Don't do this to your dog!

We'll occasionally see dogs in the community with heavy chains around their necks. We don't understand the purpose of this other than to make the animal suffer. In response, we created this poster.

No Chains in our Community!

We've updated our poster and encourage everyone to distribute it as needed; please feel free to print; it's printable on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

New "No Chains" Poster

Addressing Mistreatment and Abuse

Barrio Dogs gets many questions about what to do about dogs that are being abused, starved or chained around the clock. We have prepared a list of resources people can use to report the abuse or neglect to the Houston Police Department, Humane Society or SPCA. That works some of the time. However, there are other times when we need a different approach; for those occasions, we have created some posters that we mail to the dog owners or post on their street. We're not sure how much this helps the dog but at least the owners know that somebody is aware of how they treat their dog and is watching them.

The posters are formatted for legal-sized (8 1/2" x 14") paper; feel free to print out and distribute as needed.

Greyson is Adopted!

Many best wishes to Greyson and his new family!

No More Chains - Video

Our friend Gurukarta Khalsa produced and directed this video, which features Gloria and Javier Zenteno, for our "No More Chains" program.


Barrio Dogs, Inc. in "No More Chains" from gk3halsa on Vimeo.

More Chained Dogs

This resident keeps her dogs chained 24x7. We have reported the situation to the authorities and are hopeful for a positive resolution.

Her beautiful but thin Golden Retriever mix was begging her to please take me off of this chain.

Small dog on a very heavy chain and the water was full of mosquitoes.

Please Help Greyson

Greyson was discovered in September 2011 tied up on a chain in a trailer park. We are happy to report that Greyson received enough sponsors to be neutered and get all of his vaccinations. Sadly, he remained at the trailer park until recently since we had no one to take him into foster or adopt him.

We are happy to report that Greyson is no longer living at the trailer park on a chain! He is being temporarily boarded at 610 Pet Lodge until his forever home is found. 

Please help us support Greyson, either by helping us find him a foster or permanent home or by contributing to his boarding costs. He is a sweet and handsome fellow who just needs a chance at a better life. 

For more information or to help, email at us at info@barriodogs.org. Thank you!

Another Chained Dog

We have received reports of another chained puppy in the Greater East End. The "owners" have left this adorable bull terrier pup chained up like this around the clock, where he cries and howls all day. He doesn’t have a sufficient lead to move around and has no water or food on site! We have reported this and are hoping the authorities will soon pay a visit.

Meet Otis, A Formerly Chained Dog

Otis is Barrio Dogs' poster dog for “NO MORE CHAINS”. He was found in the 3rd Ward, Houston with severe neck wounds. According to the vet, this was a senseless act of chaining a dog to the point where his neck started growing into his collar/chain. Thank goodness Otis managed to escape and was discovered by a rescuer, Estelle Mack. When found, he was starving and bleeding from his wounds. With the help of Hearthstone Animal Clinic and sponsored vetting by Barrio Dogs, Otis had surgery for his neck and was vaccinated and neutered. He is heart worm positive but is on his way to a better life. 

We get many emails about chained dogs and sadly, we cannot take them in. What we do promote is encouraging residents to report these situations to the authorities. Click here for more information about reporting animal cruelty. Part of the Barrio Dogs Watch Dog Program is to empower residents to help resolve the situation for the benefit of these dogs and their community. Otis is free from his chain now but we know we are only touching the surface of this problem. There are many animals suffering like this every day. It is everyone's responsibility to report these senseless crimes.