Youngstown woman chains herself to cage to make a point

YOUNGSTOWN — Jennifer Groza believes no dog should be chained outdoors, and she spent half a day tethered to a cage in her grandparents’ front yard to emphasize that point.

Groza, a 24-year-old Youngstown native and student at the Western School of Health and Business in Pittsburgh, covered the medium-sized animal pen with tarp and attached herself to it with a 12-foot chain Sunday morning. There, surrounded by family and neighbors, she sat for 10 hours.

Groza’s actions were part of the “Chainging Lives” national effort by the Dogs Deserve Better Organization to raise awareness of the plight of dogs that are constantly chained outside. About 104 people in 34 states participated in the event.

“We want to raise public awareness that people still chain their dogs outside forever and this is considered a form of animal abuse,” she said. “People don’t realize that chaining outside is one of the causes of aggression because [the dogs] are shut out from the world, and when they do get loose, that is when kids can get bit.”

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com