Piece by piece, a fence is unloaded and put together for a lucky dog.
It's the mission of Helping Animals Reach Tomorrow or H.A.R.T.
Cappy Jeffers and her family spend their weekend removing large chains from dogs, giving them a new place to live and sometimes a new fence.
"In return for the kennel, they give up the chain. So, it's just really neat. It's very rewarding, and could have started without my daughter who actually suggested the Facebook page."
Helping the pooches is a family affair. More than 100 dogs have been unchained since July and 20 fences have been built in the Vicksburg and Tallulah, Louisiana areas.
"When they're chained, they're defenseless. They're defenseless to humans, to other animals, to any type of prey," explained Jeffers.
"I love animals and I don't like to see them like this, and then I think it will be better for the people because they'll learn to, that maybe they shouldn't chain their dogs and a pen is better for them," said Jeffers' daughter Alexa.
On Saturday the Jeffers family built a fence for two Vicksburg dog owners. At one site a dog was aggressive towards Jeffers while on a chain. Once the fence was built, less than 30 minutes later, the dog had a different attitude.
Jeffers believes what she calls "The release," can help a dog relax and not become as aggressive.
"It's freedom for them, you know, and when you go from a four foot chain to a 20 foot fence; it's incredible the transformation."
Jeffers says most owners are more than happy to get a new type of cord, to replace the chains.
"It's just what they see and what they know, and then when we do a build they're just as excited as we are."
Jeffers says H.A.R.T. is in desperate need of kennels.
The organization had six builds Saturday and have ten scheduled for Sunday.
For more information visit H.A.R.T.'s Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/WLBT3?fref=ts#!/HartFoundationHelpingAnimalReachTomorrow?fref=ts
Copyright 2012 WLBT. All rights reserved.
https://www.facebook.com/HartFoundationHelpingAnimalReachTomorrow
Courtesy of Facebook, HART-(Helping Animals Reach Tomorrow)
WLBT 3 - Fox 40
