Local bands unite to break canines' chains

A dog chained to a tree or post certainly isn’t an uncommon sight on a summer flit through your typical neighborhood.

For Amanda Arrington, executive director of the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, that is precisely the problem.

“There are just so many things that can go wrong when a dog is chained up,” Arrington said. “Dogs are left open to attacks from other animals, free-roaming dogs, ill-intentioned neighborhood kids.

“There’s no barrier to protect the dog.”

And that’s where the Coalition steps in.

Founded in Durham four years ago, the once small-town movement to give dogs a better quality of life has grown to a regional affair with eight chapters across three states.

The coalition provides free spaying and neutering, vaccinations and fencing for chained dogs.

Arrington’s focus toward outreach and community involvement is perhaps one of the reasons the Durham chapter has a waitlist of almost seventy-five dogs.

“We tried to think of events that wouldn’t just attract people who like dogs and support our cause but ones that would attract the population as a whole,” she said.

The result is Music For Fences, an annual benefit concert four years running. Building fences isn’t cheap ­— the coalition spends around $360-400 per fence — and the family-oriented fundraiser has become the Durham chapter’s signature event.
“Our goal this year is $20,000,” Arrington said.

The benefit plans to meet that goal with its $12 ticket sales — an attractive price considering the event consistently books some of the Triangle’s best independent music.

Past acts include Midtown Dickens, Superchunk and Lost in the Trees.

Folk-pop sweethearts and Chapel Hill locals Birds and Arrows are first on the bill and might draw more cat people to Durham Central Park than anything.

“We have an interesting dichotomy with our audience,” singer-songwriter Pete Connolly said. “We have like this thirty-to-fifty-something sector and then a younger, more hipster sector.”

What’s sure to bring in a crowd this year is a rare performance from commended indie rockers The Mountain Goats.

“This will be our first full band show in the Triangle in two years,” Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster said.

Arrington has already seen the effects of a popular headliner. “They kind of have a cult following — not just here locally, but regionally,” she said. “We have people who’ve bought tickets from Virginia, Pennsylvania — I think we’re going to have a very good turnout.”

It’s not hard for musicians playing the event to relate to the coalition’s purveying of better treatment for dogs.

“It’s a cause that’s near and dear to my heart,” Wurster said. “It’s such a helpless feeling to see dogs that are chained up.

“Knowing that they’re getting fed and that their basic needs are getting met, but they’re not enjoying a full life.”

People come for the cause, for the beer and for the music. But for Jon Wurster, it’s about the dogs.

“This is kind of strange, but I always love meeting dogs,” Wurster said.

“I’ll stop at every dog and pet them. Which isn’t always great – I got bitten in the face once.”

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.