Fences for Fido gives tethered dogs a better place to play and roam

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Nov 24, 2009, Updated Nov 25, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

“Bear” is happy with his new fence because it allows him to run in the yard, free of the chain that had tethered him to a tree. Bear's owners received new fencing from Fences For Fido.

Jim Clark / Gresham Outlook

With a broken down chain-link fence leaving his neighbor’s back yard exposed, Lonnie Willis felt he had little choice but to keep his dogs, Bear and Sable, tethered to trees while he and wife, Lynne, were off at work.

Now, a few weeks after a volunteer crew repaired the fence and built a doghouse, the Gresham resident is thrilled by his pooches’ fresh demeanor.

“I can see how much happier they are,” he says as the 7-year-old dogs frantically scamper in the expansive, fenced yard. “They were confined. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it a bit.”

Willis is the first Gresham-area client of Fences for Fido. The Portland-based nonprofit, volunteer organization builds or repairs fences and doghouse enclosures for anyone whose pet is restricted to a chain while outside.

Formed in May, the program provides spaying and neutering, as well as sheltering, at no charge.

Demand for what leaders envisioned as a one-build-per-month operation has quickly grown to four monthly projects. In addition to Gresham and Portland, Fences for Fido has provided services to clients in Boring, Estacada and as far away as Salem and Albany.

Inspired by a similar program in North Carolina, dog lovers and best friends Andrea Kozil and Kelly Peterson had a feeling the concept would fly in Oregon.

“We got a group together, and everyone loved the idea,” says Kozil, who serves as Fences for Fido’s chairwoman. “The woman from the North Carolina program actually flew out to meet with us and helped build the first fence.”

Working mostly by word-of-mouth and its Web site, Fences partners with the Oregon Humane Society and Multnomah County Animal Services to further its mission. All donated funds are channeled into fence and doghouse building. Businesses and individuals with leftover poles and fencing from their own projects donate much of the materials.

Given how protective people tend to be of their pets — not to mention the way they care for them — Kozil says most everyone she and her colleagues approach are receptive to the idea.

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