I chained myself to a dog
house at the DuPage County Fairgrounds (outside Chicago) beginning
at 11am on Saturday, June 28th. The weather was sunny and
very very windy. This was an 'event' so there were vendors
of all sorts who had tables set up under large tents (many of
which didn't survive the wind we had that day). Many people
came over to talk to us, bring us water and food, etc. We
were interviewed by local papers and local news stations. It
was very busy and was a great distraction.
The vendors packed up around 3pm to beat the line of rainstorms
headed our way. Yes, it then rained for an hour or so and,
would you believe it, even gave us some hail. Yes, HAIL. For
about 10 minutes. Marble sized. Ouch.
The dog house I was assigned to wouldn't fit a beagle, let alone
me, so I was out in the weather the entire time. After
the hail storm it cleared so we were able to dry off, eat
something and, after dark, attempt to sleep. There
were 13 of us. Then the rain came. All. Night. Long. I
was wrapped up like a burrito in jeans, windbreaker, blanket
and a tarp, which actually did keep me pretty dry until about
3am, when the saturation point was reached. It was uncomfortable,
to say the least. I didn't think daybreak would ever arrive.
We were 'released' at 11am on Sunday and dry clothes never
felt so good.
Being out there in the weather, all alone, with nothing to do
but look around, chained to a dog house, was very eye opening,
even to me. Yes, I hated dogs being on chains 24/7 before,
which is why I signed up to do this. But now that I've
personally gone through just a small part of what these dogs
experience, I'm even more determined to help them.
If
you'd like to donate via regular USPS mail, send
to
P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684
or
you may call 1.877.636.1408 to use Visa/Mastercard/AmEx
Dogs
Deserve Better is a 501c3 nonprofit education/legislation/rescue
organization. Your donations are tax-deductible according
to IRS guidelines.
