Pre-Tour Video
Day One, Missouri
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.
Day Two, Arkansas Video
Day 2—Chained in Arkansas
It was a later start this morning and it has resulted in a later evening tonight or should I say earlier morning as I'm logging my diary entry in the wee hours.
I want you all to know that Tammy is snoring as I'm typing this. I know she will deny it, but it's truth. She makes a slight mooing noise and I neigh in my sleep. It must sound like a barnyard in here. It leaves me to wonder if all animal rescuers make animal noises during REM.
We started out this day to prove we can pull into any town in America and find chained dogs and today proved us right. The first area we came across had much rain which resulted in flooding and a woman we spoke with informed us that more rain was in the forecast. This is bad news for the neighboring Pit Bull who was sleeping on soggy ground in a pen next door.
The car came to an unexpected screeching halt when Tammy Grimes "Dog Warrior" saw a turtle in the middle of the road. This just proves what kind of a person Tammy really is, she'd risk her life (and mine) to get a turtle to cross the road and out of harm's way. Of course I video taped the footage with a play by play. I can only speculate if this had been in Pennsylvania instead of Arkansas would Tammy had been arrested for saving the turtle?
The next town we turned in to was almost as saturated as the one before. We counted many chained dogs in the area, some of the owners lived in beautiful brick homes and some in rundown trailers. This made no difference to their pets who were chained outside in the mud either way.
I immediately grew attached to a dog named Kane. He was a big German Shepherd with one lazy ear. I visited his caretaker while Tammy spoke to a neighbor about her chained dog. Kane had a thick chain wrapped around his throat which evoked panic in me because I've cut so many chains and collars from under the skin of dogs because of this. Tammy and I went out and purchased a thick collar for Kane, some chew toys, treats, rawhides and food. We also purchased a couple items for his caretaker, a new mother who needed some care herself. At the end of our visit I put Kane's new collar on him and had to hook him back up to the chain. It was the most sickening feeling for me to do that, but I left him with the promise of a new fence and his caretaker was left a little more educated on the importance of bringing Kane into her home.
Tammy and I spent most of the day knocking on doors and speaking to owners of chained dogs. When we stopped for lunch I passed a boutique with the latest spring fashions. A memory of a time before rescue (BR=Before Rescue) crept into my mind of a woman who would have stopped to browse and purchase something nice for herself. I realize I have no interest in such things anymore, no interest and no time. I sighed and walked away thinking that someone is going to send one of these videos to those snobbish trend setters on "What Not To Wear".
As we moved on to Little Rock we were in contact with a rescue friend Mica, who put us through to her friend who put us through to Stacy who was kind enough to meet up with us and show us around. Stacy took us into a part of the city she said was big into drug dealing. I prepared myself to see a vast number of chained dogs here and was surprised that the numbers were lower than expected. Obviously there were still some sad circumstances which Stacy explained was because the law was not always enforced in every area because neighbor's were often reluctant to phone in the violations. Stacy felt an answer to this would be for police and code officers to automatically contact the ACO if they noticed chained dog violations while they were enforcing another law.
Not long after we set out on our expedition did we see a little dog with a chain embedded into it's neck. The chain was dragging behind the dog as it sprinted away from us. The dog was always just out of our reach and a local explained that the dog had been running in the neighborhood that way for more than a month. He said we'd never catch him because the dog knew the neighborhood. He was right, that dog knew every hole and back alley and we didn't. We gave Stacy money to purchase food for the dog and she promised to go back to it's sleeping spot and rescue it. Later we spoke with another friend who is putting the ACO on the case. We told them to contact DDB and we would vet this dog. This poor baby is vividly etched into our minds and hearts. We are anxious for a happy ending to this story.
Another troubling case in Little Rock was when we found a sweet Chow mix attached to a trolley system that did not work. My guess was the dog had escaped before and his caretakers tried a quick remedy to tie him back up again resulting in a dog twisted and stuck in a position where it could barely move and couldn't reach it's water bucket. I tried to untangle the dog, but it was impossible, so I unhooked the water bucket and moved it to where the dog could reach it. The dog could tell I was getting the water and began jumping excitedly and darted for the nasty water in the bucket and greedily lapped it. I went to the house and spoke with the owners and the ACO is going to go and check on the dog and straighten out his caretaker.
We met with Emily Pennel and her husband John of Unchainyourdog.org who invited us into their lovely home and cooked us the most fantastic gourmet meal. Emily can be described as a woman who has it all: brains, looks, a great cook, plus compassion; the most admirable trait. My favorite part of the evening was when John said his wife Emily's shero is Tammy and his shero is Emily. John and Emily are a dynamic duo themselves as they have helped pass not one but two tethering laws in Arkansas! Special thanks to Emily and John not only for a great meal and great company, but for putting us up in a beautiful hotel for the night too. Gracias!
Having logged 31 dogs in Arkansas, we can confidently say that those 31 are mere molecules on the tip of a pinhead. Our total between the two states is now 51 dogs.
It is 3:55 a.m. and we need to be on the road at 8 a.m., so goodnight all, more excitement awaits us in Louisiana in only a few hours!
Dawn Ashby, DDB Public Liaison Director
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