Was that a scrap of carpet or a dog? PETA’s fieldworkers were driving down a bumpy country road to deliver free doghouses to cold, neglected dogs, and they weren’t sure what they’d spotted in a muddy backyard, so they drove back to check. They found an emaciated little dog, surrounded by a sea of mud and chained to a doghouse–with no floor and a caved-in roof that offered no protection from the sleet, rain, and snow.
The animal, named Gus, became one of dozens of “backyard dogs” – left outside 24 hours a day, all year and in all weather – assisted every week by PETA fieldworkers, who deliver free doghouses and other basic necessities. Last winter, more than 260 dogs in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina–the area surrounding the Sam Simon Center, PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia–received custom-built doghouses. Over 1,500 received free straw bedding, which is both delivered directly to dogs and given away free all winter long in PETA’s parking lot.
Fieldworkers also refill empty or frozen water bowls; treat fleas, flystrike, and internal parasites; provide food, a toy, and treats to each desperate dog; and transport animals for low- to no-cost spay/neuter surgeries and emergency veterinary care. For these lonely beings, the most important part of the visit is often the scratches they get behind their ears and the reassurance they feel from being treated like the very best dog in the whole world.
Many of the remote, impoverished areas that PETA fieldworkers visit have no animal shelters. Some don’t even have a veterinarian, which means that PETA’s fleet of mobile, low-cost clinics offers the only services available to many people, especially those in areas with no public transportation.
Fieldworkers often encounter horrific cases of neglect, such as those involving dogs barely able to breathe because of advanced heartworm disease or suffering from mange, parvovirus, infected wounds, tumors, embedded collars, and even starvation. Gus was so thin, he looked like a fur coat covering a skeleton. His owner reported not being able to afford to feed him or pay the surrender fee charged by the local shelter. He’d been thinking of simply turning the dog loose in the woods and leapt at the PETA fieldworkers’ offer to help.
Gus now lives with a family in a cozy house (with a roof that doesn’t leak!) and sleeps in a bed–under the covers. He still doesn’t like mud puddles. When it rains, he prefers to stay indoors on the couch.
Help make winter a little more bearable for a neglected dog by making a donation to PETA’s doghouse project. (Contributions are tax-deductible in the US.) For a limited time, PETA Business Friends member v-dog will match your gift with a donation of 5 pounds (2.27 kg) of vegan dog food for pups in need, so act fast! Learn more at PETA.org/Doghouse.
