It’s a ‘ruff’ life; check out these dog houses (9 photos)

The Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society and Habitat For Humanity Sault Ste. Marie, two organizations dedicated to finding housing for pets and people respectively, partnered up for the inaugural Paw Fest fundraiser held at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion Saturday.

Funds raised from the annual dog walk along the Sault’s waterfront went to the Humane Society, the majority of funds raised through a dog house building competition going to Habitat for Humanity’s services.   

“This year’s event is called Paw Fest (known in past years as the Cause for Paws dog walk). We wanted a more festive atmosphere this year,” said Jamie Moss, who helped organize Saturday’s event, having volunteered at the Humane Society for the past 10 years.

“It seemed like a natural fit to partner up with Habitat for Humanity because they have their great dog house build and because we’re playing to the same dog lover audience.”

Registration for the dog walk started at 11 a.m., the walk beginning at 12 p.m., the dog house auction set to wrap up by 3 p.m.

The dog walk set out from the Bondar Pavilion and headed west down the boardwalk toward the former Walmart space at Station Mall and back, despite overcast skies and drizzle.

“We had a great turnout. We saw dogs in raincoats and ponchos,” Moss said.

Registration for dog walkers was $25, while other people had collected pledges from around town, with prizes available for the top fundraisers.

“It’s an important fundraiser for animal care at the shelter, to care for those unwanted animals we see every year...I try not to get attached to them, but we do have a lot of happy, successful stories coming out of there, and it makes me really proud to be a volunteer for the shelter,” said Moss, who told us she has owned three dogs in her life, but is now dedicating her extra time to the Humane Society.

As for the dog house build and auction, “teams registered for $250 and received a basic $150 dog house kit from Soo Mill, free to add any embellishments they wanted to make their dog houses bigger and better, the dog houses auctioned off, with 80 per cent going to Habitat and 20 per cent to the Humane Society,” said Katie Blunt, Habitat for Humanity Sault Ste. Marie and Area executive director.

Members of the public in attendance got to choose their favourite dog house, prizes available for the winning dog house building team.

Teams were drawn from local businesses and organizations, including Equipment World, Sault Fire Services, Prouse Motors, Soo Mill, City of Sault Ste. Marie Public Works and Community Living Algoma.

Habitat held their first dog house building competition in 2015, reviving the event this year.

The public was scheduled to bid for the dog houses in the afternoon, winning bidders able to take home a new house for their canine friends. 

“They’re amazing...nicer than the average dog house,” Blunt said.

“Building houses for people is a very expensive mission for Habitat for Humanity, so every dollar we raise is important to serve the community through housing options,” said Blunt, who own an English Pointer called Tom.

Blunt, with a smile, told us Tom does not have a dog house, kept indoors by his owner.