You can help these animals. On this page, there are multiple opportunities to take action for dogs with the click of a button.

Right now, many are suffering in laboratories and seedy “blood banks.” They’re being pushed beyond their limits by cruel industries that force them to race or pull bulky sleds for human entertainment. Restrained by a heavy chain, they’re left outdoors in all weather extremes—sometimes without basic necessities like food, water, and shelter. Despite an animal overpopulation and homelessness epidemic, countless dogs are being treated as nothing more than breeding machines.

You care about dogs. You always stop to help them. You would do anything to keep them safe.

Dogs used in the annual Iditarod trail race are forced to run nearly 1,000 miles—roughly the distance from Orlando, Florida, to New York City—in under two weeks. On average, they must run 100 miles a day, with only a few brief periods of rest. They’re subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures. Their feet are cut by the ice and become bruised, bloodied, and worn out because of the vast distances that they cover. Many incur pulled muscles and stress fractures or suffer from diarrhea, dehydration, intestinal viruses, and aspiration pneumonia (caused by inhaling their own vomit). On average, about half the dogs who start the race don’t finish. In the 2018 race, 350 animals were pulled from the trail, many because of exhaustion, illness, or injury. The deadly event has killed more than 150 dogs since it began in 1973, including one who died during the 2018 event from choking on his own vomit and five who died during the 2017 race.

Greyhounds used for racing are caged for 22 to 23 hours a day, given performance-enhancing drugs—including cocaine—and forced to run to the point that many sustain broken legs, develop heatstroke, or suffer heart attacks. They have incurred spinal injuries, broken necks, and crushed skulls, and some have been electrocuted when they’ve collided with electric fences. After they’re “retired” from racing, many are sent to seedy “blood banks”—facilities, such as California’s Hemopet , that warehouse dogs in crates and barren kennels, subject them to repeated blood draws, and deny them proper exercise, companionship, and even needed medical care.

At Texas A&M University , experimenters intentionally bred golden retrievers to develop canine muscular dystrophy (MD). This disease ravages their bodies, causing progressive muscle wasting and weakness. Puppies with MD used in these experiments were so weak at birth that they require extra nutrition. By the time they were 6 weeks of age, their hind limbs shifted forward, making walking difficult, and some were even unable to open their mouths or jaws. Nearly 40 years of these studies haven’t led to a cure or even a treatment to reverse disease symptoms in humans.

Numerous pharmaceutical companies subject dogs to frightening and painful procedures in the development and testing of companion animal–care products, such as flea and tick sprays and spot treatments. A nine-month PETA eyewitness investigation of a laboratory in which such experiments were conducted revealed that dogs had untreated illnesses and injuries, including burns. They suffered from bloody feces, worm infestations, oozing sores, abscessed teeth, hematomas, and pus- and blood-filled infected wounds without receiving adequate veterinary care. Employees viciously cursed at, kicked, and dragged them.

Dogs Are Not Ours to Wear

While nearly every American is rightly repulsed by the idea of wearing the fur or skin of a dead dog, they’re at risk of doing just that every time they buy animal-derived fabrics like leather or purchase a fur-trimmed garment.

A deeply disturbing PETA Asia eyewitness investigation revealed that dogs were bludgeoned and killed so that their skin and fur could be turned into cat toys and trim on jacket collars as well as leather gloves, belts, and other accessories. Most of the world’s leather comes from China, where there are no penalties for abusing animals killed for their skins. Workers were filmed grabbing one dog after another around the neck with metal pinchers and bashing them over the head with a wooden pole. Some dogs fell unconscious, while others cried out and writhed in agony. Some still struggled to breathe after their throats were cut and before their skin was torn off. Products made from dog leather are intentionally mislabeled and exported around the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers. So if you buy leather, remember that there’s no easy way to tell whose skin you’re really in.



If you wouldn’t wear the dead body parts of your dog, there’s no excuse for wearing those of any other animal. Below, you can pledge to avoid fabrics that may be derived from dogs.



Dogs Are Not Ours to Abuse in Any Way

For every lucky dog who has a comfortable home, nutritious food, and loving guardians, countless others suffer at the hands of incompetent or abusive people, struggle to survive on the street, or are waiting in animal shelters for a good home.

On any given day in the United States, there are an estimated 70 million homeless dogs and cats struggling to survive. Homeless dogs and cats on the streets get hit by cars, are vulnerable to attacks by other animals and cruel people, and contract, spread, suffer and die from contagious diseases. Of the millions of animals who enter shelters each year, about half must be euthanized for humane reasons or because no suitable homes exist for them. The single most important thing that we can do to save dogs from the suffering and death caused by their overpopulation is to spay and neuter them.

Spaying and neutering are routine, affordable surgeries that can prevent thousands of animals from being born, only to suffer and struggle to survive on the street, be abused by cruel or neglectful humans, or be euthanized in animal shelters. Remember: When you buy an animal from a pet store or breeder, you’re responsible for the death of an animal in a shelter who needed a home. If you want to bring an animal into your life, always adopt—don’t shop.

Chaining dogs, or “tethering” as it’s sometimes called, is a national public- and animal-welfare crisis. One study found that chained dogs were 2.8 times more likely to attack than those who weren’t tethered. Dozens of Americans are attacked every year by chained dogs, with most victims being children. Continuous chaining is also detrimental to the physical well-being of dogs. What’s more, many who are chained are deprived of adequate food and water, shelter, and veterinary care, and their social needs are ignored. They frequently die of heatstroke in the summer or exposure to the cold in the winter. They’re often choke to death by their tethers or are attacked by other animals or cruel people. Find out how you can take action the next time that you see a dog chained outdoors.