The Dognamic Duo's 12/12/120 Tour: 12 Days, 12 States, 120 Dogs

March 27, Altoona, PA — What if someone wanted to prove that they could drive to any state and in the space of a few hours easily find, photograph, and videotape a minimum of 10 dogs spending their lives at the end of a chain? And what if they decided to test this theory by going on the road on a whirlwind 12 state tour, spending only 1 day per state, including finding the dogs, driving to the next state, securing lodging, possibly speaking, meeting media, and creating videos? And what if at the end of each day they uploaded pictures and videos of their findings in that state on that day for the nation to share in the truth of what is going on in our country’s backyards?

And what if one day two women decided to make all these ‘what ifs’ a reality? The result is The Dognamic Duo’s 12/12/120 Tour.

The brainchild of DDB founder Tammy Grimes, the road tour idea has been festering for over a year; now she and DDB public liaison director Dawn Ashby have decided to put the plan into action under the tour name of The Dognamic Duo’s 12/12/120 Tour!

April 5th Grimes will fly to St. Louis, Missouri, where she will meet up with Ashby. There they will pick up a car, drive into Missouri to a likely location, and commence the 12 state tour bright and early the morning of the 6th.

The intention of the tour and the subsequent pictorial and video footage is to show how prevalent chaining and penning are in the U.S., educate the nation that it is common in all states, and put forth the idea that it is indeed something that must be stopped; that it is not humane and not an acceptable practice. They will be speaking to caretakers of chained and penned dogs, passing out treats, collars and leashes, educational materials and fencing applications, and seeking local help for situations that appear to be illegal, as well as engaging the public through speaking and media alerts.

The tour schedule is as follows:
12 Days, 12 States, 120 Chained Dogs

Day 1: April 6th, Missouri
Day 2: April 7th, Arkansas
Day 3: April 8th, Lousiana
Day 4: April 9th, Mississippi
Day 5: April 10, Alabama
Day 6: April 11, Georgia
Day 7: April 12, South Carolina
Day 8: April 13, North Carolina
Day 9: April 14, Tennessee
Day 10: April 15, Kentucky
Day 11: April 16, Virginia
Day 12: April 17, West Virginia

For more information, a tip form, and to see video and photos once the tour begins, visit the website at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/dognamictour.html

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

Please take survey for Animal Advocates!

Dear Friends,

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=68bhy58y6u0m3QV7QoOt5w_3d_3d

This will take only 5-10 minutes, depending on how much you elaborate! (Elaborating is great, but it’s not required.) Please crosspost to any lists you are on with other animal advocates. I’d like to get at least 2000 responses!

I’m working on a book for animal advocates, and I’d dearly love your input. I’m striving to find out what different backgrounds animal advocates come from, and ascertain if there are family patterns or other factors that seem to lead us in the direction of advocating for animals. Some of the questions are personal...you may always skip a question if it makes you too uncomfortable, and you may remain absolutely anonymous. Most of all, try to be truthful, even if it hurts. There are many opportunities for you to add comments...the more information you can give me the better for me to understand you and the background you come from, so feel free to elaborate on any answer that has a comment box. If you’d like to give me your contact info at the end, I would respect your privacy and your answers, and only contact you further in the event that I need more information. But as I say, you may choose to remain totally anonymous.

Thank you so much for helping me with this survey! For your help, you can get $5.00 off a $10.00 order on my http://www.littlegirllooking.com art site (sorry, not the cafepress store as I don’t own that site), $10.00 off a $50.00 order, or $20.00 off a $100.00 order. Just put the code at the end of the survey into your message area when ordering, and your rebate will be sent back to you after your order comes through on my end.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=68bhy58y6u0m3QV7QoOt5w_3d_3d

Tammy S. Grimes, Founder, Dogs Deserve Better
Bringing Chained/Penned Dogs Into the Home and Family
through Education • Rescue and Rehab • Legislation
P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684 • 814.941.7447
Donate: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/donations.html
Educational Materials: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/store.html
DDB Attire and Gift Items: http://www.cafepress.com/dogsdeserve
http://tammygrimes.blogspot.com/
http://myspace.com/tammygrimes

Warm Weather Will Bring Increase in Chained Dog Attacks on Children

For Immediate Release

Contact info: Tammy S. Grimes, 814.941.7447 • P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684
www.mothersagainstdogchaining.org, Tammy@mothersagainstdogchaining.org
or Monica Schreiber: 510.418.5897 • monicahayde@yahoo.com

