Barrio Dogs, Inc.

Barrio Dogs' goal is to greatly reduce the number of homeless animals on Houston's streets and in its shelters by educating local residents, and in particular, young people, on the importance of proper pet care and spaying and neutering their animals. We also want to give residents the resources and information to speak out on issues in their community like animal abuse and overpopulation.

Our strategies include raising community awareness on animal welfare issues and assisting pet owners with resources and information. We communicate through direct contact and through social media campaigns. We frequently attend community events to talk to residents and offer our services. We sponsor free spay neuter sign ups throughout the year and accept spay neuter requests through our website and telephone line.

Our programs are as follows: Our FixIt program provides free spay neuter surgeries, vaccinations and microchips for pets in Houston's East End. On occasion, we provide emergency veterinary care for pets that are injured or sick. At community outreach events, we sign up pets for spay or neuter and give pet food, leashes and collars to pet owners.

Through our Youth and Paws program (YAP), we give presentations to students about pet care and proper treatment of animals. By helping young people understand and respect animals, we hope they will become responsible pet owners throughout their lives.

Neighborhood Advocates is an initiative to foster change within communities. During the COVID pandemic, we began a series of webinars to offer resources and information to residents so they can share their animal welfare concerns with their neighbors, civic associations, and elected officials and in the process, build momentum for change. Neighborhood Advocates continues its work today through both in-person meetings and webinars.

Barrio Dogs is primarily a volunteer organization that relies on donations and grants. We have leveraged our relationships in the communities we serve to consistenly encourage residents to invest their time and energy in long term solutions like promoting spay and neuter and communicating animal welfare concerns to public officials and others. Between the efforts of our volunteers and the support of the community, we have been able to educate thousands of students, bring awareness into large sections of Houston and fix almost 6,000 animals since we began FixIt in 2012.

Between 2010 and 2022, we have fixed & vaccinated 5,575 pets. We have also held 124 community outreach events, 97 school outreach events and reached approximately 8240 students.