Unchain the dogs of New York State!

Please sign to encourage New York State legislators to join the anti-tethering movement!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/unchain-the-dogs-of-new-york-state

:hail:

Huh? Last I heard it was perfectly legal in VA to have your dog on a chain 24/7, so long as they have food, water, and shelter. Or so the ACO and the animal shelter told me.

That, however, is BS. The key to eliminating dog fighting is to eliminate the dog fighting culture and the dog fighters, as well as the people who participate in such events. Voila. No more dog fighting. I don't need to put a dog on a chain to abuse him and make him fight other dogs.

Getting rid of the tether and replacing it with a fence will solve that

Tethering is a perectly acceptable way to keep pets that might not be able to be kept any other way. Fence jumpers, escapers, those who can't afford fencing to name a few. Tethering is not any more restrictive than crating -- if tethered adequately, it is less restrictive than crating.

Anti-tethering is yet another way for the AR movement to take away our dogs, and it doesn't solve any problems. Those who don't properly care for their dogs won't care for them any better if they are not tethered. In fact, there have been places that have repealed anti-tethering laws, because all it really accomplished was to add to the shelter populations.

It is widely believed that if the ARists are successful at passing anti-tethering laws, they will then move on to anti-penning and anti-crating. Which would mean many of us would have no choice but to surrender our dogs.

Dogsdeservebetter.com (or is it org) claims that there is an anti-tethering law in Richmond, but I have been unable to find evidence of it.

Even though it is illegal to chain up a dog for more than 3 hours..Nobody enforces it. I still see dogs chained up in filthy conditions with no food or water, in the back of the yard with no human interaction.

Thank you, corgipower!

I chain my dogs and I'm not ashamed of it. My dogs are chained for several reasons. One, most are DA and in order to be a responsible owner and not allow them to chew each other up, they are chained up when all outside together. Two, despite the fact that I've got 8 ft. privacy fencing (that's double-fenced on each side where we have neighbors), a concrete trench under the entire fence, and hot wire running along the bottom and top of the fenceline, I've got dogs that can & will escape. When I cannot be out there to supervise those indivudal dogs, they are on a chain.

I used to be one of those people that thought kennels were better. Until I took off the rose-colored glasses and actually looked at what I was doing to my dogs. They were in kennels for 8 hours a day. They could sit up, turn around, & lie back down. Yippee. But outside they can romp and play with the 15 ft. that the chain gives them, they can lie on their backs in the sunshine, they can watch the squirrels and the birds and listen to the outside goings on, etc. Personally, I don't think any one person can say what dogs do and do not like (ahem PETA & HSUS!), but if I were a dog I would much rather be outside to enjoy the day while my owners were at work vs. being couped up in a kennel that's deemed acceptable & proper.

The chain has no bearing on why those dogs are neglected. Those same dogs would be neglected and abused whether they were loose in the backyard, loose running the roads, or loose in the house. Abuse and neglect comes in ALL shapes and forms.

A chain is an inanimate object that is incapable of inflicting pain upon or causing the neglect of an animal. It's the hands of the human that do that.

People need to step up, face reality, and put the blame where it needs to be: on humans!

And what good is an anti-tethering law really going to do? Obviously the current animal cruelty laws aren't being enforced hence why some dogs are in bad shape. Enforce the laws on the books. Don't make new ones that sound good to one's political career yet negatively affect law-abiding and responsible dog owners like myself.

I never said the chain had any bearing on why they are neglected. I know why they are neglected, its the owners. I have seen dogs chained up and in good condition, and I understand why certain people have to do it. We used to tether one of our old dogs because even though she was a 5 pound little dog, she could find ways to get out of our yard. She climbed trees, she ran and climbed the fence. But on her tether she could go through the entire yard. We had one that was attached from the back of the yard, to the front..and then the other was attached to that one, and she could pretty much go anywhere she wanted, except near the fence.

I would rather make chaining dogs illegal, considering most people who do it are doing it irresponsibly. I would rather see the neglected dog running free in the yard then chained in a corner of it, because atleast then its chance of survival is better.

Holy crap. All I can say to that is holy crap, Mia. Good for you for being so thorough, though. Most people I know who have escape artists just say "whooooooooooooooops he got loose again. guess I'll go catch him after dinner." Thanks for being a responsible owner.

Good post, Corgipower... really good post.

Cristy, I re-read that.. I thought for a sec it said we have the same law. I now see that it only means VA has laws pertaining to chaining.

Too many times people see fit to ban things that could be cleaned up with an educational campaign and perhaps some sensible regulating.

This trend of banning things will come up and bite the butt of people who support such things.

It does not stop with animals, it filters down into other aspects of everyones lives.

In Ontario for example

"Pit Bull" Ban
Smoking Ban
Ban on outdoor clotheslines in some areas (unattractive to neighbors )How about environmentally friendly!
Going for a ban on trans fats
Going for a ban on junk food in schools
Considered banning leaf blowers
Upcoming ban ( in progress I believe) against incandescent light bulbs

But, they won't institute a ban against talking on cell phones in vehicles even though studies have shown that those who talk on cell phones in their car have the same lack of driving capabilities as a driver who has been drinking!

