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Long before I started Dogs Deserve Better, I was on a mission to discover my mission. I knew I didn't want to die without making a difference, and judging by the nasty comments on the article posted in Penn Live today, I guess it's working.
I'm annoying the hell out of those people who's mission it is to cut down anyone with a mission.
Pretty crappy mission, if you ask me, but they're the ones who have to look themselves in the mirror every morning and say, "Well, who shall we abuse today?"
I spent a lot of time in the self-help book section attempting to point my life in a positive direction. Every time I would ask God what my mission was, a picture of the dog up the road would come into my mind, just like one of those little thought bubbles. I would shake my head and say, "no, God, that one's too hard. I'm gonna' need an easier one."
The dog up the road, Worthless (yes, that truly was his name), was a black lab mix with a stumpy tail, and a sweet as sugar disposition. I loved him dearly, but there he was, chained to a post in the yard, and always tangled around a tree. I used to sneak up and give him food and water, until they told me to stop. For two years I watched him suffer and grow old, until I finally could bear it no more.
I accepted my mission.
After today's chaining, I'm thinking about that old me who just knew chaining was too hard of a mission…and I'm wanting to agree with her.
What was I thinking committing to doing this every Monday through Friday? Not eating? Working late each night to catch up on the work I missed while I spent ten hours chained to a doghouse? Nursing sunburn, aching bones, stinky feet?
I am thinking that YES, it IS a very hard path to treed, but that's exactly why I'm here. If it were easy to live chained to a doghouse, for dogs OR for me, I wouldn't be here. But it's not easy.
It downright SUCKS.
And I know all the naysayers and nasty-grammers will say "people aren't dogs." OK, that's the one thing you've got right. People AREN'T dogs, people are MUCH more capable of living by themselves than dogs are. People don't need people the way dogs need people. Dogs are the neediest creatures on the planet, bar none, and to chain them up like their social nature doesn't matter is just beyond insensitive…it's genuinely apathetic.
One man touched my heart today. He was a big, strong-looking man from Juniata County with a short, marine-style haircut. He told me he hates seeing chained dogs, and every time he drives by this one mangy dog near him who spends his life chained, he feels so much empathy for the dog he almost wants to cry. This is one aspect of the whole need for a chaining law that people don't get…not only are the dogs suffering, but those of us who have to watch them suffer right along with them.
Why should we have to suffer because you can legally torture your dogs? It's not acceptable.
Today I sat for the dogs in Mifflin County. May you know your voices were heard, mores than ever before. In fact, we were part of a bit of a media frenzy, a big thank you to any media who came out to interview. Wave hi as you drive by about your Capitol beat in the next few weeks, you know where my house is: the Doghouse in the Shadow of the Capitol, Harrisburg, PA.
Observations from today's chaining:
1. Another big "I'm Grateful" to Juicy Rumors Smoothies and Juice Bar for allowing me bathroom breaks and supporting our mission. And to Deb Carr, Gordon Bakalar, and Linda Cribb for coming out to hang with me.
2. People here are still giving me funny looks, but the natives are starting to accept me. This would be a time that being extroverted would help, but alas, I look at them warily, as a chained dog who's been beaten before and doesn't know if he can trust again.
3. The weather wasn't too bad today, although I still got a little sunburned, hot, and sweaty. Unfortunately the next two days are supposed to be much hotter AND have a 50% chance of showers. Sweet!
4. A few people from the Capitol started to come out and tell me "We heard you were here." Can you imagine the water cooler conversation?
5. My new computer programmer friend I met yesterday made signs for us. They helped draw people in, which was cool. But, then they kept blowing over, and I felt annoyed that I had to keep putting them back up. Really? Like I had anything better to do?
6. LOVED the Channel 8 guys, they spent over an hour videotaping and asked really insightful questions.
7. Two guys in a pickup truck drove by and shouted "You're the only one protesting." Well, at least they can count to one. Probably have a chained dog at home.
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