The problem with anti-chaining legislation

**Gempress** · #1 04-17-2008, 09:45 AM

Since there have been many threads lately supporting anti-chaining or anti-tethering legislation, I decided to start a thread against these kinds of laws. I thought it would be great for us to post information and our personal experiences about why this legislation is a bad thing. That way, anybody doing a search on the topic can read this thread and find a lot of good information in one place.

Disclaimer: One more thing, Chazzers. I know we *love* to chit-chat, throw in some jokes and occassionally take things off-topic. But for the sake of keeping this thread as a reliable, credible source of information, let's keep it serious.

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There are many reasons out there, but I'll start with the one relating to my personal experience: the infamous antics of Voodoo.

There's a reason Voodoo is called "The Chaos Demon." He's a very agile and strong dog, and from an early age, he found it easy to go over our fence whenever he felt so inclined. My husband and I spent hundreds of dollars raising the height of the fence and adding additional deterrants. It was no use. No matter how high we raised the fence, Voodoo just jumped higher. Even the 7-foot wooden gate we installed (we built it ourselves in an attempt to make it Voodoo-proof), was no barrier. And when we finally thought we had him contained, he proved us wrong in a spectacular fashion. He cannonballed straight THROUGH the wood, leaving a mass of splintered wood and a dog-shaped hole in the fence.

That's when we bought a tether, and it was a godsend. Don't get me wrong, Voodoo is primarily an indoor dog. But he does love to nap and play in the yard. On the tether, he can go outside and play to his heart's content, and we never have to worry about him leaping the fence and causing problems.

Some suggested that tethers are horrible devices, and we should allow Voodoo outside only on a leash. Why?? How much fun is it for a dog to be forever limited to a 6-foot length of rope? On his 25 foot tether, he can enjoy more than 1,962 square feet of running room. Plenty to jump, bounce, chase and do all the things that dogs like. Without the tether, we would have never been able to keep our dog.

Voodoo's case is not unique, either. There are so many escape artist dogs out there. Without tethers or tie-outs, responsible owners have no options to safely contain dogs like Voodoo: only a leash or a crate. And I don't see that as the best interest of the dog.

jess2416 · #2 04-17-2008, 10:34 AM

While I do have a fenced in area of my yard it is only 30' x 30'.. that is no where near big enough for a dog with Chloe's energy and drive to be able to run as much as she wants.. however it is big enough for her to lounge around in while we are all gone..(she is a primarily inside dog, although in Summer she stays outdoors alot more and only comes in at night and sleeps inside, like Voodoo she enjoys the outside)

I do have a tether for her, because right now, I cant afford to get my backyard fully fenced in, and its my parents yard... her tether is 40 feet long with gives her 80' feet to run (not sure of the square footage)... which of course not as much as I wish she had, but its enough so that she can explore nearly the WHOLE back yard, and she can fun, play fetch, and what have you..

Chloe doesn't have a reliable recall, she follows her nose, and if something RUNS she will chase, no matter what it is, so I'm not going to risk having her shot at, things thrown at her, or picked up by animal control..

So as far as I'm concerned like Gempress, a tether has been a wonderful TOOL that I have been able to use...

bubbatd · #3 04-17-2008, 10:40 AM

To me tethering occasionally and chaining out , are 2 different things .

**Gempress** · #4 04-17-2008, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbatd

To me tethering occasionally and chaining out , are 2 different things .

Sadly, that's not the case in the eyes of the law. Here's a quote in a recent post about one proposed anti-tethering legislation in Georgia.

Quote:

In addition, the ordinance requires that owners prevent their animals from becoming nuisances to others and that when not secured in a pen or fenced yard, dogs must be on a leash held by an able-bodied person.

According to this, even if I was in the yard with Voodoo while he was tethered, or even if I left him out for only a few minutes, I would be in violation.

I've seen other ordinances that have 3-4 hour time limits, and I'm not even sure if I agree with that. Voodoo has stayed outside for eight hours at a time during nice weather---his choice, he can ask to come in whenever he wants. Heck, he's stayed out on a tether for longer than 4 hours when we're all outside having a barbecue. And I don't think he's being abused.

