SPCA
Says 'Dogs Deserve Better'
www.eveningsun.com
July 5, 2006, ADAMS COUNTY, PA -- Christine Ameduri once saw a dog that was so wrapped up in chains it reminded her Jacob Marley from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
But this golden retriever wasn't a ghost – it had to live that way.
After Ameduri and Betty Peake, humane officer for the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, untangled the dog they found something even more disturbing. Looped around the dog's neck was a thin length of rope starting to burrow into its skin.
They removed the rope, got the dog a new collar and a thinner, longer chain. Then they left.
Adams County is full of stories like this where dogs are left outside for long hours, tied up. The SPCA can only do so much to help.
"We don't want to take dogs," Ameduri said. "We want to educate people about how to treat dogs."
That's where she comes in. Ameduri is an Adams County SPCA board member and local representative of Dogs Deserve Better, a nonprofit group that fights to end the perpetual chaining or penning of dogs.
To help get their message across, Dogs Deserve Better will be holding a "chain-off" in July where 11 people from around the country will chain themselves to dog houses for up to two weeks to possibly win a new car.
Dogs Deserve Better has three goals: education, individual help and legislation.
Education can be the most dangerous goal to meet because people can get irate when told they're mistreating their dogs, Ameduri said.
"Some of the cases are so sad because there's only so much you can do legally," she said.
Individual help for dogs can get expensive because this step involves paying for training, medical care and things like putting up fencing so dogs don't have to be chained constantly.
Legislation can be the most time-consuming. Five states – California, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania – are working on creating laws to limit chaining and upping penalties for mistreating animals. Maryland's strict anti-chaining bill was recently defeated by a narrow margin, Ameduri said.
Pennsylvania's House of Representatives has proposed House Bill 1911, which says dogs can't be left on chains for more than 16 hours a day, according to the House's Web site.
It also clears up some of the vague language in existing legislation, Ameduri said. For example, cruelty laws say animals must have shelter, food and water, but it doesn't say what kind or specify quality.
Ameduri said most times it takes a disaster before laws on dog chaining pass in the state government.
"Four out of five times when these laws pass, it's always because a person was injured with a dog bite from a chained dog," she said.
CHAIN-OFF 2006
On July 1, 11 contestants from around the country will chain themselves to dog houses for up to two weeks in Altoona to educate and raise money for Dogs Deserve Better – and possibly win a new car, said Christine Ameduri, of the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The event has already raised $25,000 of the $30,000 goal.
Ameduri said people are naturally curious when they see a person chained to a dog house, and they stop to talk about Dogs Deserve Better and what the group is trying to accomplish.
"It really does get the point across very nicely," she said.
