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Chain Off 2010 RESULTS
Freedom for Chained Dogs

Bryan Wilson and Christopher Murhpy

Yesterday's event was AMAZING. Myself, Bryan Wilson ( 3rd year chained) and Christopher Murphy ( 2nd year chained ) were chained for 8 hours at the Sanford Paw Park in Sanford Florida ( just right outside of Orlando). Local CBS, FOX, and News 13 TV stations covered the event as well as the Seminole Chronicle and Seminole Voice. Attached are 2 articles from each paper that came out a week before the event! Both papers are coming out with stories this week as well. ( weekly papers )

We sat right outside of the dog park and people going in were very receptive and supportive. My wife and I have been working since 2007 to pass a chaining ordinance here in Seminole County and it is written but still going through the legalities of it all and then it will go before the commissioners.

Seminole Chronicle Media
Seminole Voice Media
Winter Park/Maitland Observer

Two local men chain themselves to dog house
to make a statement

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/changetheworld/2010/07/two-local-men-chain-themselves-to-dog-house-to-make-a-statement.html

Posted by Kate Santich on July, 8 2010 12:01 AM

SANFORD, FLORIDA -- In a how-I-spent-my-July-Fourth-holiday essay competition, Bryan Wilson of Winter Springs would be tough to beat.

He and a friend spent eight hours Sunday chained to a dog house at the Sanford Paw Park.

They did it to make a statement: Dogs deserve better.

“Our few hours of discomfort [were] nothing compared to the daily suffering of so many dogs that spend their entire lives in a small patch of dirt, their chains wrapped around a tree, baking in the sun or freezing in the cold, desperate for affection or even just a walk,” Wilson says. “Most of us can barely begin to imagine the agony and loneliness of such a life for a social, highly intelligent animal like a dog.”

Wilson and his friend, Christopher Murphy, were not the only ones spending time tethered to a dog house in the past week. The two were part of a national “Chain Off” event — part demonstration, part outreach, part performance art – designed to raise awareness of the suffering endured by an estimated 6 million dogs in the United States who spend most or all of their lives chained up. Several hundred activists are believed to have participated between June 26 and July 4.

Dogs Deserve Better, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that organizes the event, works on several fronts to change minds and laws and to end the outdated practice of keeping a dog tied up for extended periods of time. It even helps people house train their pets and provides free or low-cost fencing. Although increasingly recognized as abusive, 24/7 chaining is still prevalent and accepted in many places in the United States, including in Seminole County, where existing animal welfare laws still allow dogs to be chained for their entire lives.

“We are happy that Seminole County is working on an ordinance that will limit chaining a dog,” Wilson says. “And while it is not law yet, people can still report chained dogs if the animals do not have food, water and/or shelter.”

Dogs Deserve Better’s Chain Off, now in its seventh year, is annually held around the July 4 holiday when “freedom” is on the national consciousness.

Because of the humanitarian and public safety-issues posed by chained dogs (perpetually chained dogs are responsible for hundreds of attacks on children every year), a growing number of states, cities and counties have started passing laws addressing how long people can chain their dogs. For information about laws, see unchainyourdog.org. For information about chained dog attacks on children, please see mothersagainstdogchaining.org.