Dogs Deserve Better Tamira Thayne/Tammy Grimes The mission has changed. Poor management. DONORS BEWARE. Smithfield, Virginia

I was an area representative with DDB for 6 years... from 2005 to 2011. For two years I was also a regional coordinator, coordinating several states' area representatives. In the 6 years I served DDB, I independently rescued and rehabilitated over 100 dogs. I asked for vet help only twice, and help with dogs that needed rescue on two occasions. When I joined DDB in 2005, all the reps were separate entities. We managed our own "branch" of DDB, and I always took pride in my work and had much respect for the DDB name. I was impressed yet concerned with the amount of trust that DDB freely poured into their representatives. Aside from a monthly report submission, we were essentially able to make our own decisions, manage our own fundraising and finances, and organize our own rescues. As the organization grew, much of that changed. I began as a representative for my county, dealing with the public and the dogs in my area that needed help. As the DDB name spread, more and more people from all over my state needed assistance, and because DDB had a hard time keeping reps for long periods, at times I would be the only representative for 100s of miles. I was expected to respond to calls and requests for help all over my state, which was essentially impossible for any one person to do, aside from the fact that I was working a full time job on top of my 30+ hours per week of volunteering. Also, because I was more active than many other reps, I would end up receiving calls for areas that HAD representatives... but they wouldn't return calls and answer emails. I discussed this problem several times with regional coordinators and the rep coordinator, but nothing ever changed and the expectations were always there from the organization that I should be doing more. Last summer, after 6 years of dedicated volunteering, we reps were all informed out of the blue, that the group was putting us all on hiatus... but only "temporarily". We were sent a mass email that questioned our loyalty to the group and our dedication to the cause; told us to really think about what being a rep meant to us... the rep program was going to be revamped. I spoke with the founder and she asked that I join the restructuring committee. I emailed the rep coordinator to express my interest, but was never included in the process. One day, we all received an email informing us that the rep program was now going to be completely different; that all of us reps had to work HARDER and that we also ALL needed to REAPPLY to the position in order to be allowed to be a DDB representative. Once the deadline for reapplication came and went and mine went unsubmitted, I never heard from DDB again For all of the years I volunteered for them, all of the dogs that I helped, and all of the good that i gave to their organization, I was never thanked for my service, nor was it even acknowledged that I helped them for as long as I did. I was one of only a handful of representatives that stayed with the group as long as I did. I have met and spent hours with Tami, the founder, at a tabling event, had long phone conversations and email interchanges with the regional coordinators, rep coordinators, and even Tami. I poured my heart into the group, and in the end, my existence was never even acknowledged. I think that DDB has made a mistakes putting all of their resources into the rehab center and in letting their rep progam go. They have taken away resources to hundreds if not thousands of dogs all over the country in order to develop the rehab center that can help only a handful of dogs at a time. They have burned bridges with supporters and spent so much of their funds on the center that I believe could have been put to far better uses. And they continue to solicit donations, despite the fact that their money isn't even going towards public education or rescue at this point. It is being poured into the rehab center. DDB's focus has become so near sighted, I really fear that by pouring all of their resources into the center and by dropping so many of their supporters, that they have brought more harm to the dogs than good. It's a shame because I used to have a lot of respect for this group, but I also never thought they were going to throw away their loyal representatives .