Vote for DDB Calendar Cover Dog, PLUS Holiday Greeting Cards UP

Vote for the DDB 2009 Calendar
"Formerly-Chained-but-Now-Free-and-
Lovin'-Life" Cover Model of your Choice:

6 Choices, 6 Days to Vote, .60 Cents per Vote
Will it be Banshee, Daniel, Frankie, Job, Josh, or Marlee?

http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/2009calendarvote.html

Welcome to our Second Annual Group Vote for the "Formerly-Chained-but Now Free-and Lovin'-Life" Dogs Deserve Better 2009 Calendar Model! Each dog pictured was rescued from a chained or penned life, and is now happy, loved, and FREE to enjoy life the way dogs were meant to do...living as part of the family, with responsible and understanding caretakers.

The rules are simple: the dog with the most votes will be our 2009 Cover Model! (But don't worry...they will all find a place INSIDE the calendar.) Please limit your votes to 15 per person, in order to make the contest fair to all income levels...any votes over 15 per person will not be counted, but we'll be grateful for the additional donation! The last day to vote is October 16th, so hurry!

http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/2009calendarvote.html





We're Gettin' Jiggy With It this Year! —
DDB 2008 Holiday Greeting Cards

http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/2008cards.html


We had a tough year at DDB...our economy stinks...so what's the solution? Get Jiggy with It! Sometimes there's nothing you can do about bad things. They happen. And sometimes we just need to bring a little joy into our lives anyway; so we know it will be OK, that if we keep fighting for our own rights and the rights of dogs not to die at the end of a chain, that someday we will come out on top.

This year let's choose happiness, let's choose the vision that our dogs will be Dancing and Free this year!

Get them in batches of 12, 25, 40, or 50, with price breaks as you order more. Send a humane message wrapped in a beautiful and fungreeting card this Holiday Season.

This lighthearted art, donated by Rocky Shepheard, shows four Unchained Rescues dancing in their ballet slippers in the snow.

By purchasing your Jiggy holiday cards with our message, you too will spread the word about chained dogs in a feel-good way, shining your own light this holiday season.

http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/2008cards.html

Maria Daines "Chained to You" for Shepp, Proceeds to DDB

Please
Help get Justice for Shepp, a German Shepherd

left to Starve
on the End of a Chain

Maria
Daines, who is becoming known
as the Goddess of Animal Rights Music, has
written an incredibly moving song for Shepp,
and is generously allowing DDB to keep any money raised from downloads. The
song is now up, please listen and download at: www.indiestore.com/dogsdeservebetter or
listen and download it from this widget, below:

Details
of the case since DDB heard of it:

9/22/2008

After being dumped off at an abandoned
home in Corpus Christi, TX, a German Shepherd was found in horrific
conditions last week on 9/16/08. Parts of his bones were exposed
due to constant friction from trying to move. No arrests have been
made.

Laying on the concrete, unable to even get up from his side and
with what appeared to be a wound on his neck was a dog laying under
a carport. Barely within reach was an overturned bucket with some
dry food.

Shepp, a German Shepherd, squirmed in an attempt to move when
the Animal Control people arrived. The dog was unable to budge
but a few inches. His ribs were protruding through the skin due
to him weighing 43 lbs., less than half of what would be considered
a healthy weight. Skin was actually growing over his collar and
there were wounds all over his body. The skin and the muscle had
worn through due to the friction of him struggling on the cement,
with approximately one inch of shoulder bone exposed. It is being
labeled as the worst case of animal neglect that local officials
have ever seen.

A neighbour told reporters that
a man in a tan coloured Ford Ranger pickup dropped the dog off
about a month ago at a vacant home. She said in the news report
that she knew the dog was indeed thin but didn't know to what extend
until this past Monday when it had apparently gotten loose from
whatever means the individual had used to tie it up.

The pickup was found at another residence in Corpus Christi. The
owner of the residence claimed to know who owned the pickup but
couldn't remember his name despite it being her brother-in-law.
She said he found the dog, according to the KZTV news report.

Sadly, Animal Control director,
Kelli Copeland explained how this case and so many other animal
abuse cases fall short of proper investigation and prosecution
due to limited resources. When there is a child abuse case versus
and animal abuse case, current available resources go to the children.

Shepp was removed from the horrific conditions in which he was
found but he died in a local animal facility last Friday. The owners
have not been charged with any crime and police are not confirming
that they know who owned Shepp.

Here is a link
to the footage of Shepp by KZTV 10, but be warned,
it is graphic and very disturbing.

To sign a petition to bring justice for Shepp which will be sent
to local officials, please
visit this link.

