DDB No Chains: Dognamic Duo's 12/12/120 Tour

We are offering new collars and leashes for as many dogs as we can afford, plus giving out treats and dog food in addition to educational materials and discussions. If you can help fund the campaign and the supplies we'd like to deliver, it would be very much appreciated.

We Can Now Take Donations Over the Phone at 1.877.636.1408

We can now accept donations over the phone
using a major credit card at 1.877.636.1408.

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 16686

Diary of Dawn: 1 Day in Missouri is 1 Day of Chained Misery

6 am I’m up getting ready for 12 days on the road. The biggest question on my mind is can we do it? Can Tammy and I easily drive to anywhere "Backyard America" and find chained and penned dogs suffering needlessly at the hands of their owners? Is the same pain and suffering prevalent across the U.S. as it is in my own town? What I learned today is that backyard America is… pain, suffering and sadness.

The morning started off positive after we maneuvered around the city and changed our rendezvous venue to escape the marathon being run in downtown St. Louis. We drove through East St. Louis, a poverty stricken area with a high crime rate. Though many of the buildings are dilapidated and scream for condemnation, the architectural beauty of more prosperous times still glinted through the cracked exteriors and drab surroundings.

This much like the puppies that were born into the world with a fifty-fifty chance of being adopted into a family of love or to be ostracized to the backyard for eternity. Would those pups be cherished or left to rot in the eliminates like the buildings that surrounded them? In the situations we saw today, the later prevailed.

Here, in East St. Louis dogs could be found chained and in pens and even running in packs on the street. Oddly enough the dogs in packs seemed more nourished and well fed then the dogs with caretakers, the ones on chains.

Just a few blocks away from this sadness was an outdoor patio where dogs sat on the ends of leashes as their owners enjoyed their morning coffee. Mollie, chained for 11 years and living in St. Louis like so many of my DDB chained rescues came to greet us at St. Louis Bread Co. Rose and Gary adopted Mollie into their hearts and home, a totally selfless act. Anyone adopting a senior dog knows the adoption is about the dog, not the people. Want to meet the kindest hearted people on earth? Look no further than the family of a previously chained Senior Dog.

When Mollie, Gary and Rose turned to leave, I stood and watched them round the corner until they were completely out of sight. I thought to myself, “That was Mollie and she lived suffering a lonely existence on the end of a chain and now she is walking through a patio filled with other people and their dogs as she strolls down the sidewalk to the nearest park with her family.” I can’t think of a better reason to be put on this earth then to know what I know and see what I saw at just that moment.

Sandy Lynn, one of my Hurricane Katrina traveling buddies showed us around Saint Louis. We talked to owners of chained dogs and offered our help. We went to look at two chained dogs we could not help, many had tried and all failed, except now St. Louis adopted a tethering ordinance that will finally free them from their backyard hell.

Not long after we arrived at the residence, the police were called, but when we told them about the new law and that we were offering help they advised us on other areas where chaining was a problem and needed our assistance. We thanked them and moved along in search of those areas. However, before we went much further we found a Rottie chained and padlocked in a backyard.

We drove to the front so we could talk to the owners, but the house was abandoned, chained and padlocked, ironically, just like the dog. I went to the back to check out the dog’s food and water situation and of course both food and water bowls were overturned and covered in dust. I fed the dog and was pouring water into his bowl as he hurriedly lapped it up when he decided to lunge at my hand as I poured the water. Luckily for me I’ve worked with dogs for years and saw it coming and quickly dodged out of the way. But what if it were a child? If the dog let the child wander that close to him before he felt threatened enough to pounce would the child have gotten out of the way? No, I’m sure the child would not and both the child and the dog would have paid with the price of this mistake with their lives.

A neighbor yelled down from the second floor in the house next door saying, “That dog is being looked after.” Then she admitted that the house was abandoned and the owner was leaving the dog there. “But he does come check on it,” she said. Tammy talked to her through the open window and we left information for the owner of the dog.

Next we took off to a small town in Southern Missouri where recently a tremendous amount of flooding had taken place. Another deja vu of Katrina when we turned down streets that were closed due to flooding. What happened to the dogs when it flooded? Some where taken inside, but many, a lot, where left outside to fend for themselves while chained by the neck to a doghouse full of water.

We hooked up with Janet who took us to see the city dog pound; a row of kennels set on the outside of a field. How sad that this is the best the city can do. This is last place these dogs will see before they are euthanized, unless some kind soul should adopt them. Here I met Stella and Thelma, both gave me generous kisses. Stella was already coming into heat and neither medium sized dog has a lot of hope of adoption. Thelma’s sidekick had been adopted, however, we later found her chained to a tree in a backyard down the street; from one hell to another.

We saw 25 chained dogs today and spoke to many of their caretakers. One asked me for a cigarette when I knocked on the door. I'd buy her a carton if she'd bring her dog inside!

Just another day in small town America, man’s best friends suffering in backyards while their owners sit inside watching television.

I sit here writing as exhausted as I was during Hurricane Katrina rescue. This work is as mentally draining as it is physically. Many a rescuer required therapy for post traumatic stress after Katrina and I’m wondering what my mental state will be after 12 days on the road witnessing the cruelty of the average man in average America.

Tammy is concentrating on piecing the video together. There is so much footage that she can’t show it all and must pick and choose what to include so she doesn’t overwhelm the viewer, and it is overwhelming what we saw today. Tammy says it's much like putting together a song, putting the video together so it tells the story as honestly as possible in a short amount of time.

The positive today is that Tammy hasn’t gotten angry yet, but I fear in a couple more days she will snap and kill Julie. Julie is our GPS Navigator and she has this bad habit of reminding us when we take a wrong turn by saying, “recalculating” That’s how I foresee this ending. I will be attacked by a dog or a human and Tammy will kill Julie; just throw her right out the window.

One day across "Backyard America" and I haven’t seen one happy pup yet. I hear it from chainers, “My dog is happy on a chain.” I’m still looking for that happily chained backyard dog. He’s not in Missouri, that’s for sure.

Today already came and went and I feel tomorrow will be worse. Though I may feel helpless, I still feel hopeful because with Tammy Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better and all our supporters on our side, all of the tomorrows will add up to so many yesterdays when we look back and remember that chaining dogs was a part of history.

Dawn Ashby, DDB Public Liaison Director

12 Days, 12 States, 120 Chained Dog

Day 1: April 6th, Missouri
Day 2: April 7th, Arkansas
Day 3: April 8th, Lousiana
Day 4: April 9th, Mississippi
Day 5: April 10, Alabama
Day 6: April 11, Georgia
Day 7: April 12, South Carolina
Day 8: April 13, North Carolina
Day 9: April 14, Tennessee
Day 10: April 15, Kentucky
Day 11: April 16, Virginia
Day 12: April 17, West Virginia

We Can Now Take Donations Over the Phone at 1.877.636.1408

We can now accept donations over the phone
using a major credit card at 1.877.636.1408.

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 1668