Other places are working towards other bans

Places in Manitoba I believe are banning plastic bags

One of the eastern provinces is trying to ban smoking on all municipal property (they have already banned smoking in cars carrying children) It's good not to smoke with kids in the car but does it really require a ban? Can't smoke on the sidewalk or in the park etc.

I'm sure I've missed many but you get the idea. Once any level of government is allowed to institute a ban of one type, others are much easier to implement.

So, where does it stop?

In the case of animals (dog chaining included) enforcement of current animal welfare laws would help solve the problems that the ban would without punishing those who do it correctly.

Stop allowing the government to spend these countless amounts of dollars on bans and insist they put that money into the funding of educational programs and enforcement of the current laws. Upgrade the current laws, and put money into enforcement where it's actually needed.

to add to your post Drycreek, some schools have banned foods like peanuts (i.e. no peanut butter sandwiches) because other kids might be allergic to them. I think that's quite stupid. There's some kid who my friend read about who is allergic to everything but 7 things, its a very rare condition. Should the school he goes to ban everything but 7 things for lunch?

I agree 100%. If it weren't for tie-outs, I honestly don't think I could keep Voodoo. He's another escape artist, one who loves going over and through barriers in his way. And I can't have a dog like him running around loose.

Voodoo is on a tie-out about 2-3 hours a day. I wish I could put him on a tie-out during the day while I'm at work instead of in a kennel---after he crashed through my living room window, I can't leave him loose in the house. I just haven't found a collar or harness that I trust to hold him when he's determined.

While there are a lot of bad owners who leave their dogs on a chain, unchaining the dogs doesn't necessarily mean the owner will take better care of them.

Very good point! On an other note, i have a nieghbor that always leaves there dogs outside on a chain with a dog house, food and water. But they never seem to go outside and play with the dog or ever take it in. So i agree that a chain is great if used correctly.

I am not going to throw stones at anyone for keeping their dog tethered responsibly. I have not done it myself (yet) but I can see where it would be a reasonable way to deal with a dog who migth run off and get into danger.

It seems to me that the logic behind the attempt to ban comes from article like this one:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf
This get misquoted a lot because most people look at the table about breeds and don;t bother to read the fine print about how the authors don't trust the info on breeds since it came out of the media. But this is what gets pointed to instead:
Again, not throwing stones or rocks, just saying that banning chaining is seen by some as an alternative to BSL.
Maybe.

According to what I read in the study cited by 2dogmom, it would seem that unrestrained dogs are more dangerous.

Makes you wonder how they come up with the 2.8 times more likely to bite figure. Unless maybe "restrained" is not the same thing as "chained." Like restrained could mean that someone was holding the dog back. Only thing I can think of....

No offense meant Drycreek...but I think your "slippery slope" argument makes no sense at all.

EVERY law bans, or prescribes against some kind of action or behavior. It all started I suppose with banning murder. Next thing you know we can't use incandescent light bulbs.

Every proposed and existing law should be constantly re-evaluated based on its own merits and ever changing conditions.

In the U.S. there were folks that felt we had plenty of laws.....until changing times lead us to the banning of slavery. I for one am glad that dogfighting is now banned, a felony offense in 48 states. These are not terrible things.

Relative to chained dogs, You undoubtedly know that chaining is the simplest way to raise and breed dog and/or people aggressive animals in urban areas.

It is also the quickest and cheapest way for those slime balls who want to "park" their no longer wanted pet in the back yard. Frankly, most dogs handle this kind of slow torture far less well than humans would. Most dogs get crazy very quickly if they are tied alone in a yard where they cannot socialize or run from a threat.

My guess is that animal control folks and dog lovers figure that 95% of the effect of laws that ban keeping your dogs chained overnight, or over 6-10 hours a day would be to make it much tougher for these abuses to happen.

By the way, I fully expect that incandescent light bulbs WILL be banned globally at some point in the next few years, as global warming gets taken as seriously as it deserves. Just as their are clean air standards, there will be more and more energy standards that ALL of us must abide by. There are some issues that effect everyone, and cannot always be left to personal choice.

There is (or was) an attempt in my state to limit tethering to a measly like 14 hours a day. And I support that. I have used a tether responsibly for my escape-artist dog and when we lived on rented property with no fence. But never for more than an hour at a time there, and here it's just for quick potty trips. If you're tethering your dog for more than 14 hours at a time (meaning, 24/7) you need to take a closer look at why you have a dog.

The problem is that it would be virtually impossible to enforce. In fact, a lot of proposed restrictions, and anti-tethering being one of them, are very difficult to enforce, and any attempt to enforce them would drain the already over-burdened resources.

It also still doesn't address the real issues of neglect, irresponsible owners, unsanitary conditions, barking, etc.