Animal Rights Groups Favor Anti-chaining Measure

Animal activists are hoping a new Frederick County law could protect dogs from the elements and loneliness of being chained for extensive periods of time.

The Frederick County Animal Control Division will present an anti-tethering proposal to the county commissioners Tuesday. The commissioners will decide if they want to hold a public hearing on the proposal.

Under the proposed law, Animal Control officers could write a civil citation to anyone keeping a dog on a chain or rope outside for more than 10 hours cumulatively in a 24-hour period.

It also sets up regulations on the length of the tether and requires covered shelter for dogs at all times, along with daily feeding and accessible water.

When crafting the legislation, Animal Control worked with the Humane Society of the United States and Justice for Dogs, a state lobbying group. Justice for Dogs was founded after a dog named Russ froze to death while chained to a tree in 2005.

Justice for Dogs President Theresa Rutter lives in Frederick County and said the new law is necessary because it fills in gaps in state animal welfare law.

"We believe anti-tethering legislation is important because it addresses not only the safety and welfare of dogs, but also the community," Rutter said.

In addition to lack of protection from the elements, tethered dogs can suffer from being left alone. Those dogs are more likely to be aggressive, she said.

Similar legislation has already passed in Montgomery, Carroll and Calvert counties, Rutter said.

Harold Domer, the director of Animal Control, declined to be interviewed on the proposal until after the commissioners have gotten a chance to look at it. In a report he gave to them, he said the agency receives tethering complaints daily.

In the same report, he said the division has handled two separate cases where an owner of at least 10 pit bulls were chained outside all the time. Food, shelter and water were provided, but the dogs did not receive any human interaction.

Domer wrote that Animal Control officers respond to so many complaints about neglect of animals that it would be helpful to be able to issue civil citations instead of trying to prosecute them all as criminal misdemeanors.

Brigitte Farrell, executive director of the Frederick County Humane Society, said the group is supportive of efforts to stop tethering.

"If you leave a dog tied to a tree for hours at a time, it's going to stop becoming a social animal. It's going to become fearful and angry," she said. "It's obviously not a smart thing to do to tie a dog out."

She said her organization would like to work with members of the farm community. Many of them have been raised with the practice of tethering dogs, and she hopes to educate them about how it is not a humane practice.

The issue has attracted attention from a national group as well.

Adam Goldfarb, an issues specialist with the Humane Society of the Unites States, has been working with Justice for Dogs on the proposed law. The organization is based in Gaithersburg and does not have local chapters.

He said one of the reasons he is concerned is because a veterinarian called his organization a few years ago after a neighbor kept tethering a group of pit bulls.

Though some state laws have been passed, he said his organization has had more luck on the local level. They now offer a kit for activists interested in getting anti-chaining laws passed.

"Really anything that limits tethering is of huge benefit to the community as a whole," Goldfarb said.

Copyright 2008 The Frederick News-Post. All rights reserved.