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Dogs Deserve Better Success Tidbits from Our MailbagWe are posting success tidbits from our mailbag that will be of interest to our readers.These are short tales of successes (ie., the neighbor took his dog inside for the winter...) that update us on everybody's progress in freeing dogs from their chains or pens. Yes, we have plenty of failures, but it's the successes that keep us going. Happy Reading! 4/20/07 There were three dogs chained on a street close to me, for years. They were chained to their doghouse but one was chained to the post of another nearby abandoned house. They were never let off, played with, etc. I had sent brochures and written letters that were very good (not mean), telling them why this was bad and asking them to change. Nothing ever changed, year after year. I wrote another letter a couple of months ago. This week I drove by and saw that they had put up a large fenced in area behind their house. My heart has been so happy since I discovered this, I can hardly believe it.—Melba 4/12/07
I
wanted
to tell you that Pepper, a German Shorthaird Pointer that I rescued
from a chained out situation in Feb 2006, adopted in April 2006
from Dogs Deserve Better Columbus, has just passed his Therapy Dog
International test! His proud adoptive parents emailed
me last night to make me the first to know of his proud accomplishment.
Pepper was chained 24/7 for the better part of his life, he was
age 5 when I rescued him a year ago. There is a picture
of him from his Mom and Dad. This is such great news. Pepper
is a wonderful, loving, funny and very smart dog and one
of my favorites that I have ever rescued. 4/4/07 I
can't
remember if I notified you that the mastiff was rescued in February.
She is a sweetheart and is just finishing heartworm treatment. She
was on a chain from a pup at 3 mos from Oct to Feb and already had
heartworm. 4/3/07 I
didn't
know that your organization existed. What a blessing that it does!
I learned about you from an article in The Chicago Tribune. I have
since emailed all of my contacts letting them know about dogsdeservebetter.org. My
intention is to start by ordering brochures and dispersing them
throughout my community. Thank you for your efforts and for loving
and advocating for our "best friends." You must feel so
fulfilled by your work and life purpose. 3/25/07 I
got
an e-mail from you around Valentine's day asking for any dog that
might need a valentine. I had a special certain dog in mind
and gave you the address...you contacted me back and let me know
that the dog would be receiving a valentine and the owners some
information. Well..in my heart I have wondered a lot if they
even received the package and what they thought of it if they did.
I have visited the dog a few times since then on my nightly
walks. Up until today I hadn't seen any changes for him though.
THEN....today I saw a dog being walked that looked a lot like this
very dog!! I couldn't believe my eyes and when they passed
my house I still wasn't sure. I hopped in my car and drove
by his house and sure enough he was gone!! His owner was actually
walking him!! My husband told me that was the second time
he had seen the dog being walked. While I know it is only
a small thing...I got very teary eyed. I am so happy this
dog is being given the chance to see a little bit of the world.
I am not sure if this is happening because of what was sent
to his owners or not but nonetheless I am extremely happy and wanted
to share this news with you. — Thank you so much, Jennifer 3/24/07 WOW am I amazed and excited. I went to Petco with Sue yesterday so I wore my beautiful new DDB sweatshirt. Later in the day I visited Starbucks and as I was waiting for my coffee I heard a man seated behind me read my shirt. As i was leaving he stopped me to ask questions so I was able to share with he and his wife (and everyone else standing around) the story and mission of DDB. I was really glad I had done my homework! Anyway I was able to give him a couple of brochures with my phone and e-mail address on the back, the information on the proposed new tethering laws in Maine and informaion on who to write between now and April 6th, and asked him to visit our website, we talked for about 15 mintues. It was wonderful that just by wearing the shirt I was able to inform about 20 people. I plan now to wear my DDB attire one day every weekend as I go about my chores in the community as well as on casual Fridays at work. I was happy to have the brochures on hand to give out, especially being the new kid and I am leaving them in my car so I have them at all times! I have the "Love is the perfect enclosure" sweat shirt and the "Have a heart" tee-shirt, Now I want more!— Dianne 3/22/07 Last week my daughter came home and told me one of her friends actually rescued a dog. He had went to a house with one of his friends and there was a pit mix in a cage way too small and he could tell he was not in a good situation. He could not stop thinking about that dog so he went back to the house and asked if he wanted to sell the dog, the guy sold him for 50.00. Obviously he did not mean much to him. He is now in a good home. This guy lives not far from me so I will be keeping my eyes and ears open. I am happy to hear that there are younger kids out there that care enough to notice. —Patty 3/15/07 I wanted to share very briefly that while in a store today, 3 women noticed the tote I was carrying with the tribute to Ebb – they all commented and were very interested in DDB. I also gave them pamphlets; I’m so glad I ordered that bag, what a great way to help to raise awareness for chained dogs, wish I’d done it sooner.—Carolyn 3/3/07 A few years ago I contacted your group about a dog that was chained. You should know, as soon as the person received your letter the dog was off the chain and in the house! He had an acre of fenced in yard and trees to run though. I had been trying for a long time to get him in the house by talking but nothing worked until I contacted your group. Sadly last year he passed away, but for the last few years he got to be part of the pack and was very happy. I think what you're doing is wonderful. Also, I hope you feel better soon. Thanks again for helping Ozzy!—Veronica 2/25/07 I managed to check around for chained dogs and only found a few. I decided to talk to 1 of the owners I knew, I told him about my project to send valentines!! I also sent out the Valentines for chained dogs. And one day I saw the same owner playing with his dog off the chain!!!!!!!—Thanks, Sydney 2/22/07 I
