend a lower calorie food and feeding schedule to prevent this.

So please, NO MORE EXCUSES, spay or neuter your pet. Call your veterinarian and make an appointment tomorrow morning. If you don't have a vet, ask for recommendations from friends/family or check with your local shelter. Check with local rescue groups for low cost/free spay and neuter programs. Be a responsible pet owner. Love your animals and provide them with the best life possible.

Community Awareness Event: No One's Dog Photo Exhibit

DiverseWorks, Barrio Dogs, and Box 13 present No One’s Dog a community-based photography project documenting Houston’s animal overpopulation crisis

COMMUNITY AWARENESS EVENT: Saturday, August 9, 5 – 7 pm at Box 13 ArtSpace, 6700 Harrisburg Blvd., Houston, TX  77011

For anyone who may not have been able to visit the No One's Dog photo exhibit at DiverseWorks, there will be another event on Saturday August 9 form 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at Box 13 ArtSpace located at 6700 Harrisburg, Houston, TX 77011. You may also view all the photos submitted for this project as well as new ones that are being added at the following link on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/houstondogs/ .

These photos are hard to look at but show the need for more to be done. Through no fault of their own, these animals are fighting for their lives and need our help. 

There are millions of homeless, lost and abandoned dogs roaming Houston's streets and parks as seen in these photo. Many are injured, sick and starving. Education and low cost/free spay and neuter programs are the only way to prevent the many unwanted animals abandoned on the streets and in shelters each year. Educating children about the responsibilities of pet ownership is the first step in creating a generation of people who realize that owning a puppy or kitten is 15-20 year commitment and that animals do not need to be bred. Access to affordable wellness programs and medications is also needed to make sure these animals have long and healthy lives. 

It will take the community coming together to make this happen. We all need to work together, volunteering to assist local rescue groups is a great way to see the problems and the solutions. People are needed to foster rescues, present education programs at locals schools/events, and lobby our local government to do more than capture and kill these abandoned and lost animals. Please join us.

Fosters Needed

Houston has a millions of street and homeless dogs. Local rescues are doing what they can to help these dogs, but more needs to be done. Fostering a dog is great way to help local rescues. Most do not have a facility to keep their rescues in and rely on volunteers to foster and care for these fur babies.  You can foster for a weekend or longer and help give these dogs a chance to socialize with people and other pets in preparation for finding their fur-ever home. Fostering is also a great way to teach children about the responsibilities of pet ownership. Most parents have heard the plea from their children, "please mom/dad, can we have a dog?" What better way for them to see for themselves what is involved in caring for a dog, than by fostering one for the weekend? Fostering also helps the rescues by showing these formerly homeless dogs what it is like to be in a loving home with people who actually care about them. If you are interested in fostering one of these great dogs, please contact tauna@barriodogs.org for more information about their availability.

Natural Pawz Adoption Event, July 26 2014

Hello Everyone!!

Looking for a new addition to your family?  Barrio Dogs will be at Natural Pawz Woodway, Saturday, July 26, 2014 from Noon until 4:00 pm with some great dogs who would love to find a loving family of their own. Please stop by and say hello and if you think one these special pups would fit in with your family, arrange for a meet and greet sleepover. All Barrio Dogs are current on vaccines and spayed/neutered before being offered for adoption.

No One's Dog: A Community Art Project

Photo: Angela Carranza

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words...show the world what you see and be the voice for those who can't speak.

Building on DiverseWorks' long history of social activism through art,Barrio Dogs, Inc., BOX 13 ArtSpace, and DiverseWorks have teamed up to present "No One's Dog", a community-based project that uses art to bring attention to Houston's animal overpopulation crisis."

Saturday, July 26, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm will be the opening of the No One's Dog: A Community Art Project. Houston residents were asked to submit photos to show the Houston animal overpopulation crisis. The exhibition will run for two weeks at DiverseWorks Artspace located at 4102 Fannin Street, Houston, TX. Houston has over.1 million homeless dogs. Most of these dogs were abandoned, turned loose to fend for themselves or dumped by their owners who no longer wanted the responsibility that comes with owning a pet. Many non-profit organizations are working in the Houston area to rescue, foster and re-home some of these forgotten souls as well educate the public on what is to be a responsible pet owner. The hope of this project is to shine a light on this crisis and the need for low cost veterinary care to prevent more unwanted liters. 

A selection of photos can be seen here: Abused, neglected dogs subject of Houston art project (contains graphic images), an article from the Houston Chronicle. Please note that there are graphic images in this slide show that shows the horror these animals face living on the streets of Houston.

Support the Bayou Greenways 2020 Project

Dear Dog Lovers,

Outdoor spaces and dogs just go together. Thanks to the Houston Parks Board and others, the Bayou Greenways 2020 is a project to unite the 7 major bayous in Houston with parks and trails,completing nearly 150 miles of connected off-street paths and adding an additional 1,500 acres of greenspace that we can all enjoy--with two feet or four! Here’s the link: www.houstonbayougreenways.org.

Here’s what’s happening and how you can be involved in making it happen. Houston is about to be a nation-wide leader in off-street, safe shared use paths. That’s right: Houston, the town usually known for its freeways and traffic, has approved a major bond initiative aimed at completing a 100 year old idea to unite its bayous with parks and trails.

