Chain Off 2003 Wrap-up

Altoona, PA

Well, as many of you know, I can't pretend our local event was a smashing success! We had planned food and booths, pet trick contest, doggy doo bingo, speeches, and a candlelight vigil for homeless pets and chained dogs to close out the evening. We had a grand total of 12 'guests' all day! But we hope we learned a lot, and we had time to bond with each other. These are all wonderful women, and deserve my gratitude for sticking it out all day with me for our 'cause'. We had our own little candlelight ceremony, and said a prayer for the chained dogs and in memory of all those who were homeless and lost their lives at the local shelter as a result. Andrea said a prayer in memory of her brother Eric, who passed away this year and supported our cause.

Now for our Doggy Doo Bingo results, which many of you were kind enough to help with. We took in about $1000, and after prizes will have $700.00 toward our brochures costs. Thank you all so much! The chained dogs thank you for educating their caretakers.

We had NO contestants show up for the contest, so we had to use our own Backyard Dog gang. This consisted of Rosie, the Akita chained dog rescue from West Virginia, Shaggy, a little terrier mix who lived in a backyard in a neighboring town, and Flag, a spaniel mix who was found locally dragging his chain down the street. We fed them up, and began walking. And walking. And walking. (See the saga in pictures down the left-hand side.)

We knew Rosie was out of the running, as she'd already 'walked hers out'. So we pinned all our hopes on the other two. After 45 minutes of walking, rolling, and running, Flag finally let loose, and Shaggy quickly came in second place.

Our winners are: First Place, Square #142, $235, Patti Sillars, from Lansing, Michigan. Patti bought 4 tickets online, and it paid off! Our second place winner, Square #78 is Joan Miller, from Boiling Springs, PA, who won $75. Congratulations, Ladies! (Patti split her winnings 50/50 with Dogs Deserve Better and Kitties for Keeps Rescue. Wow, you are wonderful! Thanks so much...)

Harrisburg, PA

Dave Goles led a team of volunteers in a booth at a Park Event in Harrisburg. From Dave, "Note, this was the first time I ever was in charge of a stand by myself, so the presentation may not look 100%-professional, so-to-speak, however; I learned a lot and more importantly, I helped get the message OUT there.  A lot of people took literature home with them and expressed geniune interest in this organization.  Tam, donation-wise, we raised $15 in change (I think the thunderstorms had a lot of people staying home), which relatively speaking isn't a lot, but the word-of-mouth and literature passed out will hopefully, as you might say, "start a chain reaction???..."   Also, endless compliments on the shirt design and I know of three separate individuals that ensured me that they will be visiting the website to ORDER THE T-SHIRTS as soon as they get the opportunity."

Somerset, PA

Fran Young did a booth in Somerset at their Dog Days of Summer. In her words, "The event in Somerset was well attended. There was at least 150 dogs in the parade. What's that 400 - 500 people. In the beginning, they were interested in getting in line and then getting prizes .Then I guess they planned to take in the exhibits. The problem was it rained hard at the end of those first 2 events and the people dispersed. I had some big trash bags to cover the display but it was inadaquate. It was a downpour. When the rain subsided a little, money was floating in the donation jar, the ink had all run on the display placards and the people all left. It was only noon. It was supposed to go until 3PM. I packed up and went home. I met a woman who said that she had a chow chow outside. She said they had bought it an igloo doghouse but it wouldn't stay in it. It likes its old house better. I thought she meant it kept going back to a former owner. I finally realized she meant it old falling down wooden doghouse, I asked her why she didn't bring the dog in. It was too big and untrained and she was just not interested in changing things. I tried with no success. By the way, they were just shopping downtown. They had no dog with them."

(You aren't alone, Fran! Please don't give up, we need you!)

Lafayette, CA

From Tamar Sherman: "At my event, which was really an information table in front of Target in a heavy chaining area, we only had four volunteers (which included my mother and me) but A LOT of people stopped by our table and picked up literature. People who chain their dogs didn’t really stop by, but a lot of people stopped by to tell us they have neighbors who chain their dogs, and they have always felt powerless to do anything about it because it is legal and Animal Control won’t do anything about it. They were happy that there are people out there like us addressing this issue, because they always felt no one was. Now they feel a lot less alone, and more comfortable addressing the owners, or at least giving them our literature, because they are not the only ones anymore who are concerned. A lot of people were interested in joining our local group, and so the event really helped to gain more supporters, therefore I feel even a small effort resulted in success. Target was really packed that day, and the clientele was very diverse, so we reached out to a wide variety of people. People who are concerned about dogs come from every background. I managed to get a local newspaper columnist to mention my event in his column, so a couple people stopped by because they heard about us from him. We are now planning to have tables outside of Target and Walmart on a regular basis. Even today I received an email from someone who wants to volunteer in my area, so I feel the event was a success, and the beginning of a long-term effort. Thank you for coming up with the idea."

Dayton, Ohio

From Lois Rose: Dogs Deserve Better Ohio's first event was a Friends of the Humane SocietyPetfest in a park where dogs were welcome. It was not a fenced dog park, so dogs had to be on lead. Petfest was held at Eastwood Park on sunday Aug 10th in northeeast Dayton. There were many contests including best dressed dog, Dayton Dog Training set up an agility course for dogs to practice on, there were vendors with petsitting services and of course the hot dog stand,some reps from rescue groups, a cat adoption group, and gourmet dog treats made by volunteers. We had a booth between "Canines in Service" and "Lighthouse boxer Rescue". It was hard to estimate numbers but i believe there were more than 200 dog lovers there. I gave away a magazine from HSUS and had things for sale like stuff from my regifting cupboard. The majority of people just did the contests but enough to be encouraged came by and asked questions and took brochures, 3 ordered shirts, and 2 volunteered to help in some way.

More Summaries to Come! Stay Tuned...

Here is a donation to help in your efforts to free the chained dogs.

Contact Info: Dogs Deserve Better, Inc. • P.O. Box 23 • Tipton, PA 16684 • Toll Free 1.877.636.1408 • 814.941.7447
email: info@dogsdeservebetter.org • Website designed and maintained by Crescent Communications