10/01/2008

A major development
in the animal cruelty case of Shepp the Dog. TWO PEOPLE HAVE BEEN
ARRESTED! A 44-year old man named
Daniel Luna, and a 45-year old woman named Norma Luna. Both charged
with animal cruelty. We will continue to update as we get more
information.

According to ACO Richard Golb, the DA who is prosecuting the case
is Deborah Rudder - here is contact info for that office :

PROSECUTORS' OFFICE

Office Hours: Monday – Thursday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00
p.m.

Physical Address: 120 North Chaparral, Room 240

Mailing Address: P.O.
Box 9277 Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

Telephone Number: (361)
826-2530

Fax: (361) 886-2567

E-mail: Prosecutors@cctexas.com

A comparison of Shepp's
photos (graphic) to Doogie's photos
follows:

We are struck by the similarity
between photos of Doogie and photos of Shepp. Doogie
was lucky we found him when we did, and that the neighbor did not stop looking
for help when humane officers failed to respond. Yet, despite
vets best efforts, Shepp died of the cruelty bestowed upon him.
Why does it seem that when concerned citizens and neighbors do
the right thing and get help to save the dog before it's too late,
advocates are arrested for providing that help, and when they don't,
the poor creature dies and then maybe, maybe, cruelty
charges are filed? We maintain that these dogs have MORE rights
than to die BEFORE cruelty charges are filed. They deserve to LIVE!

And, where is the new
Texas law on this?

 

CHAIN-GE We Can Count On! Campaign at Dogs Deserve Better

As Election Day approaches, both candidates are filling the airwaves with talk of change...and here at DDB we're joining in by talking about some CHAIN-GE of our own!

Help us by using your spare Change to create some lasting CHAIN-GE for America's chained and penned dogs.



It's a simple but effective idea: Help Dogs Deserve Better through Election Day by taking all your spare change, tossing it in a jar, and saving it up through November 4th. If everyone on our e-mail list saved only $5.00 in change, an amount that won't be missed by ANYONE, we'd have over $25,000 dollars by November 4th! This would go a long way toward vetting dogs, building fences, and printing educational materials in preparation for the winter onslaught of dogs who are suffering and need our help.

So, on Election Day when you go out to vote for the Candidate you believe will bring the most Change, stop by your bank or grocery, change that change into dollar bills, and send it along to Dogs Deserve Better at P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA, 16684.

Make sure you let us know it's for our Chain-ge We Can Count On Campaign, so we can total the amount raised, and give the individual sending in the most money a free Puddles Pak of her/his choice!



Join us today in turning that Change into Chain-ge for Chained Dogs!

In a downward economy such as we're facing right now, it's the smaller nonprofits who really suffer and whose programs really suffer. Nonprofits without a 'nest egg' of bequests (DDB has not as of this date received any major bequests to enable us to build a nest egg) that have built up over time cannot hope to make it through hard times when donations dry up.

Dogs Deserve Better has always put our funding to use as it comes in month to month, expanding programs as possible, expanding vet care, and expanding educational programs whenever funding permits. We feel it's our obligation to put our donor funds to the best possible use, and sitting on it doesn't do our 'clients' any good.

I personally pledge to you that Dogs Deserve Better will keep going no matter what. Our programs are already suffering, and we will continue to cut back as necessary, yet we will not quit.

If you are not suffering financially, now is the time to step up your support for smaller nonprofits, and hopefully Dogs Deserve Better. Our monthly donor programs start as low as $5.00-$10.00 a month (we all can give that much!), and can be set up through our paypal account or through our merchant account by calling us at 814.941.7447. Monthly donations form the basis of our monthly budget, and without that money to count on, we start at square one each and every month.

Remember Dogs Deserve Better in your will or planned giving. Your gift can help our dreams come true by building a Rehab Center for America's Chained and Penned dogs and helping us expand our services exponentially.

Support our fencing or vetting programs, or give a donation to the general fund which covers our educational materials and costs of mailing to homes with chained and penned dogs.

There's so much we need, there's so much we do, there's so much this nation would lose if Dogs Deserve Better were not here. We deserve to be here, and we will not stop no matter how bad the economy becomes.

On a personal note, just this month alone someone dropped a black lab boy at my home, probably due to a foreclosure, and Sweetpea, a foster dog who was in a home for a year and a half, came back due to the economy. These are unexpected costs and unexpected guests, but I could not turn these dogs away. In tough times, our 'clients', the chained and penned dogs, are suffering even more and need our help even more. But without funding we cannot make that happen.

So continue to support the work of Dogs Deserve Better. Save your change, and help us make CHAIN-GE. Thank you.

Tamira Ci Thayne, founder and CEO, Dogs Deserve Better