Chained as a puppy, my neighbor’s Lab mix grew up isolated, alone, in mud and feces. Others called Animal Control, the Police, but when they came we were told there weren’t existing laws to help. One summer the Department of Agriculture instructed me not feed or water the skinny black dog and they would arrive in 8 days to check his condition. I couldn’t do that. I continued to feed him and give him water, which interfered with the investigation. As he grew restless on the chain, he became more aggressive. He bit a child cutting across the yard to visit a friend, but not severely. Eventually I was the only one who could approach him.

He thought he was my dog. Chained, as dogs often are, as far away from his caregiver’s home, next to my property line he became excited when I pulled into the drive, but never made a sound when his caregivers returned. Once he broke free and came straight to my door. “I’m home!” his expression and wagging tail told me. “I made it! I’m home!” A part of me died when his guardian came to retrieve him that day.

I purchased many toys and bones for him to ease his boredom. One sunny afternoon another neighbor was playing with their yellow Lab in an adjacent yard, tossing a toy for Duke to retrieve. Frog, the Lab mix went to the pile of toys I had purchased for him. He rooted through them until he came up with the exact duplicate of the toy Duke was fetching. It’s a small town, most purchases are made at Wal-Mart, having the same toy wasn’t much of a coincidence.

I watched with my own eyes as Frog held that toy in his mouth, a slow wag of his tail rocked from side to side as he stood on his circle of ground, worn from years of pacing, watching the neighbor play with his dog . He even tossed the toy into the air and caught it on his own to make his point. It would be a day to change my life.

Frog understood, he understood that he wanted a family, he understood that he wanted to play, he understood that he didn’t want to be chained, he longed to be part of something, part of someone, to live a life where people would toss a toy to him to fetch. He understood and I knew he understood. My heart was still pounding with my hand on the receiver of the telephone. I had to call someone; I needed to call someone who would help him!

I lifted my hand away from the telephone. Sadly, there was no one to call. No one would help. In that same moment yet another truth presented itself to me, “I AM someone. I AM that someone who can help.”

I searched the Internet these many years ago and found www.dogsdeservebetter.org
I was not alone. At the time DDB was not much more than a twinkle in Tami’s eye, but it was enough to connect me to others, giving me the information and strength I needed.

Since that day Frog and hundreds upon hundreds of other backyard rescues have been fostered in my home and many more in homes of our representatives. I’ve seen laws change, I’ve watched as other organizations joined in the fight, I’ve witnessed Tami struggle as her compassion and dedication to DDB opened her to adversity with finances, family, friends, enemies, the courts. I’ve observed her growing strength, I’ve made an amazing friend in her and I love her dearly. I have been privilege to read her first book,‘Scream Like Banshee’ which empowered me to forgive myself and improve.

I’m indebted to Dogs Deserve Better and Tamira Ci Thayne. I owe my life to a 24/7-chained, skinny mixed breed, forgotten backyard dog. Frog helped me find my voice, my purpose; he changed me from a silent citizen to an outgoing advocate. I will never feel small, insignificant, or silent again. I am someone making a difference.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
You and me…our lives begin the day we break our silence about things that matter. The lives of chained and penned backyard dogs will begin when they cease to exist as pieces of unwanted, unloved, forgotten property and become valued as part of a family. This will only happen because of us, because of you and me. Together we will end this suffering that has been an accepted norm of our society for far too long.

Help me break chains during Chain-Off 2009

You can do this. You are someone who can break chains.