Warm Weather Brings Increase
in Attacks on Children by Chained Dogs

Group warns against danger of chaining dogs,
especially in springtime when attacks increase four-fold

(Altoona, PA March 20, 2008) Dogs that spend their lives on chains often become neurotic, aggressive and pathologically protective of the patch of dirt where they spend their lives. Frustrated and unsocialized, chained dogs pose a year-round danger to unsuspecting children who approach these dogs. However, children are especially vulnerable in the springtime, according to Mothers Against Dog Chaining, an initiative of non-profit Dogs Deserve Better. The groups are dedicated to ending the suffering endured by chained dogs and to educating the public about the dangers chained dogs pose to America’s children.

Since 2003, when Mothers Against Dog Chaining began monitoring attacks nationwide that result in serious injury or death, it has traditionally seen an increase every spring when the warmer weather beckons more children outside and chained dogs can be especially frustrated after another lonely, agonizing winter.

In 2007, Mothers Against Dog Chaining logged 81 serious attacks on children by chained dogs. Thirty of these attacks—more than one-third of the entire year’s attacks—occurred in April and May alone.

Of the 81 attacks logged in 2007, 8 resulted in the death of a child. “Our records include only those attacks serious enough to make the newspapers, and include only those we are able to locate,” explains Tammy Grimes, founder of Mothers Against Dog Chaining and Dogs Deserve Better. “There are many more attacks that unfortunately go unmentioned and unreported. We encourage any parents of children who’ve been attacked by chained or penned dogs to get in touch with our organization so we can log their info and include their story.”

The fact pattern leading up to the death in July 2007 of Tiffany Pauley, a 5-year-old Atlanta girl with Down Syndrome, is typical of many of these attacks: a child wanders into a neighbor’s yard and wants to pet the chained dog, but the angry, perpetually chained animal attacks when it feels its space is threatened. The dog’s caretakers then claim that there was nothing they could have done, unaware that the very method of confinement to which they subjected their dog led directly to the animal’s aggression.

“Children are dying because of the misguided belief in certain segments of our society that it is appropriate to chain a dog to a tree and leave it there to pace the same patch of dirt and excrement for years on end,” says Miranda Riane, the mother of an 8-year-old boy who was seriously mauled by a chained dog in November 2007. “My son did nothing but run past a dog that spent its life on a short chain. He paid the price for the owner having taken the negligent and ‘easy way out’ with regard to caring for her dog.”

In part because of the public safety issues posed by perpetually chained dogs, a number of states, cities and counties have started passing laws addressing how long people can chain their dogs. California and Texas recently passed statewide laws that put specific time limits on chaining and a number of other states, including Pennsylvania and South Carolina, are currently considering similar legislation.

For more information and the latest updates on attacks, please visit www.mothersagainstdogchaining.org.

About Mothers Against Dog Chaining

Mothers Against Dog Chaining is an initiative of the non-profit Dogs Deserve Better, which works on numerous fronts to end the suffering endured by dogs that are kept chained and caged. Mothers Against Dog Chaining was started by DDB founder Tammy Grimes and Crystal Sinclair, mother of Makayla Sinclair who was killed by chained Great Danes in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in October of 2003.

"Christian" Men, Animal Abuse, and Spouse Abuse in the Sneath Household

It feels like the abusers always win...I'm working out my anger at a world where the good guys lose (or girl in my case)!

I'm angry. I'm damn angry. I'm hopping mad, and it feels good! I'm declaring my independence from men, especially the abusive, back-stabbing, lying, truth-twisting kind...you know who you are. I wish every woman the same freedom.

If this video makes you uncomfortable, maybe you need to get in touch with your anger too. Women have been told for centuries that it's not ok for us to be angry. I believed it myself until RIGHT NOW. Not that I didn't get angry...but when I did I felt ashamed and tried to deny it. Now I'm embracing it. Try it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx6CgZwbvCs



Christian men who abuse both woman and animals number in the millions, I'd wager...most of those who chain their dogs are 'Christians', some are preachers, and spout off about God giving them dominance. My father abused animals and us, especially my mother, and he's now an ordained minister. It makes me sick! I believe in the God of love, not dominance and torture of those you consider 'beneath you'. I will continue to stand up for animals, because they have no voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VcnXhiCpWI