Dogs Deserve Better

by Carolyn Dietrich
(Las Cruces, NM, USA)

"Dogs Deserve Better", a national nonprofit organization and the 2003 First Place Winner of the ASPCA/Chase Pet Protector Award, is a voice for chained and penned dogs, whose sadness speaks only through the eyes.

As the days become years, many of these dogs sit, lay, eat, and defecate within the same 10-foot radius. Chained by the neck, they exist without respect, love, exercise, social interaction, and sometimes even basic nourishment. They live as prisoners, yet long to be pets".

As a kindergarten teacher, I appreciate DogsDeserveBetter.com's (DDB) kid friendly educational materials like "Buddy Unchained".

The first year I used "Buddy Unchained", my inclusion class of 10 kindergarteners created 100 Valentine's cards for DDB's international campaign against chaining dogs.

The second year I challenged our entire elementary (Sonoma Elementary - Las Cruces, NM) to join my class for the Valentine campaign. Together all the Sonoma Kinders thru 5th graders created 500 valentine's cards from the perspective of a chained dog. DDB in turn mails these valentine's cards along with educational materials to addresses submitted to their website. The story of my classroom involvement with DDB was published in the New Mexico Publication, "High Desert Dog" February 2010.

www.dogsdeservebetter.com