Top Ten Favoritest Funniest Kids’ Valentines for Chained Dogs

One of the hundreds of schoolchildren hard at work making Valentines for chained dogs

Looking for a Little Love this Valentine’s Day? You and a whole boatload of chained dogs, silently suffering in backyards all across America.

This week, during Dogs Deserve Better’s Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Week (February 7-14), we are pairing Valentines made by schoolchildren, scouts, and otherwise crafty people with educational brochures and mailing them to addresses of approximately 10,000 chained dogs—dogs who are lookin’ for just a little love.

All in the hopes that when dog caretakers get a look at these super-sweet Valentines—handmade especially for their dog—their hearts will expand too and they will be inspired to Free Fido, giving him/her an honored spot at their next holiday dinner.

But, as with anytime kids are involved, there is always potential for messages to go slightly askew, making for some giggles if not some outright guffaws. And so, I present to you my All Time Top Ten Favoritest Funniest Kids’ Valentines for Chained Dogs:

1. At Least Give Me Enough Chain to Reach the Hot Dog Stand.

This is one smart kid. He figures the dog is hungry, and if his/her owner won’t feed him, if he had enough chain he could get his own dang hotdogs.

2. I Like Food. Not Dirt. Love, Your Dog.

OK, something about this one just slays me. I can’t stop giggling when I read it.

Still laughing.

3. Let Me In or I Will Bite Your Children.   P.S. I Have Rabies.

Granted, this one is a little threatening, but still pretty darn funny. And, he or she probably knows that chained dogs are 3x more likely to bite!

4. I Got You a Balloon. Will You Let Me In Now, Please!

While the balloon is funny, the dogs face really does me in. He’s so deadpan. This kid knows that gifts and flattery can sometimes get you everywhere.

5. Yo, Let Me In. [Appears to have a baseball hat on backwards even]. Yo Yo Please Let Me In. Also Get Some Food Up in this Joint. And this Collar is Choking My Neck. Also Get Water Yo.

Dogs in the Hood. ‘Nuf said.

6. I Promise to Spread the Love, Not the Fleas.

Come on, how cute is that? I’m not sure that’s a promise a chained dog can keep without a little flea medication, but I love the sentiment.

7. I’m Talking to the Cats. I Don’t Like Them. So Break the Chain And Let Me In. Please?

I think there’s even a little pic of the dog going after the cat in there? I guess he’s so desperate for someone to talk to he’s talking to the cats. And that’s just not good.

8. Don’t be Cruel and Freeze. Let Me In and I’ll Cuddle with your Knees. Come On, Don’t Be a Hater and Get Me Just to Impress your Friends and then Throw Me Outside.

I gotta love anything with the word ‘hater’ in it.

I think these last two were made by adults, but they’re still funny…

9. [Dude, you’re Holding Me Prisoner]

10.  1-800-HAVAHEART. Hello, It’s Your Dog. Can I Come In…

Haha. If that worked I’d buy them all cell phones!

To read more and donate for our Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Campaign, visit our web page at: http://dogsdeservebetter.org/Valentines2015.html.

Some of the Valentines we receive might even bring a tear to your eye; they’re sure to get an ‘Aw.’ These kids create such touching Valentines that I can’t help but think they have to melt the ice around a caretaker’s heart. Will the dog then get a chance at a real, inside home and family?

My Top Picks for Touching Valentines are as Follows:

Here are My Top Picks for “Tellin’ It Like It Is” Valentines:

And lastly, we get some truly gorgeous handmade Valentines by our crafty supporters. This is but a handful of the wonderful creations they’ve sent in over the past 12 years, and I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has poured their hearts and souls into the making of these Valentines. It shows, and I hope they touch the hearts that receive them.

To read more and donate for our Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Campaign, visit our web page at: http://dogsdeservebetter.org/Valentines2015.html.

Like our Facebook page to keep up on all the news for chained dogs here: https://www.facebook.com/dogsdeservebetter

Freedom from Chains as a Lesson from Martin Luther King Jr.

I saw “Selma” on Friday, the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s (and so many others) march on Selma, Alabama which was a turning point in the fight for racial equality in America.

As I sat in the dark theater watching whites beat blacks to death and employ German Shepherds as attack dogs to cause them even more fear and pain, I sobbed for the cruelty that humanity is capable of. I asked myself (as I seem to do so much lately), “Why? Why? Why? I just don’t understand.”

I don’t understand why humans are so cruel to others and to animals. I don’t understand why those in power (of any color) torture and abuse those without power. I don’t understand why they can’t see that a living, breathing being is suffering and why they think it’s in any way ok to keep them down and abused.

In the days of the slaves, the white oppressors convinced themselves that the blacks were ‘happy.’ They liked living that way.

Every oppressive regime or government says the same thing about the oppressed. “They like it. They’re happy.”

But they’re not. Every oppressed people longs for freedom, and ever oppressor refuses to grant that freedom. Freedom doesn’t come without a fight.

Our fight for freedom for chained dogs is this very same fight. The only difference is that these non-human animals don’t speak with a human voice, so we must become their mouthpieces.

I picked this dog up who couldn’t stand, took him to the vet, and refused to return him to the owners who left him lay like that for three days. I was charged with theft and receiving stolen property. I didn’t care. He was worth it.

Chained dogs still speak. A dog who is laying on the ground, unable to stand, but looks at you with pleading eyes; these eyes beg for help. That anyone with eyes and a heart can understand.

A dog who is chained against his will and against his nature barks for freedom. He paces, whines, cries, and eventually gives up on life. All this is visible if you but open your eyes to see.

The dogs’ oppressors don’t see/won’t see. They tell you they are ‘happy’ out there. Sound familiar?

They’re not.

What is the biggest lesson chained dog advocates can take away from Dr. King and those who marched with him?

WE MUST GET MORE ACTIVE.

No one will GIVE the dogs freedom without being forced. And the only way to win the freedom which should be theirs already by moral law? Through the use of the collective voice of the many.

Dr. King went to the president time after time for help. He was told to be patient. He was told it wasn’t yet time for his issue. To sit down and wait his turn.

King refused. He gathered his troops (blacks and whites—all willing to die for the cause) and they marched. Some did die and some were gravely injured. But they marched anyway, for they understood the cost was necessary in order to win rights for the many.

When do we march? When do we feel strongly enough about the plight of the chained dogs to STAND UP AND DO SOMETHING?

To go EN MASSE to the site of a chained dog and DEMAND THE DOG’S REMOVAL FROM THE CHAIN? THEY CAN’T ARREST 50 PEOPLE, CAN THEY? WILL THEY KNOW THE WIND IS TURNING THEN? YOU BETCHA.

The bottom line is that lawmakers and authorities will not help the dogs until we MAKE THEM DO IT. They will stand with those in power who tell them the dogs are ‘happy’ out there.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Will we make the dogs wait another century for freedom? How long must they wait?