Chain-off 2008

[DrawingDeadInDM 0]

i've never been able to understand people who have dogs as pets, yet keep them outside and chained up. My dog OWNS my house and that's the way i think it should be.

I own two dogs and I've fostered several others and I think this is absolutely awful. Treating animals with respect and giving them room to run and play is fine. Treating them like a roomate or a child is brain dead. Sorry.

I am frequently dismayed by the way many people are more willing to devote their time and money to various animal charities than human charities.

I like dogs better than people, for the most part.

[ComicBookGuy 1]

Hello, I'm Casey Kasem. You know, tonight in the #1 spot, a song for a good cause. A cause most people don't even think about. It all began when TV and radio personality, Rick Dees, and retro-psychadelic singer, Lenny Kravitz, walked into a famous L.A. bistro. They ordered a Caeser salad. But the famous chef told the hungry duo he couldn't prepare a Caeser salad because the raw eggs so vital to the dressing were not from free-range chickens. Rick Dees flew into a rage, saying, "Chickens are like you and me, except they're chickens." He and Kravitz called recent Oscar winner, Whoopi Goldberg. She said, "Listen, my man, we got to do something.. something for the millions of chickens all over the country who live in tiny, overcrowded pens." Together, they gathered some of the biggest names in the music business. The result, you're about to see. The title is simple: "Musicians For Free-Range Chickens". http://video.aol.com/video-detail/snl-musi...kens/1432630124"Raise your hands, raise your voice,Give the chickens another choice,Join with me, set them free,Brothers and sisters, let the chickens be."

[Actuary 3]

Chaining up a dog to let it outside to shit and piss in your own yard - AcceptableLeaving a dog chained up 24/7 no matter the weather - Not so much

But it's not the "chaining" that is abusive.*********************************************

I own two dogs and I've fostered several others and I think this is absolutely awful. Treating animals with respect and giving them room to run and play is fine. Treating them like a roomate or a child is brain dead. Sorry. I like dogs better than people, for the most part.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Rivergrl shows shes nuts once again.But, to the important part: Cesar Millan is better at what he does than anyone I've ever seen do anything on televsion. (including Anderson Silva)Hyperbole? I don't know; but I love the guy.

[showstopper24 0]

I'm all for treating animals like humans, and I would never do anything like beat an animal.But it says under your picture that you have been putting dogs in front of humans since 2005. I'm not sure I like that. I understand you want dogs to be treated better, but humans are pretty important to.

[vonteego3 0]

I'm all for treating animals like humans, and I would never do anything like beat an animal.But it says under your picture that you have been putting dogs in front of humans since 2005. I'm not sure I like that. I understand you want dogs to be treated better, but humans are pretty important to.

What you're taking from that is that I chose animals when I'm faced with a choice between the 2. If I was all alone, and there were only two options and I picked animals, that'd be a reasonable assumption; however, it's not. I put dogs ahead of people because so many others put people ahead. Well, to be totally honest, about 3% put other people ahead, .05 put dogs ahead, and 96.95% put themselves ahead.I have no desire to distract people from other charities. I'll NEVER question someone else's decision to donate to a charity of their choice. As was mentioned earlier, that's the beauty of doing charitable work... there's an unbelievable number of things you can donate to. Not myself, nor Ladygrey, nor anybody else has the expertise or the moral right to place any one in front of any other. I could do stuff with people instead, sure... but without question, my strongest points come in to play when it comes to drawing attention to the plight of mistreated dogs.I'll gladly do a "Race for the Cure" with anybody in here in exchange for a chain-off. I'd imagine if you're really a giving soul that wants to help as much worldwide pain as possible, you'd be down for it... otherwise, stick with your bracelets and car magnets, and attempt to make a decision that you don't have the right to so you can see everybody with cancer cured first, and then everyone with ALS, then everyone with Seasonal Affective Disorder, and then OCD people, then work in a little for those afraid of windows, and I'll meet you at the dogs.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

I'll gladly do a "Race for the Cure" with anybody in here in exchange for a chain-off. I'd imagine if you're really a giving soul that wants to help as much worldwide pain as possible, you'd be down for it... otherwise, stick with your bracelets and car magnets, and attempt to make a decision that you don't have the right to so you can see everybody with cancer cured first, and then everyone with ALS, then everyone with Seasonal Affective Disorder, and then OCD people, then work in a little for those afraid of windows, and I'll meet you at the dogs.

see, this whole issue is a strange one for me. One one hand, I care almost nothing about the suffering of animals.. other the other hand, I think that people why say " why don't you worry about humans first" to be complete d-bags who are unlikely to be involved with any sort of charitable work what so ever. I think Lady Grey brings up a good and specific point, about the funding for Woman's abuse vs. Animal abuse. I think abuse against woman is extremely common, and is basically accepted in many sub cultures. If I was in charge, I'd make sure the funds allocated to preventing abuse against woman would many magnitudes higher than for animals. However, I am not in charge, alas, and I think people spend their time and money on far worse things than trying to end suffering, like spinning rims and 3 hours of tv a day.

