DURHAM - It is a counterintuitive enterprise, building a fence around something to set it free.

But Amanda Arrington and a small band of volunteers have been at it for months. Their tally so far: seven fences, 17 free dogs.

The fences allow the chains around the dogs' necks to come off.

"I think any dog that is continuously chained 24-7 is either going to be a sad broken dog, or they are going to assert themselves in a negative manner," said Arrington, 30. She launched the Coalition to Unchain Dogs last year, shortly after moving from Texas to Durham.

Her group builds fences for people such as Mildred Exum, who otherwise couldn't afford it. The one condition: The dogs must be spayed or neutered to avoid worsening the overpopulation problem.

"I thank the Lord for 'em," Exum said Thursday. "They're very, very nice people." Smiling, she watched her dogs hop all over each other, jockeying for Arrington's affections.

The transformation when the dogs are unchained is immediate, coalition members said Thursday as they built a wire fence for three dogs on Angier Avenue.

Sullen turns to exuberant. Aggressive turns to giddy.

"It's amazing," Arrington said. "It's like they're alive again."

Some dogs aren't as fortunate.

As much as the coalition members rejoice for a liberated dog, they are discouraged by the setbacks: owners who neglect their dogs after the fence is built, dogs that die before they can be helped, owners who take in new dogs they can't afford to care for.

One thing keeps the volunteers going.

"It is such a good feeling, to see the dogs put in the pen and run and play and lick and kiss, that you forget all the frustration," said Lori Hensley, one of five volunteers working at the Angier Avenue home. Coalition members want to spread that feeling.

Bid to ban tethering

The coalition has lobbied Durham and Orange county governments to ban or severely restrict dog tethering. Advisory boards in both counties have considered the proposal, and recommendations to county boards are expected in coming months.

New Hanover County and Roanoke Rapids are the two local governments in the state that ban chaining. Several others have strict guidelines for the kind of tether that can be used.

Arrington said she wants a statewide ban, though a bill in the Senate didn't make it to the floor for a vote this year.

"What a law would do is help weed out some of the people that maybe didn't need a dog anyway," she said.

The coalition's fence-building effort is part money-where-their-mouth-is, part showing policymakers that fences are better than chains.

"Nonrealistically, the ultimate goal is to get every single dog off the chain," Arrington said. "Right now, we're just going to ... do what we can."

Too late

Tee-Tee didn't quite make it.

Mildred Exum's beloved mutt had suffered for nearly a year from injuries to his trachea before Arrington came along.

Last summer, another dog had bitten his throat. That and the chain around his neck made it hard for Tee-Tee to breathe, Arrington said; the dog had "a pretty miserable existence."

Arrington was eager to build the fence to give Tee-Tee some relief. But the dog died three days before the fence was to go up.

"I wanted him to have just one day of freedom," Arrington said. The silver lining was that the fence has benefited Exum's other dogs, Malcolm and Precious.

"They're more friendly," Exum said.

Arrington, her husband, Casey; Lori Hensley and her husband, Robert, and Meredith Barthelemy trudged through muddy clay Thursday night, toiling for Brownie, Flex and Shell.

The crew had already built a fence for Brownie and Flex. But when the owners moved, the coalition stepped up to build a fence at their new house.

They were dismayed to find, though, that the owners, who did not want their names used in this story, had taken in Shell. Lori Hensley said the owners were already having trouble caring for Brownie and Flex.

Shell strained at the plastic tether around his neck Thursday night, vying for affection.

"If they can't afford a fence," Hensley said, "they can't afford to take care of another dog."

Arrington said there is a part of her that worried the fences enabled poor dog ownership.

But she said the alternative is worse: dogs remaining on chains and continuing to produce offspring that likely wouldn't be properly cared for.

"I don't think anything is going to solve the problem right away, but you've got to make steps," Arrington said. "This to me is like a first step in the right direction."