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A Phoenix area animal advocate plans to tie herself to a tree Saturday in hopes of raising money to provide her shelter with air conditioned dog houses.

Erica Wellman, a caregiver with Friends for Life Animal Rescue in Gilbert, hopes the demonstration will bring awareness to the plight of dogs left tied up outside in Arizona’s heat.

Temperatures this week in Arizona are expected to reach 116, according to the Arizona Republic.

The non-profit, all-volunteer, no-kill shelter currently holds 21 dogs, but it is forced to rescue fewer in the summer because of space limitations. With air-conditioned dog houses, it would be able to keep dogs outside, and have room for more.

The group recently purchased three air-conditioned doghouses from a company in Alabama at a cost of $5,800.

The non-profit group hopes the “Erica Unchained” fundraiser, starting at 8 a.m., will raise at least a $1,000.

“I can feel what it is to be a dog for a day and see how hard it is for them to handle it,” Wellman said.

Wellman will be tied to a tree with a short leash attached to her waist. A thermostat board will keep track of donations as they come in. Wellman will allow herself to take a water and potty break with every $200 donated.

“I’m hoping to get the money fast so I can come inside,” she said.

The push to end dog tethering in Forsyth County, North Carolina, goes before the county commissioners tonight.

Animal groups in Forsyth County have been patiently working for years to build support for a law that would make it illegal to leave dogs tied up for long periods of time.

At tonight’s meeting, though the issue is not listed on the commissioners’ formal agenda, a large turnout of dog advocates are expected to show their support for the proposal. The meeting, at the County Government Center at 201 N. Chestnut Street, starts at 6 p.m.

If a measure were approved, Forsyth County, which includes Winston-Salem, would join 12 other North Carolina counties that have passed tethering bans.

Those behind the proposal — including the Forsyth County Humane Society, Furever Friends, Save the Animals, Dogs Deserve Better and the Coalition to Unchain Dogs — say public opinion seems to be strongly in their favor.

An on-line survey by the Winston-Salem Journal showed 64% of the public approved of a ban, and the county animal control department has recommended one.

Numerous studies have shown that chained dogs — in addition to often suffering from being tethered — are more likely to bite adults and children than those who are not chained.

More details are available on the Unchain Forsyth Facebook page

Hope, a mixed-breed dog that seemed to be on the road to recovery after being nearly decapitated in Georgia earlier this month when her owner left her tied to a tree, has died.

She was euthanized Tuesday after encountering breathing complications.

“The good thing is she got to know that people could be nice to her, because she got a lot of love when she was in the hospital,” Pat Corley, president of Forsyth’s Save-A-Pet organization, said Wednesday.

Hope had been at Caldwell Animal Hospital since July 7, when one of the rescue organization’s members spotted her at the pound in Monroe County, a huge gash running the length of her throat.

Although Save-A-Pet planned to cover all of Hope’s medical expenses, donations were coming in from as far away as Australia, and one Forsyth attorney wrote a check for about $1,500 to cover Hope’s expenses, the Macon Telegraph reported.

Shane Smith, the Save-A-Pet volunteer who took Hope to the hospital, was checking on her everyday, and he and his wife planned to adopt her once she recovered.

“She was sweet. She did fight. We just wanted her to have a chance,” Janet Smith said. “She just made such a great effect on so many people in such a short period of time.”

(Caution: Unsettling images appear with the continuation of this story.)

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A Maryland man who tied his dog outside in a hot July sun, with fatal consequences, was ordered to spend 90 days in jail and do 50 hours of community service.

Judge Janice Rodnick Ambrose suggested Michael Patrick Flemming, 24, of Thurmont, do his community service at the Frederick County Animal Control shelter, the Frederick News-Post reported.

“They may not want you,” Ambrose said Tuesday in District Court. “But I think you should have to work with animals for what you’ve done.”

Convicted of four misdemeanor charges in the July 25, 2009, death of Taurus, a 3-year-old black and brown Rottweiler, Flemming offered a brief statement: “There’s no amount of time you can give me that will erase what I have to deal with every day.”

“‘He was my baby,’”  Flemming said in a two-page handwritten statement. “‘I loved him almost more than anyone in my life.’”

Flemming told the court he’d put his dog out to urinate, went inside and fell asleep. He didn’t mention that he chained the dog to a stake, without  water, an omission the judge pointed out.

“You tied your dog up. That’s why you are here today,” Ambrose said. “Your poor dog is dead because you didn’t love it enough to take care of it.”

A landscaper found the 112-pound dog unconscious in the middle of Flemming’s yard and contacted animal control officers, according to court documents.

Flemming has a sentencing hearing set for next week on fleeing and eluding charges, and another hearing next month on drug charges, according to court documents.

Six days a week, Kate Quigley leaves her Kansas City neighborhood and ventures into those whose residents are less fortunate, meaning, often, that their dogs are, too.

In a 25-year-old pickup truck, she scouts out animal abuse and neglect — and situations verging on that — and offers food, hay, doghouses, toys, spaying and neutering and more.

Often referred to as “the dog lady” or “Miss Kate,”Quigley knocks on doors, talks to owners and drops off supplies — up until recently as a representative of  Spay & Neuter Kansas City and No More Homeless Pets KC, where, last year alone she brought in 438 cats and 562 dogs to be spayed and neutered, gave away 95 doghouses and 14,700 pounds of dog food and talked to 3,030 households.

Now she’s started her own non-profit called Chain of Hope, according to the Kansas City Star. The newspaper reports that several volunteers have switched affiliations from other groups to join Quigley, a recently divorced mother of three,  in her cause.

Chain of Hope’s mission, she says, is to break the chain of ignorance for pet owners who neglect their outside dogs, to break the chain of unwanted litters, and to persuade dog owners who leave their animals tied up to unchain them, or at least use less harmful cable tie-outs.

“I don’t get it when people tell me that a dog is for protection, but the dog is tied up on a chain at their back gate. How will a chained dog protect them?” 

(Photo by DAVID EULITT / Kansas City Star; to see the entire gallery, click here.)

A Westie left tied by his owner outside a New York supermarket was relieved of his winter wear — that’s right, somebody stole the coat off his back.

Donna McPherson, 42, says she tied up Lexie, her 10-year-old Westie, in front of Ace Supermarket in Park Slope “for two minutes” so she could buy milk.

When she returned, the $25 green wool coat with leather trim he’d been wearing was gone.

Here’s how McPherson relayed the facts to F—ed in Park Slope, a blog that isn’t nearly as dirty as its name:

I ran out of milk Sat night at 6.30pm so bundled Lexie up in his little green coat and walked down to Union & 7th to get some milk from Ace Supermarket. I tied Lexie to the door (where I could see him through the glass) and grabbed the milk. As anyone who’s been in Ace knows, the milk is located right inside the door, so I only had my back turned on Lexie for 10 seconds or so ( I know, I know: people will shout at me for leaving him alone outside and I  never normally do, but I needed some milk!). I was back outside within less than a minute, and when I came out someone had STOLEN THE GREEN COAT off of Lexie’s back!?.

WHAT. THE. F—??? I mean, who does that? 

I thank god the dog coat thief didn’t steal Lexie, but I never expected my friggin dog to get mugged!  Lexie is OK post traumatic incident, but I swear to God: if I see someone with a dog in Lexie‘s green coat you better run in the opposite direction!!”

McPherson, an investment banker, told the New York Post she attempted to make it up to Lexie by buying him two new coats.

(Photo: Gregory P. Mango/New York Post)