Dawn Ashby

Devoted Volunteer and Foster Mama Saving Dogs from a Life on the End of a Chain!

by Tamra Monahan
photos by Darin Ashby

Dawn Ashby is passionately devoted to rescuing dogs chained up by neglectful owners who treat them as unloved pieces of property. Saving these dogs is her life’s work, a mission that began with one lonely puppy who was chained at the far end of a desolate backyard.

Dawn witnessed the inhumane treatment of this Labrador mix-breed pup, and she was heartsick as she watched him grow up all alone in mud and feces. Year after year, the dog was chained outside, and when neighbors called animal control officials and the police, they were told there were no existing laws to help him.

To ease the dog’s suffering, Dawn often gave him food and water. As he grew restless on the chain, he became more aggressive—but not toward Dawn, one of the few people who showed him compassion. Eventually, she was the only person who could approach him, and he even began to act as if he were her dog. Chained next to Dawn’s property, far away from his owner’s home, the dog would become excited when she pulled into her driveway. When his owner returned home, the dog never made a sound.

An affectionate bond grew between the big, black dog and Dawn, who brought him lots of toys and bones. But one afternoon, Dawn realized she needed to do more for her canine friend when she saw something that unexpectedly proved to her that toys without companionship are meaningless. As a neighbor in an adjacent yard tossed a toy to his own dog, the black dog watched longingly through the chainlink fence, then rooted through his pile of playthings until he found the same toy. Dawn’s heart ached for the lonely dog who held the toy in his mouth, slowly wagging his tail as he stood on his circle of ground worn from years of pacing. When he tossed the toy into the air and caught it, Dawn knew that this dog understood.

He understood that he wanted a family, he wanted to play, he didn’t want to be chained. He longed to be part of something, part of someone, and to live a life where people would toss a toy to him to fetch.

“It would be a day that changed my life,” Dawn says. “I had to call someone. I needed to call someone who would help him. Sadly, there was no one to call. No one would help. In that same moment yet another truth presented itself to me. I am someone. I am that someone who can help.”

Dawn searched the Internet and found Dogs Deserve Better, an organization created by Tamira Ci Thayne that works to save chained and penned-up dogs, enact laws against chaining dogs, and promote a world where dogs are free from the shackles of chains. As soon as Dawn discovered that she was not alone in her fight for dogs’ rights, she immediately volunteered for Dogs Deserve Better and has fostered hundreds upon hundreds of backyard rescues in her home. “I’ve seen laws change, I’ve watched as other organizations joined in the fight, I’ve witnessed Tami struggle as her compassion and dedication to DDB opened her to adversity with finances, family, friends, enemies, the courts. I’ve observed her growing strength, I’ve made an amazing friend in her and I love her dearly,” she says.

“I’m indebted to Dogs Deserve Better and Tamira Ci Thayne. I owe my life to a 24/7-chained, skinny mixed-breed, 
forgotten backyard dog,” Dawn says. “He helped me find my voice, my purpose; he changed me from a silent citizen to an outgoing advocate. I will never feel small, insignificant, or silent again. I am someone making a difference.”

Dawn’s devotion to saving animals from the cruelty of humans began with an act of kindness by her older brother. When he saw a man beating a young Doberman and shouting that the dog was too stupid to be taught, her brother
offered the man twice what he paid for the dog, and the man took it. That night, Dawn came home and found a skinny red Doberman hiding behind the family’s living room chair. Her heart melted, and she was thrilled when her brother told her she had the job of caring for their new dog and teaching her not to be afraid through love and kindness. This job planted a seed in Dawn, a seed that would grow into a desire to help dogs who have been abused and neglected by their owners.

“I’ve volunteered for many rescues,” she says. “A couple of my favorites have been United Animal Nations and Illinois Dalmatian Rescue, but Dogs Deserve Better will always remain closest to my heart. I can’t imagine a time I won’t be volunteering for DDB. I also drive transports for many other rescues and individuals pulling pound animals from death row and getting them to safety. Much of the time I’m not really sure which rescue I’m volunteering with when I answer a call for help. Fortunately enough people know me, and I have become a trusted ally.”

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The day Dawn Ashby decided to break her silence was the day her life changed forever.

“You and me…our lives begin the day we break our silence about things that matter. The lives of chained and penned backyard dogs will begin when they cease to exist as pieces of unwanted, unloved, forgotten property and become valued as part of a family. This will only happen because of us, because of you and me. Together we will end this suffering that has been an accepted norm of our society for far too long.”

Dawn is always fostering a dog or two, and she encourages other people to get involved in fostering rescued dogs 
because the need is greater than the resources available. Dogs Deserve Better is constantly looking for quality foster families who can provide love, some training, and a place to stay until a forever home is found.

For more information or to 
make a donation:
www.dogsdeservebetter.org.