A relief from the dog days of summer
By TRIS WYKES, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 19, 2004
Last updated: 11:47 PM
NORFOLK — The rickety privacy fence was six feet high with holes in
some of the boards. A glance through a jagged opening revealed a
small, overgrown back yard and a pit bull named O.G. chained near the
porch steps.
It was the canine's lucky day. His new house had arrived.
Hauled out of a van by a two-man crew from People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, this was no ordinary dog house. Its broad,
slanted roof was expertly shingled and the walls and floor were made
of thick, stained plywood, pressure-treated and non-toxic.
The lower rim of the house's entrance was covered with a neat strip
of carpet and there was substantial caulking along each joint. With
materials costing $200 and weighing roughly 150 pounds, this was a
sturdy home that would last O.G. for years.
The house delivered Thursday was one of more than 2,100 built and
distributed for free by PETA since 1998. The Norfolk-based
organization employs a full-time carpenter, Raymond Bell, who each
week produces about 15 dog houses.
The well-made huts are desperately needed.
While hardship for many Hampton Roads pooches is being shooed off the
couch, thousands of others are chained or tied outside and exposed to
the elements.
"People can't imagine this happens in their own area,'' said Lisa
Lange, PETA's vice president of communications. "But over and over we
find dogs limited to about three feet of dirt that becomes mud when
it rains or snows.''
PETA's delivery crews have found canines chained to houses, trees,
cars, outbuildings, basketball hoops and barrels. They've seen dogs
confined in pens so small they wallowed in their own waste and so
underfed their ribs were their most prominent feature.
O.G.'s situation wasn't that severe, but it wasn't pretty.
To maneuver behind the house Thursday, PETA workers had to slog down
a muddy, litter-filled alley and negotiate a back yard strewn with
cinder blocks, an overflowing trash can, a junked basketball
backboard and a rusting lawn mower.
The visitors tromped through the long grass, raising clouds of flies.
The smell of dog feces and urine was overpowering.
"Pretty bad conditions, but you get a lot of that,'' said PETA's Pete
Raffetto after he, co-worker Eric Barlow and the dog's owner had
muscled the structure over the fence and into the back yard. "All you
can really do is give them the house and hope for the best.''
Friday morning, Barlow, two other full-time PETA workers and two
summer interns did more of the same when they drove a pair of trucks
to Halifax County near Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
Dogs in tiny pens and yards littered with feces, broken glass,
decrepit automobiles and rotting trash were par for the course on the
route. But the crew maintained a courteous manner that allowed them
to easily interact with owners.
"You get frustrated with how people treat their dogs and you want to
shake them and ask what the heck they're doing,'' Barlow said. "But
you're not going to get anywhere by telling people what they're doing
wrong.''
The group distributed 28 houses over 14 hours, costing PETA more than
$7,000 in building materials, truck rental and dog supplies.
Local dog house deliveries are made on a weekly basis and the out-of-
state drop-offs occur every 30 to 60 days.
The organization also gives away straw in winter so dogs can burrow
into it for warmth, plastic-coated steel cables to replace chains
that sometimes weigh more than the dog to which they're attached, and
generous helpings of dry dog food and chew toys .
"I think the program is excellent for those who can't afford it
themselves,'' said Aaron Hilliard, 46, a resident of Portsmouth's
Cavalier Manor neighborhood whose family received a house
Thursday. "Dogs shouldn't be out there bare.''
PETA wishes all canines lived primarily inside and attempts to
educate owners on how that can be made palatable through regular
grooming and house training.
But many dogs never see the inside of a human abode, so the dog house
program at least helps those who suffer from cold, heat and
precipitation.
"I've slowly come to realize that it's the regrettable reality for
many of these animals and that giving them a dry, durable, warm house
is a step in the right direction,'' said PETA cruelty case worker Dan
Paden, who has led delivery expeditions for 18 months . "It's not
enough, but it's rewarding to know at the very least their long lives
outside will be a bit more comfortable.''
"It's a real Band-Aid fix for the problem,'' said Lange, whose
organization also sponsors a mobile spay-and-neuter clinic that has
performed more than 17,000 reduced-cost surgeries. "It's not like we
think we've accomplished a lot and moved on.''
Reach Tris Wykes at 446-2367 or tris.wykes@pilotonline.com
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=73219&ran=244316
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