Get your
Chain Off 2008 Attire!

Special Fundraising Offer:

50% of the Profits from Sales of this Art Piece entitled "Freedom II: Chia " goes to Dogs Deserve Better through July 4

2008 Exhibitor Form | 2008 Sponsor Form | Read the Chain Off 2007 Wrapup
Chicago Event Page | All Locations Nationwide Page

Brittany Ashby, Illinois

Chained in Chicago, 8 Hours, June 27

2008 was my first year participating in the Dogs Deserve Better Chain-Off.  In preparation of the event I had to request the weekend off of work, and when my coworkers heard I had plans to head to Chicago they used such phrases as “Have fun on your trip!”  Fun is not what I had planned on having on this particular trip up north, so I felt obliged to tell them my real intentions of what I would I do in the Windy City.  Hearing that I would be chaining myself up to a dog house seemed to shock them.  They questioned how I would sleep, what if it rained, and where I would go to the bathroom.   Since my mother, Dawn Ashby, had participated in past chain-offs, I was able to answer all of their questions, letting them know we were not just a bunch of masochists. 

What I learned while chained up is something I felt when I saw dogs around town in solitary confinement, but never felt first hand.  First: it was hot.  I was probably the most pampered dog imaginable that day.  A nice man with dread lochs brought me cake, I had all the water I wanted, and plenty of people to socialize with.  But I was still miserable because of the heat.  Second: it stormed.  I watched the rain clouds coming in over the buildings and I knew it was bad news.  Everything combined couldn’t even compare to what the animals felt, being hungry, alone, and scared all the time. 

Next year I plan on once again partaking in the chain-off.  I made great friends, memories, and had an experience I’ll never forget.  I have a feeling this could become an annual event in my life.