Operation Fido Freedom

Today we'd like to share a video of Tamara Thayne from Dogs Deserve Better, who chained herself to a doghouse on the capitol steps for 35 days in an ongoing attempt to get the Pennsylvania law changed regarding dogs who live their lives on the end of a chain. This woman has been dedicated and courageous in her fight to free chained dogs from a life of loneliness, extreme weather, boredom, abandonment, untreated health issues, and often dehydration/starvation.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Is there some way you can help with Operation Fido Freedom?  Yes, if you live in Pennsylvania, you can encourage your Senator or Representative to vote for SB1435 to limit chaining.

Dogs do deserve better than a life sentence on a chain. You can read more here. You can follow @tamirathayne on Twitter. And/or you can Like "Operation Fido's Freedom's page on Facebook.


On a personal note, water is still merrily running ... somewhere.  Two city employees came out yesterday and they couldn't find any signs of a water leak under the lawn either. The good news is that Jan learned we have "only" lost 6000+ gallons of water since 9/22 instead of hundreds of thousands of gallons (that does happen but she was reading the numbers wrong - how was she to know since nothing matched?), so she splurged and took a shower this morning.  She offered each of us one but we all turned her down.  It's still a bad leak and the landlord is trying to get hold of a plumber, but Jan's breathing better today.  And she never intends to stick her hand down that meter hole again.  She wouldn't even put the cover back on after seeing that black widow spider coming at her yesterday.  And the guys said they've also found snakes in those holes.  

Oh, we almost forgot to include this.  We are excited to win a can of Clean+Green in Sol's The Messy Mancat Monday Giveaway.  We love their product and can't buy it in this area. The Taylor CatSSSSS and Brian also won a can.


Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Unshackled

Some of you are already aware of know Dogs Deserve Better, an organization devoted to unchaining dogs. Their founder Tamira Thayne was arrested for trespassing in January for providing food, water and straw to 2 chained dogs. In June the dogs' owners contacted her and surrendered both dogs after realizing they deserve a better life than one on a chain. This was filmed the day Tamira picked the dogs up.

They remind us of Buddy, Merci & Sam the day Jan opened the back door and they walked outside for the first time without being attached to a leash. They were so excited when they realized they had the freedom to run and play outside.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We Funny Farmers can't understand the fascination so many humans have with confining a dog to the outer corner of a property to live a solitary life chained, hungry and thirsty, freezing or sweltering, often without shelter -- or at least a proper shelter. This is no life for a child's stuffed toy, let alone a living dog. At least that's what we think about a dog living life on the end of a chain. We're not barking and meowing about a dog that spends some time indoors with family and some outdoors. We mean those dogs who live chained outside 24/7/12, no matter what the season or whether they're sick or old and arthritic.

You can read more on the story of the two dogs on the Dogs Deserve Better website.

Before we forget,  Jan received the Life is Good award from Karen Jo of Herman's Hideaway today.We just got online and we're already being kicked off, so she'll have to tell us all who she wants to pass it on to another time.  Thanks for sharing this with our Jan. We think she deserves it.

Okay, Jan, do we all get a treat now?  Kidding, we're just kidding.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Biggie and Roxy

Hi, it's finally my turn to do a post. I'm Cotton, the oldest furry here since Crystal left for the bridge.. I didn't realize what a responsibility it is to be the oldest. Or how hard it is to type. This makes me appreciate Percy a lot more. He has always done most of our typing.

Today we all want to introduct youz do .... sorry, I'm still a hunt and peck typist.  I'll have to slow down.

Today we all want to introduce you to a non-profit organization started in 2006 in Durham, NC by Amanda Arrington and a handful of volunteers. It's called the Coalition to Unchain Dogs.  Aside from their obvious goal of releasing dogs from living on the end of a chain, they --

Build free fences for people who chain their dogs.
Educate the community about the detrimental effects of chaining on both the dog and the community.
Help groups around the country to start free-fencing programs and to lobby for legislation to help chained dogs.
Lobby for legislation which disallows or severely restricts tethering of dogs.
Provide free spay/neuter for every dog they build a fence for.

The group covers a larger area of NC now and encourages others across the country to work toward local legislation to release dogs from chains and to start a similar volunteer program to help owners who can't afford fencing.

There are a number of slide shows of dogs they have helped, but we decided on this video of Biggie and Roxy, now neutered and spayed -- respectively -- so they won't have any more litters.they just look so happy to be free, don't they!

Note:  If the video area goes white and reloads a time or two, hang with it. If they don't fix these new blogger templates, we're going to take an axe to this one! 



If the video doesn't play, click here.

You can learn more about the Coalition to Unchain Dogs by visiting their website.