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Do Tethering Laws Work?
You think chaining a dog 24/7 is cruel, harmful, negligent or even dangerous? You knowyou'd prefer to live in a safer, happier, healthier more animal friendly community, but canyour community ever really become that? You believe you'd like to see a tethering ban or limit in your area, but with people presenting so many different arguments, what shouldyou believe?Anyone who has been privilege to own a dog knows that dogs can be unpredictable.Situations may occur where you may be looking out the window at a dog sitting in themiddle of the street that has traffic backed up for a block, you call out to someone in your household to “come look at this crazy dog blocking traffic” when recognition sets in andit dawns on you the dog in the road is your own dog who should be secure in the fence.Moments like this can happen to the most responsible dog owner, a dog that has been perfectly content to spend time when you place them in the fence, suddenly figures out toopen the latch to the gate, or digs a hole under and escapes. However, a responsiblecitizen, though likely to be embarrassed to walk out in front of the honking vehicles, willretrieve his dog, fix the problem with the fence and insure that it does not happen again.Some people will find a way to neglect a dog no matter what anyone does. People may bring a dog inside and leave it crated, which is not responsible either. However, a doginside the crated inside the home will have a better opportunity at getting theownersattention than a dog left tethered in the yard. It’s like a crying baby relentless until itreceives attention. It also reduces the threat of the dog exposed to other people in thecommunity. We are not happy when we hear of a dog being neglected in any way, but adog inside the home will place a burden on the owner not on the community. The smelland the clean up alone will usually be enough for a negligent dog crater to want to re-home the dog.
 
The difference between dogs neglected outside and dogs neglected indoors is that when adog is a nuisance to the caretaker inside the home, the caretaker will be more likely to re-home the dog and not get any more dogs. A dog neglected outside is a nuisance toneighbors and the community.
 
Perhaps best articulated by Mahatma Gandhi when he said, “the greatness of a nation andits moral progress is best judged by how we treat our animals”. This principle expressesthe belief that when a community is compassionate enough to care about the needs of itsanimals there can be a reasonable expectation that the bar is raised on how we care andtreat one another.The reverse is also true. If we can dismiss the needs of our animals it becomes easier todismiss the needs of our infirmed, aged, and needy human populations. Caring aboutanimals serves as the ultimate litmus test for determining a community’s capacity for compassion."People with common sense might not see the need to regulate this (24/7 tethering), butsince there’s no law saying only people with common sense can have pets, we must do aswe do for children and put enough guidelines in place so that harm is prevented." - JillHoward Church on prohibiting tethering. Note: Anti-tethering laws, restrictions, limits, ordinances may also be referred to as“Tethering laws”Here are
seven statements from seven communities where tethering laws are inplace:
http://www.unchainyourdog.org/documents/Testimonials.pdf where tethering laws/limitsare already in place. Don't take our word for it, read for yourself.Here you will find a link to
model laws to use as possible guidelines when writing anordinance, a basic 1-10 "To-Do" list to changing laws, sample letters, supportingmaterial and advice for successful lobbying
:http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/laws.html This article by Monica Schreiber focuses on Pennsylvania's HB 1065, however, theinformation included, especially the
"Responses to Typical Questions"
section providesexcellent information and advice to use with Anti-Tethering Legislation anywhere:http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/WhyReasonableAntiTetheringLegWorks.pdf  How enforceable are tethering laws?
"Interviews with Communities with ChainingLaws"
by Ambuja Rosen lists statistics from 12 Communities that limit tethering:http://www.unchainyourdog.org/documents/Interviews_With_Communities_With_Chaining_Laws.pdf And again,
The 7 Communities Testimonial
will give answers from those who havegone on before to enforce tethering limits and bans:http://www.unchainyourdog.org/documents/Testimonials.pdf  
Articles and information
which provide answers as well as equip to help during the
 
transitional stages of a new tethering ordinance or law can be found here:http://www.dogsdeser vebetter.org/articles.htmlhttp://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/cwhindex.htmTowards the bottom of the page you will find articles on
How to Address CommonComplaints from those who Chain, Help to Train and Fence Your Dog and evenHow Far People will go to Stop Laws
. See also, Info and Tips:http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/infotips.htmlhttp://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/cwhindex.htm
Answers to common questions and complaints you may be faced with:Why is our Council or lawmakers concerned with dogs when we have moreimportant needs in our community?
More than likely a tethering ordinance is not the only item on the agenda and your government is concerned with many other items other than tethering of dogs. However, itdoes not make the situation in your community, the recent attacks on children all over thenation, and the criminal activity of dog fighting any less important.There is a lot of competition to bring businesses, factories, tourism and homeowners intoa community. Having a clean, friendly, wholesome community may just be the edge your area needs to sway someone to take interest in your community. Imagine an EconomicDevelopment Director taking a business prospect through the community and passingrows of houses with dogs chained in the yard. What does that say about your communityand the workers they would be employing? Would it say, lazy and uncompassionate?Would this be a place they would want to move and raise a family?
Tethering laws step on our constitutional rights as dog owners.
Do they? Anymore than ordinances on how high grass can grow on a property or ordinances that won’t let you leave garbage piled to attract rodents, or ordinances thatstate you cannot have an inoperable junk vehicle parked in your yard without license andtags? Many state laws require fencing around swimming pools so children will notwander on another’s property, fall in and drown. Are tethering laws any different? Wemake these laws for the safety and beautification of our community.
Tethering laws are a product of Animal Rights groups.
It is true that certain animal rights organizations support tethering laws, but just becausethey are in agreement does not make everyone wanting better laws an animal rightsgroup. The idea of passing such laws did not come from animal rights groups at all.Tamira Ci Thayne started Dogs Deserve Better as a mother living next door to a chaineddog she was concerned about for years. The majority of people involved in DogsDeserve Better are average citizens concerned about the safety of a neighbor’s dog or thesafety of children and found there were no laws to help them. From on-line searches theyfound they could easily join Thayne’s group and begin making the changes they wishedto see in their communities.
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