Monica Kinley-Kuhn & Sam Hogenaur
24 Hours Chained to Doghouses
City of Richmond
Municipal Building
50 N. 5th Street
Press Call 765.962-6811

We were VERY pleased with the publicity that we got from our participation in Chain Off 2006 this year!  We made the HEADLINES of the local newspaper (DUO PLEADS CASE FOR CHAINED DOGS) on the 3rd of July and our efforts were well reported on two local radio stations. Our local newspaper, the Palladium-Item has been very interested in and supportive of this event and gave Sam and I a special  nod and thank you for participating on the editorial page the Saturday after our event.
 
This year we were "stationed" right on the lawn of the Richmond Municipal Building (our city building) at the suggestion of our mayor, Sally Hutton.  Mayor Hutton has been a wonderful friend to animals and continues to be a great supporter to HELP for this cause as well as others that will improve the lives of animals in our community. 

Sam and I were greeted at our chained location with hundreds of supporting greetings, horn honks,  thumbs up, and "WAY TO GO!s".  We felt a strong sense that the community is very ready for a change and relieved that this horrible problem has FINALLY been addressed.
 
Richmond police captain Melody Truitt, as well as both of our ACOs, have written an ordinance that significantly limits the chaining of a dog (8 hours) and that is currently in the hands of the city law department, and will hopefully go before city council in the very near future. I believe that in part because of the publicity we got for participating in the Chain Off, that we will see this ordinance pass. It is not the perfect solution, but is certainly one that can drastically improve the lives of dogs in this community that have spent their days until now sentenced to life at the end of a chain.
 
It was a bit more uncomfortable this year out there as compared to last year.  It was VERY hot and humid and it poured down rain on us at times, but we survived - and got a taste of how miserable it must be for a dog in those same circumstances.  At about 4:30 in the morning I saw it start to lightning off in the distance and it really made me nervous - what if I were a dog out there knowing that it was about to storm and I had no place to go but to huddle ( if I am lucky) inside a leaky dog house? How frantic would I become?  How much worse would it be if I could see inside my owner's home and know that they were safe and dry?  How could I understand why they left me out there? 
 
As Sam said in the newspaper so well - for a dog confined like that "Your life is the length of that chain"  All of us at HELP hope that our participation in the Chain Off again this year will help to cut those chains and change the lives of those dogs that know no other life. 
 
We would also like to thank Dogs Deserve Better for making this such a wonderful event - we promise to continue the efforts here in Richmond, and we will keep you all informed as to the progress of our new ordinance!
 
Monica Kinley-Kuhn
HELP the Animals

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