just want to let you know that I wore my DDB valentine
campaign shirt to the minneapolis pet expo this past weekend
and the response I got was huge! I bought the shirt just so I
could wear it to the expo and spread the word about DDB. I had lots
of compliments on the shirt and I told everyone who asked what a
wonderful organization DDB is and to visit your website. thank you
so much for caring about dogs and putting so much effort into helping
them!! 2/22/07 I have read your Valentine newsletter stories and I just wanted to say that I'm so proud of all the work you're trying to do. You see the dogs that haven't made it to safety yet. I applaud your efforts. I've bought your posters and door hangers and soon I'll buy one of the yard signs. What a BRILLIANT idea! God keep you going, we need your organization.—Sarah May
2/22/07 I just wanted to let you know that our two dogs have spent the winter inside with us so far. Initially, we had to keep them in a pen in the basement while we were out of the house (they were tearing things apart and getting into stuff in the kitchen) but I recognized those behaviors as the results of not getting enough exercise and attention. I began making it a point to get them each at least a short walk every day and I have been trying to pay more attention to them. I am also doing a little refresher course for the dogs because they seem to have forgotten a lot of their obedience training. My son is almost a year old and still takes up most of my time and energy, but the dogs are getting a better share than they did a year ago. I am happy to say that our dogs are happier - and also healthier - now that they are inside with us. I may never have noticed that our older dog was having so much trouble walking if we didn't have inside so much. He's on a joint maintenance pill now and doing much better. He is also losing some of the extra weight he'd put on being sedentary on his chain. Thank you again for the encouragement to do right by our dogs. Next summer I will be insisting on fencing the yard.— Jennifer Olson, Michigan 2/22/07 There
is a lady down the street from me who rescues dogs. 2/22/07 Last summer, my neighbor had a female pitt bull, Lily, who was chained to a tree with a dog house. I never saw anyone pay any attention to her at all. Although she was fed regularly and had fresh water daily, the poor little thing had no chew bones, no toys, and in my opinion, was achingly lonely. I asked around my dogs' daycare if anyone would consider taking this sweet little angel. One of the employees stepped up to the plate. This person was still deeply grieving over putting her pitt to sleep because of cancer, but opened up her heart to Lily. Anyway, I knocked on my neighbors door and asked them if they would release Lily. After much talking and persuading, they let h er go. We took her off the chain (of course, she reeked to high heaven), and straight to the vet. The poor little thing was LOADED with heartworms. The vet was hesitant to start treatment because we didn't know if she would survive it (she also had other worms and parasites and lyme's disease). Anyway, we started the treatments because neither of us could O.K. putting her down. Now today, she is one happy horribly spoiled rotten stinker. Although my friend did say, that Lily snores louder than a pack of Harleys!!!—Lisa 2/14/07 Spoo was my family's dog for 4 years when I was in elementary school. My parents kept her in a pen behind our house. After four years they finally gave her to a home that had her inside. I remember it snowing and I told my parents I would sleep outside with her if she wasn't allowed to come inside. Spoo spent the night in the garage as a compromise and was soon given to another family. Although that broke my heart I knew it was best and it affected me greatly. I now, as an adult, have a Boston Terrier named Patrick that was seized by animal control for spending 4 years outside before being burned and another named Diesel that was a behavioral nightmare that was chained to a tree.—A. Pallett 2/14/07 We had a little "this is the start of your new life" event for Sheeba in Tracey's kitchen and I almost cried. Sheeba was laying on the floor with me, still wearing her hot pink collar that she had been chained out on and I got to take off her collar and whisper in her ear that this was the start of a new life for her and that she would never be tied out on that collar or any collar again. I left the collar with Tracey because she has to go buy a new one to fit her (she wasn't sure how big her neck was so she didn't get a new one before she came) and Tracey promised to only use it to take her out to go to the bathroom until she got her new collar. After that she will mail the collar back to me, as a reminder of what got me into all of this.—Tiffany Kellaway, Mass Area Rep 2/14/07 As of 6 pm Monday evening, our neighbors told us we could have the dog (I wrote a nice but assertive letter to them, asked them to check out DDB website…). We were stunned but elated. Because of Yoyo, I have become very involved with animal rights movements such as the THLN and ASPCA. Outside of my 40 hour job, I am either thinking or trying to connect to people to raise awareness and get them involved (very hard to do so far). Some Arlington Council Members that I involved have asked me for before and after pictures, I will be working on that.