Impacting pets across San Marcos

Pets in the community will be warmer this winter following a local scout’s donation.

Leonardo “Leo” Uriarte, a Life Scout working towards becoming an Eagle Scout, donated six handmade doghouses to the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter this month, according to the shelter’s Facebook post.

The doghouses will, in turn, be donated to members of the community who might need a warm space for their pets. Interim Shelter Supervisor Brandon Weigand said that Uriarte’s donation is heartwarming.

“It's really heartwarming because we, you know, the animal shelter is moving in a direction where we want to commit ourselves to caring for animals, not just in the shelter, but also outside in our immediate community,” Weigand said. “As the animal shelter we believe it’s our responsibility to ensure the maximum welfare for any animals that are in our county. And sometimes that means that we need to think outside the box with creative solutions to try and help them those community members in need.” 

According to a Facebook post made by the shelter, Uriarte said he wanted to build the houses to help other people.

"I feel happy, I'm glad that the community is getting these doghouses,” Uriarte said in the Facebook post. “I just love that I get the opportunity to help the community!" 

Weigand said one doghouse has been purchased from the shelter via donation, and a different community member is interested in another doghouse. 

“The first person who was an adopter from the animal shelter, and they were taking home a dog and they wanted to make sure that during the winter upcoming months that if they ever needed to leave their dog outside, that they had a really safe and warm place to keep them…” Weigand  said. “And they loved the doghouses, they loved the look of them.”

The doghouses aren’t limited to dogs, either. One individual wants to use the structure to provide shelter for his feral cats during the cold winter months, according to Weigand. 

Thanks to Uriarte’s work, the shelter might consider initiating a permanent program that focuses on creating extra resources for people who might need them, according to Weigand.

“We are hoping that we can use Leo's project as an inspiration and as a starting point to create even more doghouses in the future,” Weigand said. “Which I'm hoping will provide shelter for not just dozens of animals, but hopefully some much-needed respite for their caregivers.”

The doghouses, according to the shelter’s Facebook post, are designed so that dogs climb on top of the structure and enjoy the sun. Weigand said Leo was astute in how he created the shelters.

“What's great about these doghouses is they're really sturdy and Leo had a vision in his mind about what kind of doghouses he wanted to build and he knew he didn't want them flimsy," he said. “So we wanted these doghouses to be durable, we wanted them to last a while and to provide care on an ongoing basis.”

Weigand said the donation represents a positive trend for the future, “where we're saying to ourselves, these simple doghouses can make a pretty substantial impact, not just on the animals that they're providing shelter for, but also for their providers and for their immediate community.”