Non-profit warns of Halloween dangers to chained dogs

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tammy S. Grimes • founder, Dogs Deserve Better • www.dogsdeservebetter.org
Tddb@dogsdeservebetter.org • P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684 • 1.877.636.1408 • 814.941.7447 • Cell 814.207.4586

Non-profit warns of Halloween
dangers to chained dogs

Asks caretakers to keep dogs inside every night—especially on Halloween

Tipton, PA, October 12, 2007 -- For dogs that are kept perpetually chained, a dark, autumn night is just another night to be cold, lonely and longing for affection. On Halloween, a chained dog may also have to fear for his life.

Halloween is a particularly dangerous time for dogs that are kept chained outside, warns Dogs Deserve Better, a non-profit dedicated to ending the suffering endured by dogs that are kept perpetually chained or caged. At Halloween, the group frequently sees an increase in the number of dogs that are helpless victims of attack. Fireworks or rocks are sometimes thrown at them and more horrific crimes, such as dogs being set on fire, have occurred in recent years. In addition, chained dogs can easily become agitated by strangers in or near their yards. Dogs Deserve Better representatives have encountered incidents of dogs breaking free from their chains and attacking trick-or-treaters.

Dogs Deserve Better works on numerous fronts year round to change minds and laws, educating about the dangers 24/7 chaining pose, both to dogs and to people, who can become the victims of chained dogs that grow angry, frustrated, or aggressive from their constant confinement and exposure to the elements.

“Chained dogs are always vulnerable to cruel or mischievous children or adults. However, on Halloween, when people are out at night and often looking for mischief, chained dogs are particularly vulnerable," says Tammy Grimes, founder and director of Dogs Deserve Better, a 501c(3) non-profit based in Tipton, Pennsylvania. “Around Halloween, our rescuers have encountered chained dogs that have been pelted with various objects, stabbed, even set on fire. The practice of 24/7 chaining is cruel at any time of year, and it is a practice that is starting to be addressed legislatively in states and cities nationwide. Accordingly, Halloween is an ideal time to remind people to think about the suffering endured by chained dogs and to take action -- by talking to people who keep chained dogs, alerting animal control, and otherwise helping to end the suffering.”

In the past two years, California and Texas, as well as hundreds of cities nationwide, have passed laws that put reasonable limits on how long people can chain a dog to a stationary object. Other states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and South Carolina, are currently considering “anti-tethering” legislation.

Dogs Deserve Better (www.dogsdeservebetter.org) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Tipton, Pennsylvania, is the 2003 First Place Winner of the ASPCA Pet Protector Award, and currently has over 150 area reps in 38 states as well as in Canada and France.