Protesters live a dog's life in DuPage Co. to raise awareness
Saturated sleeping bags dried on a chain-link fence while several protesters caught up on the sleep overnight weather and the chains around their necks had robbed them of Sunday morning.
But determination still abound in the participants of a 24-hour protest of the concept of leaving dogs outside, unattended and alone.
Many of the participants slept in wooden or plastic doghouses in a fenced area at the DuPage County Fairgrounds. Others had no shelter or defense other than shivering when the dime-sized hail and wind-whipped rains struck Saturday.
Organizer Tammy Grimes said she and the other protesters endured the conditions to show how far too many dogs spend their entire lives.
"It was absolutely horrible," Grimes said of the past 24 hours. "We were troopers because of the dogs, but none of us wanted to go through it."
Among the participants was 10-year-old Sammy Ahlman of Naperville, who signed up when she heard her aunt and uncle were coming all the way from West Virginia to participate.
Ahlman said she built her wooden doghouse herself and used it and the warmth of her two tiny dogs, Jinx and Jayden, to get through the night. Other than that, participants had no books, music or other form of entertainment to pass the time.
Some, including Ahlman's aunt and uncle, Julie and Cory Ferguson, didn't even bring food for the 24-hour protest.
"We just wanted to bring more awareness to the cause," Julie Ferguson said. "It's one of those causes people don't think about. But it's in dogs' nature to want to be with people, not alone like many of them are left.
"We had each other, but most of these dogs have nothing. Just being tied to a chain and sitting there isn't a life for anything, really."
About 17 people participated in the protest. The demonstration is an annual event, but this is the first time the protest has come to DuPage County. Grimes helped organize similar events throughout the country for the past six years through her organization, "Dogs Deserve Better."