UPDATE: Dog Who Spent 15 Years Outside on a Chain Has Been Adopted!


Last week we told you about Bear, a dog who spent his entire 15-year life on a chain outside, surviving the brutally cold New York winters with only a dilapidated dog house for shelter.  His family agreed to surrender him to the Guardians of Rescue, and now he’s got himself a cozy new home, where he will never have to suffer again.


We don’t make excuses for people who truly abuse their animals, but sadly, even in this day and age with so much information known about dogs, there are still people who believe that some dogs are capable of living outside full-time.  They’ve been raised to believe that because wolves can do it, dogs surely can, too, especially if they’ve done so from the time that they were puppies.  Bear did manage to survive, being a Lab/Chow mix.  It’s awful for any dog to be forced to spend life outside, alone, and on a chain, but there is simply NO excuse for them to not even have a heated shelter.

Guardians of Rescue finds these dogs and tries to convince their families to surrender them so they can have the comfortable and happy lives they deserve.  But most of these people keep them as guard dogs and refuse to give them up, so at the very least, GoR tries to educate them on how to provide better care for them.  They provide more adequate housing, straw, and kennels to keep them off the chains – this is the best they can do.  Seizing dogs alone won’t end the cycle, but tactfully helping them to see the error of their ways might.  Fortunately in this case, Bear’s owners were convinced to give him up.


“We come across a lot of chained-up dogs and you can’t get near them because of their frustration of being chained up. But that wasn’t the case here,” GoR founder Robert Misseri said. “When we arrived, he was wagging his tail. He greeted us. He’s great with people.”

Bear went to Save-A-Pet Animal Rescue until a home could be found for him.  The happy update of that came just today:

“Bear has left the shelter! Today is the first day of the rest of his golden years! Bear will be living large with his new mom Kerrie, who saw his story on Good Morning America,” the Guardians posted on Facebook.  “She and Bear make a wonderful pair. He has already made himself at home and discovered new beds, toys and a warm and cozy home! Thank you Kerrie, Save-A-Pet and GMA!”

In addition to helping outside dogs, the Guardians also do everything they can for outdoor kitties and homeless veterans who cannot go to shelters because they have pets.  But they need help doing all this amazing work.  If you would like to donate, please click here.

In case you didn’t know, these heroes have even gotten their own show on Animal Planet!  New episodes air on Saturdays at 10/9C.  To watch the episodes that have already aired online, just click here.  (Really.  No downloading, no signing up.  Just click and watch.  There are, however, still commercials.)

+ There are no comments

Add yours