Oudiz sews bandanas to promote dog adoption in the South Bay

Madeleine Powell

Copy Editor

When senior Julia Oudiz and her family first called the Downey animal shelter to ask about adopting her future dog, the shelter informed her that the dog was scheduled to be euthanized. Now, Oudiz sews bandanas through her company, BIBs, for newly-adopted dogs to wear to promote the adoption of shelter animals.

Oudiz began sewing and donating the BIBs in 2016. The bandanas identify a dog as a rescue, and Oudiz donates the BIBS that she makes to the Carson Animal Shelter. Once a dog is adopted from the shelter, the new owner is given the colorful bandana to put on their dog’s collar as an adoption gift.

“Once the dogs are on the streets, you can see that they’re a cute, friendly dog,” Oudiz said. “I have a little iron-on patch that I put on all of them that says ‘Rescued and Loved LA County Animal Shelter’ so they can see that the dog is a rescue.”

In the future, Oudiz wants to become a veterinarian because of her interest in helping animals. She started making the bandanas to spread positivity about adopting a dog from a shelter and to change the way people think about shelter adoption.

“[Some people] just perceive shelter dogs to be aggressive dogs; that’s not always the case,” Oudiz said. “A lot of the dogs are turn-ins, people who weren’t able to keep their dogs, so they put them in the shelter.”

One challenge she faced when beginning to make the bandanas was acquiring the necessary fabric, Oudiz said. She was able to collect different fabrics after including information about BIBs in the “Pet Press” magazine, which is available in the waiting rooms of veterinary hospitals. After people read her letter, she received enough fabric donations to begin sewing them more regularly.

“The fabric is a really good thing that people donate because they want to help,” Oudiz said.

Oudiz has also created a blog called rescuednloved.wixsite.com in 2016, where she compiles multiple stories submitted by pet owners who want to share their story about the animals they have rescued. The blog also includes a video tutorial for owners to learn how to sew a BIB for their own dog.

“People can post their stories of how they got their animals, so they can share what their process was and how friendly their dog is now,” Oudiz said.

Oudiz’s grandmother taught her how to sew the bandanas at first, and over time, the process became much easier, Oudiz said. She estimates that she has made between 60-100 BIBs in total over the past two years with each one taking approximately 20 minutes to sew.

“I hope to take BIBS with me to wherever I am in college,” Oudiz said. “I want to continue to donate back at home and in college and hope to spread the message and get a group of people together to donate.”