On Saturday a local group, the
Middle Tennessee Pet Resource Center, held their annual Hay Day event! The idea is to deliver cold weather supplies, coats, food and toys to chained dogs in the Nashville area. I wasn't sure if I was going to post about this because I don't want it to seem like "Look at me, look at what I did!". But after the experience we had yesterday, I knew I had to share it.
I knew it would be a hard day for me. I'm obviously a pet lover, and I don't want to see a dog chained out in a yard in the freezing cold. (Like most other places in the country, the temperatures have been super low here lately). The idea of Hay Day is to go in with the spirit of giving for these people and their pets. It is a non-judgemental day where you just want to help give these dogs some comfort, and establish relationships with the owners so hopefully you can help them make more lasting changes. Volunteers go back later and walk the dogs, bring them more supplies, help the owners get them spayed/neutered, help them get assistance in building a fence so the dogs can be off the chains, etc. I was worried people would turn us away, but the houses we went to were super receptive and thankful for the help.
I volunteered to take photos so here are some of the ones I sent over. The before photos from the first house:
The brown dude is Bullet.
And the grey is Hawk. His chain was all tangled up, so that is as far as he could get from the tree. You can see if if you look closely to the left. And look at his house!
We got to work putting down hay around their houses to keep them dry and to give them something to cuddle down in. They put cedar chips in the houses which help insulate and keep away nasty critters. For bullet they bungee'd his house together so it wouldn't come apart anymore.
Hawk got a new house that he can actually get inside of!
He LOVED the squeaky toy we brought him. Both of these boys were sweet and friendly and were reveling in all the attention they were getting.
Hawk and his house.
Bullet wasn't as interested in the toys, he just wanted attention!
Getting some good booty scratches from Travis. I'm so happy Travis came with me. I wasn't sure he would want to spend his Saturday out in the freezing cold since this is his busy time at work and he has been working 12 plus hours a day, but he didn't hesitate to say yes.
After! Two boys with a much cozier home!
This is Diamond at our second stop. She lives at the bottom of hill so when it rains all the water runs down to her home.
I don't think I ever heard this handsome dudes name. He is at the top of the hill. Somehow every before picture I took of him features him peeing on something. Oh well.
A third dog lives in here. She just had puppies so was thankfully on the back porch in and enclosed space to keep the puppies warm. We worked on her home too, so it would be more comfortable when she gets put back in here.
Diamond was VERY sweet and rolled over so I could rub her belly almost immediately.
Big buddy was so happy for the attention! He ran around like crazy!
Putting a tarp up to provide some protection.
After! Look at him posing for me!
Even though it was hard, I am so glad we were able to help out. I really admire the mission of the MTPRC. It isn't always possible to get every dog out of a less than ideal situation. They talked about how when you ask someone to surrender a dog, they usually shut down and don't allow you to help at all. It is hard for me to understand, but some people just don't KNOW that they should be doing more for their dogs. Education is so key. I look forward to being able to help more with this organization in the future.