—Niloo 2/7/07 I sent u a letter last week about my dog storm. She has to stay on a chain because my yard is not fenced in. She is a blacklab/chow mix, 5yrs old. I have an 8 yr.old son and I was reading your article about the child that died because she steped in the dogs domain. I live in Ohio. Is there anyway you can help me to fence my yard so I can let my dog run? I am a single mother and I have little income so I can't afford to fence my yard. I will be waiting to hear back from you. 2/7/07 We know chaining is bad as we once chained our doby for an hour at a time as we did not have a fenced in yard. The dog suffered neck problems later on. Now all of our animals have a fenced yard and are house pets.—Pam 2/3/07 I might be able to get more addresses for the Valentine's campaign. 2 of the addresses from last year, the dogs are gone. Dog houses and chains are gone. Haven't seen any there for at least 6 months.—Anita 2/2/07 I recieved your reimbursement for the fencing in Richmond. Thank-you very much. It is really needed. Thank-you for the great work you do and for helping others do it also. I will send you a couple more pictures of the three dogs that were moved there after the fence was fixed and worked on. Without the fence the dogs would not have been able to move with their owners to their new place. Your initiative and efforts are very helpful and appreciated.—Sonia 1/29/07 The doorhangers you sent a few weeks back did the trick with the only dog I knew of who was in need of help, so I have no addresses. We were able to get her out of the situation she was in and with a family that will care for her.—Greg 1/25/07 I just wanted to share with you a 'success'. There was this dog that is tied up all the time. I'd see him when I went to work and when I came home. Mind you they had another dog who was allowed to roam free in the yard (they have a large one). Well I finally wrote them a letter and included the cons of tethering their dog and that here in CA it's now against the law to tie them up for longer than 3 hours. This morning as I drove by I smiled as the dog wasn't tied up to that dog house anymore.—Mary 1/21/07 Just wanted to let you know I rescued a chained dog last week. She is sooo happy now. It was a short haired dog without even a doghouse. She was yelping constantly, desperate for attention, and shivering in the cold, and my local AC did nothing. I also know someone else who convinced another owner of a chained dog to give them their dog, and now shes happy and inside also. Two in the last week off chains! You are the inspiration for many people who are doing what is necessary for chained dogs all over the world. I forwarded your letter on dogs dying in the cold to everyone I know. All my best and good luck in any legal battles. The system is corrupt and we need to keep fighting it!—Bonnie 1/21/07 The donation is my pleasure. I'm a deployed Soldier in Iraq, so I can't be of much help with addresses, but I hope what little I can do does help. I've got a dog back home who is as much a part of the family as anyone else. I hate to think of animals being mistreated and anything people can do to make things better for them is definatly a worthwhile campaign in my book. Good luck with the Valentine Program, thanks for helping these dogs!—Durwood Blackmon
1/18/07 This dog, see pic above, who I named Wendell, is now SAFE and WARM in a great foster home and OFF THE CHAIN!!!!! Also, the county has agreed to charge to previous "guardians" with animal cruelty!!! Unfortunately, he tested positive for heartworms but FurEver Friends, a good friend to DDB here in NC, is going to pay for his medical costs. A great day for Wendell.—Shari, Greensboro, NC DDB Rep 1/14/07 Well, thanks to the letter(s) on the DDB website, I made a small difference for a husky in our neighborhood. Our neighbor has a lovely Husky that spent the majority of time in an outdoor kennel regardless of the weather. Animal control had been contacted because the poor dog howled for attention all hours of the day and night. It is receiving proper food, water and shelter and is in wonderful shape, therefore, there was nothing that could be done. I sent a letter and still no change. Then I found DDB and the letter(s) on the website and printed one off and sent it to them. Although the dog still spends time in his kennel during the day, he is inside at night and much more throughout the day.—Jeannie 1/14/07 I would like to post an update on Sonny the dog that I rescued on November 25, 2006. I found him on the side of the road with a chain a little smaller than a log chain embedded in his neck. At the time I was not a member of the DDB, so I contacted the local Humane Society to get this dog help. He had to go through some extensive surgery. The chain had to be removed link by link because there were tissue that had grown through the chain. But on December 9th he was well enough to attend a local adoption event. But was not available for adoption at that time because he was still under observation at the animal hospital. When
he was ready for adoption our county commissioner adopted him. He
now has lots of room to run, lives in the home with the family and
rides on the four wheeler with his new daddy. So Sonny now has a
Sunny outlook!!! —Donna 1/09/07 Just
wanted to pass along an update on Rocky.
If you'd like to donate via regular USPS mail, you may print out this form in .pdf format, and send to P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684
Dogs Deserve Better is a 501c3 nonprofit education/legislation/rescue organization. |
