Free Fences For Chained Dogs
In the past few years several children in our area have died after being attacked by a chained dog. In 2003, 2 year old Makayla Sinclair was killed after she wandered into a neighbor’s backyard and was attacked by 2 of her dogs. A year later 17 month old Isaiah Smith died when his family’s pit bull mix bit him on the back of the head. The dog had been chained for 2 years. PETA got involved in 2005 when 4 year old Asia Turner was killed by her family dog that had been chained. These deaths prompted mothers across the nation to form a group called Mothers Against Dog Chaining to educate cities and staes on why they should ban dog tethering. Animal Welfare groups say keeping the dog on a chain or tether makes the animals aggressive and dangerous.
Now a local woman says she plans to stop chaining and she has a solution. She’ll build you a fence. Mikael Hardy has come back to see her success story, a big brown fluffy mix named Cletus. Once chained in the yard all day he now enjoys more room and shade in his new fence. She’s planning to help his friend Joe, the Chow mix, as well.
She says, “Chaining a dog might arguably be the single worst way to confine a pet. They become bored, depressed, anxious, aggressive, hostile.“ Hardy started PAWSitive Effects a year ago to stop the chaining of dogs in the Upstate, because as she says it is abusive and a public threat. It’s a non-profit that will build fences for people who can’t afford it.
According to Hardy, she often finds dogs with15 pound towing chains around their necks and they have no more than 10 feet of space to move in. Not only do animal welfare groups consider it abuse, but a study done in Denver shows a chained or tethered dog is almost 3 times more likely to bite. Hardy says, “Here in South Carolina, Spartanburg specifically there were three children that were killed since 2003 by chained dogs. It is senseless, needless and it doesn’t have to happen.“ Because the dog has such limited space to move, experts say the dogs first instinct is to fight and defend because they can’t run. It is called fight or flight.
Hardy says many times the owners just don’t know how bad chaining can be. That was the case with Cletus and Joe’s owner. 72 year old Margaret Snow says, “The traffic got so bad I had to chain them.“ Snow says it never crossed her mind tethering the dogs outside would harm them. She adds, “He seems content. He just barks when it is time to eat.“ However, Hardy says not everyone is receptive to the idea. She claims, “There are times when people tell me no. Part of the deal with the fence is your dog gets spayed or neutered. We are not building a fence for you to breed and I lose a lot of people that way.“ She says that won’t stop her or PAWSitive Effects from creating better conditions for animals and the people they live with.
Currently it is not illegal to chain or tether a dog but each county has its own restrictions.
PAWSitive Effects is a non-profit group that operates solely through donations.
Hardy says it cost about $400 dollars for them to put up a fence, spay and neuter the dog and make sure it has its shots.
If you need the help of Pawsitive Effects or know of a dog that does click on this link.
If you would like more information on chaining or tethering click on this link.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
I am so sorry you lost your dog in such a horrible way. I lost an outside cat to a coyote once and that was not a pretty sight either or one I will forget anytime soon. It did teach me a lesson though. An animal outside is vulnerable to too many things, even dogs.Now I only have inside cats. Trust me when I say there are things far worse than animals in your house. Yes, you have to do a little extra cleaning and put up with a few hairs, but wouldn’t you be glad to do that to have your dog back? If you get another one, and please do because there is one out there who needs you, DO consider keeping it indoors where you can truly take care if it. God bless you.
Freedomom,
As painful as it must have been for you, I hope that you will use this heart breaking experience to educate people around you to the danger of leaving a dog outside, chained and alone. I cannot image the horror Jazz went through not being able to escape her attackers. I cannot imagine being chained by my neck, my family sleeping soundly just a few yards away as I was being ripped to pieces, no one to help me or at least set me free.
You said she died on the kitchen floor some 22 hours later, I can’t imagine a vet would send her home to die like that, how horrible for her.
Poor Jazz, RIP baby!
Freedomdorm, Yes, I’m so sorry. I read the posts in reverse chronological order. I’m sorry you lost your dog. My sentiments remain the same, though. If you adopt another dog, please consider giving it a chance at true happiness—a life at least partially indoors with you.
To Monicas….. I guess that I did not make my last comment clear enough…. Jazz was KILLED by those two pit bulls!!!
To Jazz’s caretaker: It was wonderful that you adopted a dog from the humane society. I am sure you love your dog very much. I wonder, however, if you might stop to think about what life must be like for Jazz. Dogs are highly social PACK animals. They need to be with their pack. YOU are your dog’s pack. When confined on a chain outside, night and day, your dog will survive, perhaps for many long and loney years. But is Jazz really having anything approximating a decent and happy life? Dogs just want to be with their people. Why don’t you bring your dog inside with you? At least sometimes? I have nothing against chaining a dog for brief periods of time, say while someone is at work or running errands. But 24/7? What a miserable, sad existence for the dog. Please think about it.
Jazz, although kept on a chain was VERY well taken care of, she was walked, bathed, loved and ate VERY well!!! Time was spent with her and she was removed from the chain and got her exercise. She was attacked by TWO pit bulls at five in the morning on June 19th and as I laid with her on my kitchen floor talking to her and petting her she lost her life at 1:15 am on June 20th. She was the daughter that I could never have. Thank you for letting me know how to contact these people, however I will not be needing their services.
I went to the website, there are ways to contact this group. I was able to contact them & got a very timely reply. There is an email address on the 1st page , and “click here’ to notify us of chained dogs on two or three of the other pages.
While it is accurate to say that chaining does not make ALL dogs aggressive it is accurate to say that ALL chained dogs are subject to the aggression of other dogs, humans, foxes, raccoons etc. A dog living chained as no escape, no protection, it is UNsafe and inhumane to allow anything to live chained 24 hrs per day 365 days per year.
This is a wonderful program and I am glad to know that there are people here in the upstate working so hard to improve the safety of our community as well as bettering the lives of our dogs!
I didn’t see any contact info on there either but if you would like to learn more about fencing go here:
www.dogsdeservebetter.org
And chaining does not ALWAYS make a dog mean but by God it sure would make me mean.
I wonder if all the people who keep their “companion animal” chained for life would choose that life for themselves.Bored, lonely, frustrated and dejected. Can you even wrap your mind around any of that? You say your dog is still playful and happy but is that really true. Do you ever stand at the window and watch her/him all day? Do they really look happy out there alone or is it only when they see you that the tail wags and they jump up and down with excitement? They WANT to be WITH YOU!
And before we go there, it would only cost the price of a good leash to take your dog off of the chain, bring them into the home and family and take them fro a few nice long walks a day. Or even put them on the tether 3 or 4 times a day to potty, but don’t leave them unsupervised as they are always at risk of being attacked by another animal.
Marie Belanger
National Rep Coordinator
Dogs Deserve Better
I have my dog on a chain and she is a loving dog. She is NOT aggressive and is still very playful and a loving dog. I adopted her from the Humane Society in Anderson when she was just four weeks old, she will be a year old July 3rd. I have NEVER had any problems with “Jazz” on her chain until five this morning when I woke up to a different bark that I knew wasn’t her, instead it was a white pit bull that had come into MY yard and ATTACKED my dog in her house!!!!! So, not ALL dogs are aggressive because they are on a chain. I would love to have her off of the chain and allow her to be able to run in the yard, however I am on disablity and cannot afford to have a fence built. I went to the link for this organization and found no way to contact them to see how I could go about getting a fence put up for my “Jazz.“ She is a part of my family and I am just crushed that this happened to her in her own yard!!!
chaining dogs does not make them aggressive, it is how you treat the animals if you abuse them they will be agressive…how many chained dogs have not killed somone in the last few years?
Advertisement