[DrawingDeadInDM 0]

But it's not the "chaining" that is abusive.*********************************************You took the words right out of my mouth. Rivergrl shows shes nuts once again.But, to the important part: Cesar Millan is better at what he does than anyone I've ever seen do anything on televsion. (including Anderson Silva)Hyperbole? I don't know; but I love the guy.

Cesar Milan treats dogs like they are dogs. The human impulse is embarassing and tragic on a lot of levels.Sidenote: I don't understand the idea that to stand up for an injust cause you must stand up for all of them. Just because dude wants to protest the way animals are treated doesn't specifically(in my mind, anyway), have anything to do with how he feels about battered women.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

Cesar Milan treats dogs like they are dogs. The human impulse is embarassing and tragic on a lot of levels.Sidenote: I don't understand the idea that to stand up for an injust cause you must stand up for all of them. Just because dude wants to protest the way animals are treated doesn't specifically(in my mind, anyway), have anything to do with how he feels about battered women.

i agree with this, i meant to articulate it better than I did. I was just saying, that in general it's sad that battered women or other human causes don't get more attention, but in specific, who the hell cares what this one person spends their time and money on. Their heart's in the right place.

[LadyGrey 6]

A bunch of you have drawn assumptions from my post that I didn't make.1 - I don't consider humans to be a separate category to animals. We are a species of animals, we are not superior though we have developed to an impressive degree. I used the terms 'animal charities' and 'human charities' or something like that because it would be cumbersome and moronic to say "charities for all animals that aren't humans" for example. I don't have any superiority complex about being a human, it's just easier to use those labels.2 - I didn't say "fuck the animals until humans are perfect". Whoever said people like me should work on curing cancer, then OCD, then SAD and so on before meeting them at the dogs really annoyed me. You completely trivialised my point and exaggerated the extent to which people care about putting humans first. I want to see an end to pain and suffering for all animals including humans. I do not put every human cause ahead of animal abuse, certainly not 'fear of windows'. I made that clear in my post and your attitude is really condescending and offputting. You are not a martyr for helping dogs, so get off your high horse.My point was that animals are getting help. They are getting more help than most humans. There are humans who are enslaved, tortured, in extreme pain etc, and people don't do anything to help because they see a video of a skinny dog with big sad eyes on the tv and the voiceover is telling them that they are the only person who can help this hungry dog. Of course it's good to stop animal abuse, but if you had to pick between rescuing a young girl who has been kidnapped, trafficked into another country and forced into prostitution, or getting someone to unchain the dog from their yard, would you really pick the dog? My favourite charity helps women in the former situation, and it is a tiny charity. There are no big successful charities for these women like there are for animals, and I think that is unjust. People say they are looking out for animals because they can't look out for themselves, but when you look at the figures, those animals are getting a huge amount of help, and there are tons of deserving causes which are overlooked because they don't involve cute and fluffy animals.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

A bunch of you have drawn assumptions from my post that I didn't make.1 - I don't consider humans to be a separate category to animals. We are a species of animals, we are not superior though we have developed to an impressive degree. I used the terms 'animal charities' and 'human charities' or something like that because it would be cumbersome and moronic to say "charities for all animals that aren't humans" for example. I don't have any superiority complex about being a human, it's just easier to use those labels.2 - I didn't say "fuck the animals until humans are perfect". Whoever said people like me should work on curing cancer, then OCD, then SAD and so on before meeting them at the dogs really annoyed me. You completely trivialised my point and exaggerated the extent to which people care about putting humans first. I want to see an end to pain and suffering for all animals including humans. I do not put every human cause ahead of animal abuse, certainly not 'fear of windows'. I made that clear in my post and your attitude is really condescending and offputting. You are not a martyr for helping dogs, so get off your high horse.My point was that animals are getting help. They are getting more help than most humans. There are humans who are enslaved, tortured, in extreme pain etc, and people don't do anything to help because they see a video of a skinny dog with big sad eyes on the tv and the voiceover is telling them that they are the only person who can help this hungry dog. Of course it's good to stop animal abuse, but if you had to pick between rescuing a young girl who has been kidnapped, trafficked into another country and forced into prostitution, or getting someone to unchain the dog from their yard, would you really pick the dog? My favourite charity helps women in the former situation, and it is a tiny charity. There are no big successful charities for these women like there are for animals, and I think that is unjust. People say they are looking out for animals because they can't look out for themselves, but when you look at the figures, those animals are getting a huge amount of help, and there are tons of deserving causes which are overlooked because they don't involve cute and fluffy animals.

I'm forced to agree with this post

[Dirtydutch 8]

I find it interesting that battered women shelters are where we stop on the higher lifeform charity priority line. I certainly would sooner help a woman than a dog, but by the same logic I think the highest priority goes to the White Protestant male. It's not as cheap as it once was to keep a closet full of Old Navy. I swear I saw a dude at Kinkos yesterday with the old PT Cruiser, wearing a Faded Glory Polo. Broke my heart.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

I find it interesting that battered women shelters are where we stop on the higher lifeform charity priority line. I certainly would sooner help a woman than a dog, but by the same logic I think the highest priority goes to the White Protestant male. It's not as cheap as it once was to keep a closet full of Old Navy. I swear I saw a dude at Kinkos yesterday with the old PT Cruiser, wearing a Faded Glory Polo. Broke my heart.