This is the biggest parks project in the state and one of the largest in the nation. Currently, Houston has 75 miles of trails along the major bayous throughout the city but will expand the trails to 150 miles in the city, connecting 77 parks with linear greenways along the banks of its bayous. There are already some parks and trails along the bayous but there are several major gaps in the system. The project, now known as Bayou Greenways 2020, is a public/private partnership where the city and area non-profits like the Houston Parks Board will complete the project in 7 years. Bayou Greenways 2020 will vastly increase the areas available to Houstonians for recreation but also create an alternative for transportation uniting many of Houston’s major employment centers for bikes and pedestrians. Indeed, nearly 60% of all Houstonians will live within 1.5 miles of one of these parks or trails.

This spring, Houston Parks Board is bringing together community members, students, businesses, organizations, and biking groups to get involved and speak up about what this project means to them. They've already organized multiple bayou bike tours, collected over 2000 petitions, and they’re just getting started. If you’re in the area and want to get involved, or would like more information about the project, check out their website, www.houstonparksboard.org for more information. We can get these trails built here in Houston but only with your help. See you on the trails!

Did You Find A Dog?

We often get asked for help when people find or rescue a dog. We cannot take the dog but we have prepared information to help people figure out what to do with it. We hope this information makes the process of finding the dog a home a little easier! If you have comments or suggestions, please send them to lynn@barriodogs.org

Read this Article on Houston's Animal Overpopulation

Below is a post that appeared on Unity for a Solution's facebook page today. We think it's great that people outside of the animal advocacy groups are demanding that Houston's animal overpopulation problem needs to be addressed. 

Tell your city officials how you feel about the issue- links to contact info included at the end of the story.

 

Check out today’s Houston Chronicle article “Dump an animal, get caught” By Ingrid Lobet. It’s only available to digital subscribers but here is a link where you can see the whole article: http://muckrack.com/link/wMWy/dump-an-animal-get-c...aught

We want to highlight this portion of the article near its end: “Chris Newport, a spokesman for Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, said the dumping is part of something deeper, not fully separable from the larger issue of strays. He says Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets, one that addresses people's reluctance to spay and neuter them, a service that is free in the city via a mobile clinic to those who cannot afford to pay. ‘A conservative figure is there are 750,000 strays on the streets of Houston,’ Newport said.”

We agree with Newport that Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets but let’s get the facts straight first:

1. BARC told Fox news reporter Natalie Bomke in a story that aired 9/21/12 that there are 1.2 million strays in Houston.
2. The spay neuter service mentioned in the article is provided by one (1) SNAP mobile clinic, which can spay or neuter up to 25 animals per visit. Even if the SNAP clinic operated every day of the year (including holidays), that totals a maximum of 9125 animals fixed per year. How does that compare with 1.2 million strays and countless owned animals that are not fixed?
3. One deterrent to using SNAP is that they require proof of government assistance which is a problem in several communities around the city.

Some of us have been out in the community signing up residents for free spay and neuter for their pets. Our experience was that many people want to spay or neuter their animals but they cannot afford to! While there are some out there who will refuse, there are many, many others who will gladly spay neuter their pets if they can do it at a reduced cost or free of charge.

Let the mayor and your city council member know how you feel about Houston’s animal overpopulation and what the city is doing to address it. If you do contact them, let us know their response. Thank you!

 

Links to contact City of Houston's Mayor and Council Members:

 

http://www.houstontx.gov/mayor/index.html
http://www.houstontx.gov/council/index.html

Uniting Houston's Animal Advocacy Groups

Barrio Dogs’ main emphasis continues to be education and outreach to residents to improve animal welfare in our East End Houston community. We are always looking for new ways to get to the root of the cause behind animals suffering in our neighborhood. Nevertheless, we have observed that despite our best efforts, the situation continues to worsen in our community and in others areas around Houston.

As a result, we have decided to join forces with other established and independent Houston animal welfare groups to bring more supporters and attention to our cause. Unity for a Solution is a new initiative by Barrio Dogs, Corridor Rescue and Forgotten Dogs of the Fifth Ward to address animal overpopulation and improve conditions for homeless and unwanted animals in Houston.

One of Unity for a Solution’s first priorities is to work with the city of Houston and Houston elected officials to develop a plan to bring more low cost or free spay and neuter for pets and other animals in areas of Houston that are hardest hit by animal overpopulation. The group will also work to raise public awareness in the communities we serve about the importance of spay and neuter and proper animal care, something that Barrio Dogs has already begun to do with our FixIt Spay Neuter Project. The decision to unite forces grew from our 2012 “Music for Mutts” collaboration and from the realization that together, we have a better chance of improving the lives of the many homeless and unwanted animals suffering in Houston.

You can help us by “liking” our new Facebook and writing to your elected officials on our behalf; addresses and a template for a letter are on the current Facebook site. We will be providing updates, information and Calls to Action on Facebook so please check our page from time to time. We thank you!

Website: unityforasolution.org/
Facebook: facebook.com/UnityForASolution

Trying to make a difference