A Dog’s Life Just Got a Little Better

 Thanks to Construction Management students, Antonio Escobedo, Eddie Hernandez and Miguel Urbina some lucky dog has a new, upscale place to call home.

All three Rancho Cucamonga CM students volunteered their design and construction skills to build an elaborate pet house for an auction and raffle supporting HomeAid Inland Empire, a non-profit organization affiliated with the home-building industry that provides housing for homeless and low-income families. “They had a great time doing it and appreciated the process and final product,” says Steve Matley, CM Program Director.

In keeping with their educational experience at SJVC, the students chose to design an old fashioned, cartoon style schoolhouse, complete with a working school bell. The finished school house was 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and over 6 feet tall, and weighed over 700 lbs.  The students attached large industrial locking casters to make it easier to move. The students also hand-painted a window image on the side of the school house depicting Snoopy, of the comic strip Peanuts fame, as a jailbird with his faithful pal Woodstock bringing him keys to escape. A sturdy wood-grain and water-resistant linoleum porch will give someone’s favorite pet a nice place to sit and protect his domain.

The SJVC doghouse took about a week to design and a couple of weekends to build. “They were proud of their work,” says Matley. Their well-crafted design was on display, with about a dozen other pet house contributions, at the Eastvale Shopping Center for two weeks.

The SJVC students, all members of the San Joaquin Valley College Chapter of the NAHB (National Association of Homebuilders), partnered with the local Building Industry Association (BIA-SC, BV) and the Homebuilders Institute (HBI) mentoring program. They provided the funding and the SJVC students provided the design and construction.  The students completed the project within the $1200.00 budget and delivered it to the display and auction event where a very happy couple and their dog won themselves a pet house that will be the envy of the neighborhood.

All of the proceeds went to HomeAid, a very appreciative beneficiary of the event.