Break the Chains

Dogs on a tether are more aggressive and susceptible to injury, and animal rights activists are aiming to bring an end the chain of terror

By Sharon L. Peters
CTW Features

Chaining or tethering dogs – usually day and night, often for all of most of their lives – is in the cross hairs of various animal groups and legislative bodies. Scores of anti-chaining campaigns are hitting TV and the Internet, and lawmakers across the country are passing legislation that bans chaining or severely limits the time a dog can be chained or tethered.

“It is an awful way for dogs, who are sociable creatures and want to be with their people, to live,” says Scotlund Haisley, executive director of the Washington Animal Rescue League, Washington, D.C., which, like many shelters, will not let a person who intends to chain a dog adopt it there. In his days as an animal welfare officer he saw dogs that had hanged themselves on their tethers, were badly infected from neck-embedded collars, were dehydrated or malnourished because they couldn’t reach their bowls or were highly aggressive as the result of isolation.

Chained dogs, in fact, become so miserable and unstable they can be a public health risk. “One of the better predictors of whether a dog is going to bite someone is if it has lived on a chain,” says Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of anti-cruelty initiatives and legislative services for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), New York City.

Dozens of organizations, from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), are publicizing the campaign with billboards and celebrity public service announcements. Smaller grass-roots groups also are taking measures. Unchain Your Dog, Little Rock, Ark., successfully pushed for anti-chaining law, rescues chained dogs and has developed a repository of facts, stats and educational material that can be accessed on her Web site Unchain Your Dog. And volunteers from throughout the country affiliated with Dogs Deserve Better, Tipton, Penn., who have been working for years to ban tethering, chained themselves to poles for a weekend in July to publicize the issue.

The facts anti-chain advocates:

– A friendly, happy dog, when kept continually chained and isolated, often becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and aggressive, says the HSUS.

– A chained dog is 2.8 times more likely to bite than an unchained dog, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

– Chained dogs are subject to more attacks by other animals and humans, the HSUS says.

– At least 166 children were killed or seriously injured by chained dogs nationwide between October 2003 and March 2007, according to Dogs Deserve Better.

More than a dozen communities from Georgia to Texas have passed chaining bans (and more are considering them); 50 cities, including Los Angeles, Topeka, Austin, Louisville and Denver have passed laws that limit tethering to short periods. You can see the full list here.

Tammy Grimes, founder of Dogs Deserve Better, knows first hand how traumatized chained dogs are.

She has fostered about 100 previously chained dogs, and found them new homes after weeks or months of training and socialization. Their behaviors when they first enter her home are consistent: Confused and needy. They follow her from room to room as they become accustomed to in-house rhythms, sounds, textures (like rugs) and the mysteries of connecting with a human.

“Every dog I get off a chain and bring into my home wants to be with me, very close to me, all the time,” she says.

With time they build trust and confidence, and become quite normal. “It really depends on how many years they were chained, what level of contact they had with family members and their individual personalities,” she says.

It takes days or weeks for them to become house trained, and varying lengths of time to get comfortable with people, says Grimes, whose group boasts 151 representatives in 36 states who are working to spread the anti-chaining message, helping owners of chained dogs come up with containment alternatives, fostering previously chained dogs and pressing for legislation.

All but one of the dogs Grimes has fostered have “come around” and become solid pets. The exception attacked Grimes when she approached a food bowl three weeks after he was rescued from years of chain life. He was euthanized.

As anti-chaining evidence has mounted, most rescue groups and many shelters now refuse to give a dog to someone who says it will be chained.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Richmond, Va., says it’s a deal-breaker there, too, “But we know that dogs are relatively easy to come by,” says Robin Starr, executive director. “And if the person doesn’t get it from us, he’ll get one somewhere, and that dog will live on a chain. So we try to educate those people. We don’t merely say no, we explain the reasons and offer to help them merge the dog with the family and figure out reasonable containment methods.”

Sometimes the teaching moment convinces them, but not always, Starr says. “Some people just aren’t interested.”

Grimes believes many of the people who have relinquished chained dogs to her were brought up in homes where dogs were chained. And many dogs, she suspects, are banished from the house and relegated to a chain because they were more energetic and harder to house train than expected, or they have chewing or destructive behaviors.

Time, patience and consistent training will solve all those issues, experts say. Many shelters offer help with problem dogs, the HSUS provides some specific tips, alternatives and, to present to friends or neighbors who are chaining dogs, 50 instructional brochures for one dollar.

What’s your question? Sharon Peters would like to hear about what’s on your mind when it comes to caring for, training and loving your pet. E-mail Sharon@Pets2008.com.

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