Barrio Dogs, Inc

Barrio Dogs is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization based in Houston, Texas with emphasis on education and raising awareness on proper animal care in the low income communities. Because there is a huge animal overpopulation problem in these inner city communities more emphasis on spay and neutering is vital.

The driving force of Barrio Dogs is to instill the knowledge among low-income neighborhood residents that animal birth control, humane treatment and care of pets and zero-tolerance for animal neglect and abuse results in safer and healthier communities. The quality of living improves for people when it improves for their pets.

Some of our programs include:

• Barrio Dogs Youth And Paws Program (YAP) Provides visits to elementary, middle and high schools featuring educational presentations, bilingual literature, guest speaker discussions, and occasional visit by a rescued and rehabilitated dog.
• Barrio Dogs Tales to Tails A reading program which helps children increase their confident and fluency in reading through one-on-one story telling sessions with a Rescue Education Ambassador Dog (R.E.A.D).
• Barrio Dogs Therapy Program Involves healthy, gentle-natured rescue dogs giving back by visiting area nursing homes, children’s homeless shelters, and hospitals to bring comfort and encouragement to people in need.
• Barrio Watch Dog Aims to empower residents and children’s mindset in these low income areas that animal neglect and abuse is a crime. Our hopes with the Barrio Watch Dog Program is to transform the ignorance and to educate that it is not the norm to see a dog chained up to a tree, animals locked in kennels or that dog fighting is allowed.
• Barrio Dogs for Better Communities Dedicated to creating possibility and providing opportunity for a better quality animal life in these low income areas. There are proven cases that there is love for these animals but residents may not have the means for proper animal care, nor the education.
• Barrio Dogs A Home For All Foster Program Although we do not consider ourselves to be a "rescue", the sad reality is that rescue work is inevitable because there are so many homeless animals out there being neglected and abused. But if we all work together and support this mission of educating and transforming inner city low income communities like these, the homeless rescues will not be at an all-time high.
• Barrio Dogs FixIt 2014 is about educating our East End community about proper animal care and treatment and especially the importance of spaying and neutering their pets. We will also provide free spay and neuter for pets belonging to low income residents living in 77003, 77011, 77012 and 77023 zip codes; in exchange, we will ask the residents to volunteer to help educate others about the importance of fixing their pets.
• Additionally, each month, we organize a Community Awareness Day at a different location in the East End. We will set up tables to distribute literature and sign up residents' pets to be fixed. The spay/neuter surgery will happen on a future date at a local vet clinic. We will also walk the nearby neighborhood streets to distribute doorhangers and talk to residents.