If you have never heard of this, I’d like to encourage you to participate in a really neat project that Dogs Deserve Better does each Valentine’s Day. For the Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Valentine Campaign, Dogs Deserve Better (DDB) sends out Valentines to chained and penned dogs. Mailed along with the Valentine is a brochure about bringing dogs into the home and freeing them from their chained existence, as well as a coupon for a dog treat. 

Last year, Dogs Deserve Better, whose mission focuses on freeing dogs from chained and penned lives, sent out 12,000 Valentines. The goal for 2010 is 15,000 Valentines. In order to do that, DDB needs you! 

First of all, they need you to make Valentines for the dogs. If you are a teacher, a student, a group leader (4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts) or someone homeschooling their children, this is a great service project to teach kindness to animals. The Valentines should be no larger than 4″ by 8.5″ so they can fit into an envelope to be mailed. DDB is stressing Quality over Quantity–they want really neat Valentines that will make people think. You can visit their web site to see some of the cool Valentines people made in 2009 and also to download high resolution chained dog images to use on your own Valentines. All Valentines must be mailed to Dogs Deserve Better, P. O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684 by February 5.

Secondly, DDB needs coupons for free or reduced cost treats or dog food. They are aiming at having a coupon to go with every Valentine, so 15,000 coupons. You can mail coupons to the same address: P. O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684.

And finally, DDB needs to know who to send these Valentines to. If you know of a chained or penned dog in your area (we have all seen them–the poor dogs that look miserable in summer heat and bring tears to our eyes when they are covered in drifts of snow), please find the addresses for those dogs and either email them to info@dogsdeservebetter.org, call the info in at 877-636-1408, or go online and fill out the information via a form on the web site: www.dogsdeservebetter.org. YOU WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS!

You can also sponsor the cost of sending 15,000 Valentines by making a donation to Dogs Deserve Better online or by mailing a check to the address listed above. You can also purchase really neat Valentine merchandise when you visit the site to learn how to participate in the 2010 Valentine Campaign.

We should all have a heart for chained dogs!