BA-NA-NASee you on the track tomorrow, sucker fish.

[vonteego3 0]

I think my point was missed, and it was probably a result of defensiveness (from both/all sides) as well as me coming off as a bit of a dick. I apologize.I was annoyed at the suggestion that animals receive more charitable help than humans, and this statement was backed up by pointing at a few tiny charities that compose roughly .000000000000000000003% of worldwide contributions.Millions of dogs are euthanized each year because of irresponsibility. Countless more die as a result of neglect and abuse. We have a greater responsibility to care for dogs than other animals because over time, we've completely domesticated them and eliminated their ability to live on their own. Very few dogs can hunt well enough to survive on their own, none have the immune system to fight of illness and disease, and they're unable to groom and clean themselves (with few exceptions). Dogs are the cause that I've chosen, and I think I'm much more effective concentrating on that rather than spreading myself thin (although I also do Habitat for Humanity and pitch in whenever I can during crisis/tragedy). Every charity is awesome, and if society as a whole did even a tenth of what we're capable of, there would be a lot less pain and suffering for people, dogs, cats, and everything else.

[finztotheleft 0]

I think the important thing is to show some concern for something, anything, aside from our own selfish wants and desires. I think most people who are socially conscious choose a charity that hits close to home for them. I'm a hospice nurse. I've given to many charities related to medical causes, especially those that deal with terminal illnesses. I give to my alma matar. A child will starve to death tonight because I didn't give to his charity instead. But I've been able to help a lot of people because some alumnus donated money to my scholarship, so I feel a responsibility to repay that. I can't fix everything, I can just try to do my part.Vonteego has seen a very specific need in his community because of the out of control stray dog population, so he feels empowered to help dogs in any way he can. That's a good thing. If his younger sister had been beaten by her ex, his committment of time and energy might have been directed to that cause.The focus should be on each of us doing what we can......be it donating money, volunteering our time, giving blood, or donating organs. Most of us can do something.For the record, I don't chain my dog, but I've been tempted to tie out the kids on more than one occasion

[Turbo Dog 1]

I think it is admirable to support charity and wish you well with your project. I have recently resolved to do more for causes I support, and am researching non-profits in order to see where I can help most. Actually spent the last 2 days doing manual labor for a non-profit.But it seems to me that some animal activists can be quite over-the-top. Last summer a lady stopped at my house and asked why my dog was outside on such a hot day. This crawled all over me. I asked her, "What do you think was invented first- dogs or air conditioning?" I love my dog. She has a large fenced yard to play in and stays in it most days. She comes in every night and whenever there is foul weather. I heard a guy on local talk radio a while back bragging about taking (stealing) someone's dog that he thought wasn't being treated right. Horrible.Do anything you want to help dogs or people or the earth or whatever you support. But don't put animals ahead of people.Good luck

[vonteego3 0]

Bump!Fast approaching the date... with 4 days to go, I'm about 50% of the way to my goal. I'm gonna lock up my location tomorrow and submit a press release to the paper. Anybody else interested in donating or interested in helping out with an event in your area? Let me know.

[loogie 115]

Bump!Fast approaching the date... with 4 days to go, I'm about 50% of the way to my goal. I'm gonna lock up my location tomorrow and submit a press release to the paper. Anybody else interested in donating or interested in helping out with an event in your area? Let me know.

I already participated in my own way.I rolled up a newspaper and gave myself a few whacks. Now I can empathize.

[Teck_72 0]

Man. People are really being assholes about something someone else believes in. If you don't like the charity, or don't want to support it then ignore it and walk on by. I love dogs. If i wasn't broke, I'd probably toss some money your way. Seriously though, you guys could stop being pricks about something that someone is taking seriously.

[Actuary 3]

Man. People are really being assholes about something someone else believes in. If you don't like the charity, or don't want to support it then ignore it and walk on by. I love dogs. If i wasn't broke, I'd probably toss some money your way. Seriously though, you guys could stop being pricks about something that someone is taking seriously.

lolly lolly lolly...

[Teck_72 0]

lolly lolly lolly...

TY. I suck at stuff like thatFMP

[vonteego3 0]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/anim...1.html#commentsweeeeeeeeee!We're almost there, the official dates are now July 5 and 6, 8am-8pm both days. Those of you that made pledges, I'll be in touch soon... those of you that haven't, there's still time! All tax-deductible, of course.

[brvheart 1,752]

This whole thread forces me to use my special 'hold tongue' powers, usually reserved for anytime Hollywood posts.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

yo, this whole chain off 2008 is....word up!

[loogie 115]

Man. People are really being assholes about something someone else believes in. If you don't like the charity, or don't want to support it then ignore it and walk on by. I love dogs. If i wasn't broke, I'd probably toss some money your way. Seriously though, you guys could stop being pricks about something that someone is taking seriously.

No need to rub our noses in it.

[vonteego3 0]

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/b...bctid16440267626 o'clock news!