Off the Chain

Denver charity helps owners help their dogs

Lake Norman Currents | July 2019

By Aaron Garcia

Those that benefit from the Heart of the Carolinas Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry can expect a new fence, doghouse, water bucket, pooper scooper, toys, a tarp for shade and some straw. What they won't get? Judgment.

Rather, says spokesperson/publicist/fence builder Julie Rohe, the group's mission is to provide a better life for area dogs that are chained up, and to do so by helping their owners.

"We all don't think the same. We all haven't grown up the same way with animals being part of the family and stuff like that," says Rohe. "We don't judge."

Instead, they build. The group began in 2016 as an offshoot of Holly's Hope, a Huntersville-based charity with the same goal. In the first two years it erected two fences total before jumping to seven in 2018. As of June 2019, the group has already built 16 fences and untethered 35 dogs thanks to an influx of volunteers and donations, which included an equipment trailer from AJ's Landscaping.

As further proof of the need Heart of the Carolinas UUAM is answering, the impressive uptick in projects has largely happened organically. Rohe says that oftentimes the group will be in the middle of building a fence when neighbors approach them about getting an enclosure of their own. That's on top of the referrals they get from shelters. Plus, Rohe adds that her organization has trained a group that will soon be covering the Gastonia area, and there are whispers of another starting in the Cherokee area.

"It's spreading, which we're real proud of," says Rohe.

That means even more owners will have the chance to experience just how great life can be with a family pet when given the right environment.

"There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you see [a dog] run for the first time," says Rohe. "It's just incredible."