ARLINGTON — The Humane Society of Arlington recently got a boost from an area Boy Scout, whose work helped house some pooches and earned him his Eagle rank.

Linda Hunter, executive director of the Humane Society of Arlington, now has six large wooden doghouses, each measuring five feet wide by four feet deep by three feet high, thanks to Nick Moore, who not only raised more than $1,200 in donated materials and supplies from local businesses, but also donated $450 in cash for veterinary care.

“This money was used for the medical care and spaying and neutering of the dogs that were left behind at the home belonging to the mother and daughter who were murdered in Arlington Heights a few weeks ago,” said Hunter, who noted that the old doghouses are available for free to low income families by calling the Humane Society of Arlington at 360-652-5844. “I was so glad that Nick contacted us, because our old doghouses were at least 10 years old and starting to rot. The dogs live in heated barns at night, but during the day, it’s nice for them to have a doghouse in their outside run, to get out of the rain and sun and watch everything that is going on.”

The Humane Society of Arlington is a no-kill farm-like shelter on seven acres that houses difficult-to-adopt dogs, which live in horse stalls with runs attached. After Hunter recommended the project to Moore, he spent approximately three months on it, first soliciting donations from companies, then building the prototype, followed by the other five doghouses. He painted and sealed all six doghouses, placing the Boy Scouts emblem on the front of each one, before carrying them into the shelter.

“The old doghouses were really bare-bones,” said Moore, a 16-year-old sophomore at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, who’s belonged to the Everett Boys Scouts Troop 114 for five years. “I decided to make the new doghouses a lot more sturdy.”

“We’re excited and proud,” said Mike Moore, Nick’s father and scoutmaster. “There was a lot of work involved.”

Hunter underscored the importance of such volunteer labor to the Humane Society of Arlington by pointing out that any publicity they receive is a double-edged sword.

“We can’t advertise this much, or we’d have lines down the road and around the corner,” Hunter said. “Our main function is to work with low-income people with animals. We run an animal food bank every Saturday afternoon, we provide upper-end vet care for the low-income, and we have a ‘visiting nurse’ program for those who have animals who can’t get out. We actually have 15 long-term care residents at the shelter, mainly old dogs, dogs with medical problems, feral dogs and the like. Any younger adoptable dogs are at foster homes in numerous counties, and they get adopted out fairly quickly.”

For more information on the Humane Society of Arlington, log onto www.saveourdogs.com.