DDB Makes USAToday and Valentine's Wrap

DDB E-News 3/2/2010

Valentine's Day 2010 Is A Success- Over 14,000 Valentines Sent!

The 2010 Dogs Deserve Better Have a Heart for Chained Dogs campaign mailed or hand-delivered Valentines to a record-breaking 14,745 dogs! Although we missed our goal of 15,000 by a mere 255 dogs, we still delivered Valentines to 2,632 more dogs in 2010 than 2009. We’d like to send out a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who contributed addresses, Valentines, and coupons for the 2010 campaign.

A special thank you to HSUS who again put the word out for us, and we received letters from classes who participated as a result of seeing the campaign in HSUS Kind News. We also give a shout out to everyone who networked the campaign through their social networking sites, facebook, myspace, etc. It's an excellent way to get the word out!

We received a total of 4,821 gorgeous, heart-touching Valentines from 146 different groups and individuals, along with some great letters. Of the packages of valentines mailed to Dogs Deserve Better, 59 of the 146 came from school classes and student organizations, 14 from human needs and welfare groups or organizations, 10 from animal welfare groups, and 63 from individuals and DDB reps. Valentines came in from 34 states with the most coming from Pennsylvania, where 25 groups or individuals participated. Ohio sent in 14, New Jersey 12, and Georgia 11. We also received valentines from volunteers or groups in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Thanks so much to all groups and individuals who sent valentines!

Valentines went to every state in the nation again this year! Pennsylvania dogs received the most Valentines, with a total of 2040, followed by North Carolina with 143,Ohio with 1173, and Texas with 804.

As a result of the campaign, we are working on some fencing applications and some rescue cases are in the early phases; we will post as we get more information. For example, "A woman who received a Valentine from DDB has asked for help with her multiple chained dogs. The volunteer who gave me the address estimates 17 dogs chained. The woman wants our help in re-homing most of them. I will be going out with several volunteers in a few days to meet, photograph, and document these dogs. Great News for these dogs!" Tammi Kinman Ruppert, KY Rep

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DDB In USAToday!

Did you see Dogs Deserve Better highlighted in the February 24th edidtion of USAToday? Reporter Sharon Peters did a fantastic article about legal issues surrounding dog chaining. Thank you so much, Sharon, for your great article! And special thanks to DDB's new Director of Development, Tereza Marks, for "putting a bug" in Sharon's ear about the issue of dog chaining. Haven't seen the article.... click here.

Can You Feel the Wind Changing for Chained Dogs?

Can you feel the momentum building, soon to explode, showering everything with sparks of light which spell out "DOG CHAINERS BEWARE-THE ABUSE ENDS NOW!" ?

The movement is growing.

In its infancy there were steps so minuscule as to remain unnoticed, and the discouraged folded their play tents and went home to drink wine by the fire and pretend they didn't remember the suffering.

But for those of us who camped out in the mud, putting one tiny foot in front of the other, even when no one believed in our efforts and advised us, for our own good, to run along home, the miles soon began to rack up.

At first it was small victories, a local law here, a rescued dog there, for me a chance to speak at the national level, a chance to spread our message in person and en masse.

Then state laws began surfacing, and citizens gathering together lobbied for bills to protect dogs without knowing how to do it but committing to learn along the way.

Despite the agony they endured in convincing others to acknowledge these Forgotten Dogs, they knew. They knew the fire in their stomach would not die until it consumed those standing in the way of truth and justice.

Where we used to raise still, small voices with smaller objections to scary citizens who abused their dogs, turning to run when they raised a threatening hand in our direction, we now stand firm and proud and together, speaking in confident tones about the rights of dogs to live with their pack according to their needs and the nature of the breed.

We cultivate the power of strength in numbers, we harness the power of the internet.

If you're thinking, "But haven't you been arrested and convicted for the second time of a CRIME for helping chained dogs. How can you possibly say their confinement is coming to an end when it appears yours is just beginning?"

Because I feel it. I feel it in my gut with the magnificence of 1000 suns. Read more....

Dog Advocate Receives Second Conviction for Helping America's Forgotten Dogs: Will Appeal Trespassing Charges

Thayne's first arrest came for helping a dog who’d been chained for 13 years, and needed medical help in order to go on. The cowards who chained him left him lying on the ground, unable to stand, for three days while they waited for him to die and save them the $100 vet fee. Thayne took him to the vet and refused to return him to those who abandoned him in his time of need.

On Tuesday, February 16, 2010, Thayne was again convicted of a crime for helping chained dogs. This time she added trespassing to the list, for daring to stuff two doghouses with straw and giving underweight chained dogs bones, food, and water to help them survive on a day with wind chills at -11 degrees. Read more...

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