We read this inspiring story in an issue of Rally to Rescue and thought you’d all enjoy reading how one person can make a huge difference in dogs lives! Day after day, Mikael Hardy passed by the same yards and saw the same dogs. Making deliveries as a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels in Greenville County, S.C., she saw the dogs alone, looking bored and neglected, living on the ends of oversized chains. Hardy noticed that the dogs were often chained quite a distance from driveways, paths and doorways, where people would frequently pass. The dogs’ lack of socialization led to further neglect. Whenever someone tried to show them interest, they undermined the attention by jumping up and making the interaction unpleasant. Visits were infrequent, however, loneliness was the least of the problems caused.
“The neglect contributed to the dogs being underweight and malnourished,” Hardy says. “Their water bowls were usually either empty or green from the growth of algae. The dogs often had heartworms, and were starved for love.”
Fed up one day with seeing so many dogs face these potential hardships, Hardy stopped her car outside one of the houses. She went to the front door and knocked. When the owners answered, Hardy started talking, trying to convince them to bring their dog inside or at least build a fence and let the dog off his chain. For 18 months she knocked on door after door. The response she got was always the same: “Dogs live outdoors, and fences cost too much.”
It was in the middle of one such conversation that Hardy became particularly frustrated. She stopped trying to persuade. She threw up her hands and blurted, “We’ll do it. We’ll build a fence for you.” She hadn’t paused to think how that might happen, but when the homeowner accepted the offer, Hardy committed to the task.”
Read the rest of Hardy’s story to find out how she did it at http://www.rallytorescue.org/articles/article.aspx?articleId=150
