Torrents of rain soak Tamira Thayne’s blue skirt and white shirt as she stands chained to a doghouse on the steps of the Pennsylvania capitol. Later, on her 19th day chained to the wooden structure, the temperature — with no shade to take refuge — tops 99 degrees.
“It pretty much sucks,” says Thayne, 46, on a quest to pass a law to end the 24-hour-a-day practice of outdoor chaining of dogs. “Many many dogs don’t have a dog house to go into and they’re pretty much stuck out there. It’s a helpless feeling.”
Thayne, founder of the Tipton, Pennsylvania-based Dogs Deserve Better, an anti-chaining organization, has been tied to the doghouse Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. since Aug. 2. Her goal is passing of the pending legislation that would make round-the-clock chaining illegal in Pennsylvania.
“Somehow we have to show (lawmakers) the cruelty of this,” says Thayne, who has spent six years unsuccessfully lobbying legislators for a chaining limit law. “Trying to make them care is very very frustrating.”
She will be standing in her spot at the Capitol entryway when lawmakers return to work on Sept. 20 and beyond, until they pass the legislation, or there is no more hope for a law. “She’s dedicated and tenacious,” says Mary Jo McClain, on the board of directors of the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance. “I’m glad there is a person who is so committed, who gets out there and explains what chained dogs have to do endure day in and day out.”
Thayne’s dogged determination began in 2002 while living next door to a chained dog. “Watching him suffer every day, it was just unbelievable and inhumane and it had to stop,” she says. “He was really my impetus.”
Since that time, Thayne — mother of an 11-year-old daughter and a 17- year-old son — has rescued some 150 chained dogs who are either sent to new homes or die at her house. “They just stay with me,” she says, “if they don’t get a home.” She also has hundreds volunteers across the country affiliated with Dogs Deserve Better who rescue chained dogs in their own areas.
While Thayne admits she can’t rescue every chained dog she sees— “It pains me to see every one of them,” she says, she will save any dog who is dying if authorities refuse to do their job, which often happens. In 2006, she was arrested for rescuing a dog chained for 13 years, dying and in dire need of medical help. Thayne took him to a vet for treatment while the owners were away. She refused to return the dog to the family.
That rescue led to her arrest for theft and receiving stolen property, and while she served no jail time, she had to perform community service and recently applied for a pardon. “What happened to me was painful and humiliating and shameful,” Thayne says. “But knowing I did the right thing for that dog, it made me even more determined.”
A woman chained to a doghouse on a state capitol’s steps has, not surprisingly, made her a celebrity in Harrisburg. Mail carriers have delivered over 60 letters to Thayne simply addressed to the lady chained to the dog house on the Capitol steps, many with messages to stay strong. There is even a box for her in the statehouse mail room.
“They want to make me look like a criminal,” she says. “But I am just a woman with a heart and a soul.”
We know Tonic readers love to get involved. If you would like to become a volunteer for Dogs Deserve Better and unchain dogs in your area, go to the information page on the Dogs Deserve Better site.
Dogs Deserve Better also has rescued dogs up for adoption, and welcomes donations to help these pups.
Photos courtesy of Tamira Thayne.