Linds · #5 04-17-2008, 11:15 AM

At our house we don't have a fence, nor do we plan on ever getting one. We have a nice size yard that would be very expensive to put up a reliable fence. We live in a small little group of houses in the middle of town where we are close to our neighbors and a fence would really truly limit the amount of interaction that we would have with them. Instead we have a long zip line around 30 feet (maybe more) with a rope on it (about 30 feet also) that give the dogs a lot of place to run. In our front yard we have a 20ish food line tied to a fence post and then scattered around the yard we have a few 15 or so foot long lines tied to a brick (or more depending on what dog is on it).

This makes it so that no matter were we are in our lawn we can have the dogs out with us.

I have three dogs right now, one 5 year old female, one 14 year old male and one 7 month old puppy. Hannah, the five year old female doesn't like to be outside unless she is getting direct interaction with someone or they are sitting out there when she is out. She loves to lay out there in the summer on the grass while you read or garden and just be with you. The puppy of course isn't outside by herself yet but still gets to run around, romp and play. But Rascal, our 14 year old male loves nothing more than being outside on the lead sleeping in the grass.

In the summer he's out on his lead for hours at a time, typically, depending on the heat, for at most 14ish hours a day. He has water and gets fed out there and my dad will a lot of times sit on our deck while he's out there. Rascal (and the other dogs) have the option to go in at all times, the lead reaches the doors to our house which they can push open and do push open when they feel like it. But he doesn't do that very often. He loves it outside on his rope basking in the sun.

He doesn't really go on walks, he's old with arthritis, half blind and deaf. But he does love to be outside. If we had a fence in yard he would do the exact thing he does now, lay down and sleep.

Hannah while not a fan of being a lone outside also likes to lie there in the summer and sleep and/or play with Rascal. She will normally be out there for a few hours everyday.

By almost all anti-tethering laws we would be criminals and fined.

My dogs, in my opinion are better taken care of than many dogs I see that aren't tethered or restrained with some kind of rope/chain etc. Would I like to have a fence? Of course I would, but do I think not having one makes me a bad dog owner? Not in the least, I think it makes me responsible enough to figure out a safe alternative to a fence that keeps my dogs happy.

JennSLK · #6 04-17-2008, 11:30 AM

Emma has a tie out at the farm. She is a scent hound and I can not fence the farm since it doesnt belong to me. Without her 60 foot tie she would be lost, stolen, hit by a car or killed by cyotes. To me its a wonderfull thing.

darkchild16 · #7 04-17-2008, 01:10 PM

With Tytus we two acres of wooded property with a part of it cleared for the house and a yard. The only fence we are cleared to be able to build in the area (land owned ultimatly by the State since it is infact a state forest) is a chicken wire or said type construction fence. There is not allowed to be permanent structures the only homes you are able to have are mobile homes with septic tanks. That is all you will get cleared for period. Can a fence like that keep a working bred APBT in when he is intact and in the woods where game will wander daily? NO and I would be stupid to think that. SO he is on a tie out or a long line when he is outside. Anything else would be reprehensable and irresponsible. It would end up with me and our neighbor being covicted of felonies as they two own APBT in fact they are one of the homes for a puppy. Is he abused far from it. He is fed homecooked/canidae, has his own couch, person, toys. He is my dads constant companion. And has only showed depression type feeling when we lost Booger his best friend. So to me at my dads house a tether is the only solution for our land, dogs and chosen breed.

noludoru · #8 04-17-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

dogs must be on a leash held by an able-bodied person.

Holy ****. Gemp, where did you find that, Summit's recent thread? That really, really scares me. How are they going to judge that you are an able bodied person? Do you need a doctor's note to walk your dog? (I have some health problems, and if that bill is passed and I lived in Georgia I probably wouldn't even be allowed to walk my dog if Animal Control knew about them.) Is there an age cut off to being "able bodied?" How about a height cut off - if you are less than five feet tall, are you able-bodied enough to walk a large dog? Are children considered "able-bodied?" What if you are out of shape? Are you still an able-bodied person who is allowed to walk your dog? How about if your dog is exceedingly well-mannered on-leash, and as far as you know, you don't have to be "able-bodied" to walk your dog? Are you automatically considered unfit to walk your dog if you have dropped a leash before?

Is it legal to do training by standing on one end of the leash so you can have your hands free - since the wording is that the leas must be "held?" What about if you must stop for a moment and tie your shoe, can you attach the leash to something?