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2003
"Have a Heart for Chained Dogs"
Campaign a Success!
Our
first Have a Heart for Chained Dogs
Week had its ups and downs, but overall a
wonderful awareness was raised! Articles ran in
newspapers across the country, thanks to Staci Sturrock,
Cox news service, and her story of Porky.
We did our first local TV news story on Valentine's Day, which came
out beautifully, and our local humane society, Central
PA Humane Society, backed us up, saying it was not
fair for dogs to live on chains.
Thank
you to Carin Jackman and Heather Forr from the 'home office' who
sent out the Valentine's that were requested by mail. Over 200
Valentines were delivered during the week, either via mail or
in person. We made personal deliveries in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida,
Kansas, and Georgia.
Our
goal is to send out 1000 next year!
Three
of the dogs pictured on this page were rescued during the Valentine's
campaign. The yellow lab was very ill, and urinating blood. When
taken to the vet, it was determined that he had a golf ball sized
stone in his bladder. We are certain it was from neglect and
lack of water, the vet said he'd had the stone at least a year.
He has now had surgery, and is recuperating quite nicely. In fact,
he's already housebroken and looking for a home where he will be
loved and respected!
In
rural PA, five of us piled into Tammy Grimes' van and off we went.
Tammy, Carin Jackman, Heather Forr, Denise LoRusso, and Darlene
Wilt made up and delivered 50 packages of information, candy (for
the caretakers) and biscuits for the dogs. For the most part,
we were well-received, as we approached it with kindness and a love
for the chained dogs. Our saddest dog was the husky mix you see
bottom right. She had nothing in her box, and was laying in there
curled up and shivering when we stopped. We packed her box full
of straw and gave her biscuits, which she ate with a vengeance.
We asked the owners if we could have her. Their response was "The
kids would miss her too much." We had not thought to take water
with us, and resolved to do so next year. We are fairly sure she
had not been fed in a couple of days, because it hadn't snowed in
two days, and there were no footprints going up to her house. She
broke our hearts! We are still thinking of her and will return to
see her again.
We
did have a man become irate, and throw back our info, take down
our license plate, and tell us he was having us arrested for
'adjucatin' his dogs. We still are not sure what 'adjucatin'
is, but we haven't been thrown in jail yet, so it must not be a
crime!
We
would welcome donations to cover the surgery for the yellow lab,
above. If you'd like to donate for him, please type 'for the lab'
in the memo on paypal, or send a check to P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA
16684.
Update:
Aldus, the yellow lab, is a wonderful dog! He is living with Carin,
the Dogs Deserve Better treasurer, who adores him. He is feeling
better, but still dribbles a small amount of urine, which we are
hoping will pass as his bladder becomes stronger.
Read
about the Florida Event
Read
about the Ohio Event
Read
about the Atlanta Event
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