Milford Students Build Dog Houses For Local Shelter

MILFORD, MA — Dogs at a Hopkinton shelter are enjoying brand new houses thanks to the hard work of students at Milford High School. A hands-on trade school event at Milford High School last month resulted in hundreds of students building two dozen dog houses for shelters nearby. The event was hosted by Lowes and other carpentry companies in an effort to educated students about trade schools and post-high school career options.

Milford High School Principal Joshua Otlin said dog houses were chosen for students to build because it represented a smaller scale of building a home. "It was a good way to introduce the basic principals of building and that kind of work," Otlin said.

Over 140 students attended the event last month, which was the first in Lowe's national campaign to raise awareness about trade jobs. The event also coincided well with the high school's new skilled trade program. This was the first year of Milford High's Building Trades class. 17 upperclassmen joined the carpentry focused class.

Students efforts on the houses provided a direct benefit to pups in the local shelters. Baypath Humane Society Shelter Manager Cornelia Godfrey said the shelter has a mix of dogs in local foster homes and at the physical shelter. Right now, there are 11 dogs staying at the shelter. Baypath got 12 houses from the students and has plans to use and share all of them, "They will be put to use in a few of our pens and then we will distribute the other houses to feral cat colonies and/or to some of our southern partners," Godfrey said.

The houses will be used outside and depending on the size of the pup, can fit one dog each.

To keep the learning experience going, Lowes donated a $15,000 fund to the high school for students to by materials for their new trade classes.