YAPP Dog Warriors – Youth and Pets Project, is helping children in Diepsloot teach their beloved pets obedience skills and teaches them how to take the best care of them.
Diepsloot, South Africa (13 December 2022) – Janice Barry was a volunteer at Funda Nenja; when she relocated to Gauteng, she decided to share the joys of what Funda Nenja had accomplished, with children in Diepsloot, a township in Northern Johannesburg.
Speaking to Janice, we chatted about the “YAPP Dog Warriors – Youth and Pets Project” and how it is shaping the youth of Diepsloot. Janice founded the project as a way to help children care for their dogs. Sadly, Diepsloot is riddled with misinformation about animal welfare as well as dog fighting and animal abuse. Working with the youth is the best way to spread good welfare practices throughout the community.
Janice’s dream of working with the youth has been inspired by both the success of Funda Nenja and Edu-Paw. Both organisations have played an integral role in assisting with the set-up of the educational project in Diepsloot. She has applied for the project’s NPO status, which will take some time to come through but has not held her back in helping the youth.
Ideally, the project hopes to take in children every eight weeks, running through an obedience training programme as well as doing educational work which educates children on good animal care and preventing abuse or neglect.
Janice was able to get a core group of ten children. She started with basic training and care, including deworming, sterilisations and teaching children about better practices. Sadly, Janice has seen that it is common practice for children to cut the tendon under the dog’s tongue, thinking it is a worm or to pour bleach on them to rid them of ticks and fleas. These are just a few of the educational hurdles she has jumped.
She has seen that these children had a deep desire to learn. They came to the classes, eager to learn more each week. A bonus for attending, was a week’s supply of food for the dog and a sucker for the child. The hope is to give each participant a decent meal going forward.
Janice has worked with Dog’s Trust and Animals in Distress to aid some of the more serious cases of neglect and illness. But mostly, they have helped sterilise some of the dogs enrolled in the project.
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The support given to the youth who take part in the project, has a knock-on effect into the community, so the whole community can be uplifted. She hopes that by learning to care for their pets, leads to a way to heal South Africa.
If you would like to support YAPP Dog Warriors, you can find out more via the Facebook page or email here.
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