Tipton, PA

Friday, February 04, 2011

Dog nonprofit has 45-day contract on property, taking vote to the public to raise funds for center

Tipton, PA -- February 4, 2011 -- Dogs Deserve Better, a nonprofit dedicated to ending the cruelty of chaining and penning dogs for life, has taken a 45-day contract on the property that formerly housed Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels. The group wants to transform it instead into the Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs.

The property was sold by Michael Vick to an investor as soon as the heat started to turn up, and has been sitting vacant ever since.

The organization must come up with a minimum of $595,000 within 45-days to get the center started, and in order to raise funds they are asking for a public vote: should they purchase the property where dogs were not only chained and penned but fought and killed in order to bring light to the darkness and symbolically bring hope full circle, or should they buy property elsewhere and build their rehab center from scratch? All votes are $1, and all money will go to the Rehab Center.

The group is hoping to get votes from 999,999 people.

DDB was the first organization on the scene to come out against chaining and penning of dogs for life. In fact, that remains their sole mission today. The founder, Tamira Thayne, last fall spent 52 days chained to a doghouse (the group spent 54 days in all) on the PA Capitol steps advocating for a law, has been called the Godmother of Anti-Tethering in USA Today, has written or edited three books on chaining and fostering of formerly chained dogs, and has even been arrested for removing a dog who could not stand from a chain, taking him to the vet for treatment, and refusing to return him to the caretakers who left him in such anguish for all those years. The dog never went back to that chain.

DDB has won numerous awards, including first place in the ASPCA/Chase Pet Protector Award, and most recently took seven spots in the 2010 American Dog Magazine Humanitarian Awards, including a first in Rescue Organization Saving Dogs and a first in Voice for Ending the Chaining of Dogs.

DDB's all-volunteer area reps, over 100 nationwide at last count, rescue from chains and pens and rehabilitate at least 400-600 dogs per year, working only through their own homes or a network of foster homes.

DDB founder Thayne says "DDB's purpose is to shed light where formerly only darkness existed. By bringing dogs from a solitary, lonely existence to lives of joy and love, where they live inside the home with their very own family, DDB moves them from a world of sadness to a haven of—to their minds—heavenly proportions.

We recognize that every human being carries darkness in his/her soul. It's whether we choose to act on that darkness or choose the light that determines our path.

By DDB purchasing this property, we desire to bring light to the darkness. We feel there is no greater love for the dogs who suffered there, no greater honor to their memory, and no greater closure to a painful world event, than for a group to come in and take over this property with plans to provide love, joy, training, play, care, and renewal to thousands of other dogs who have been existing in similar circumstances. It's a coming of full circle."

To see the site page dedicated to the center and 'like' the facebook page, visit the link at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/ddbcenter.html

Tamira Ci Thayne

Executive Director

Dogs Deserve Better

Tipton, PA

814.941.7447

814.742.8679