Questions and Answers About Chained Dogs

What is meant by chaining or tethering?  Chaining or tethering refers to the practice of tying a dog to a stationary object to keep the animal confined.  Chaining does not refer to animals being walked on a leash.  What problems are associated with dog tethering?  Chaining is inhumane and unsafe for dogs.  Dogs are by nature, social beings who thrive on interaction with people and other animals.  A dog kept chained in one spot for months or years suffers immense psychological damage.  A continuously chained dog usually becomes neurotic, anxious and aggressive.  In many cases, the necks of chained dogs become raw and infected from too tight collars.  Dog tethers can also easily become entangled with other objects, choking or strangling the dog to death.  Many communities have laws against chaining dogs and at VOCAL we will work to educate our community and help in any way possible to UNCHAIN THE DOGS!!  Please contact us if you’re interested in further information about VOCAL’s “Breaking the Chains” program.  We depend on our volunteers to help us help the animals, so if you have some extra time and want to make a difference in the lives of animals, click the link at this bottom of this page ”HELP US HELP THEM.”  Or if you don’t have the time and would like to donate please know any amount is greatly appreciated, see our “DONATE” page or check out our “WISH LIST” on this site.

Click Here to visit our YouTube channel to view our latest BREAKING THE CHAINS video

If you feel an animal is in immediate danger such as starving, injury, abandonment or suffering from extreme weather conditions please contact the following agencies:

Leon County Animal Control:  606-5400

Wakulla County Animal Control: 926-0902

CHAINING YOUR DOG HURTS IN MANY WAYS

How Does Chaining Harm Your Dog?

Put in simple words, dog chaining can be described as the act of fastening the dog to a stationary object or stake to maintain control over the dog. While dog chaining is primarily used to control pet dogs, it has quite a few negative effects on them. It not just impacts the overall health of the pet but also deeply affects the animal at the psychological level. It is due to the ill effects of dog chaining that it has been banned in several states in the US.  Here is a closer look at some of the negative effects that chaining may have on your dog.

Psychological damage Dogs have always been social animals and live in packs. Chaining dogs curbs their social nature, which  affects them at the psychological level. There are so many dogs who deal with numerous psychological problems due to excessive chaining. These problems are often exhibited in the form of excessive barking, irritable behavior, excessive soiling and destruction.

Physical ill effects Dog chaining affects your pet at not just the psychological level but on the physical front too. Your pet does not like being chained. So, he will keep on pulling on the chain in a bid to escape. Though the chain does not break this forceful pulling of chain ends up causing numerous injuries to your pet. It can result in sores, neck injuries, rubs and even bruises. In extreme cases, the dog collar may end up getting embedded in the neck.

Can make your dog aggressive A recent study by the American Veterinary Medical Association, chaining dogs for long periods can lead to aggressive behavior. Like most animals, dogs too have a fight or flight response to stressful situations. When dogs are chained, they tend to feel threatened. As a result, they tend to become more aggressive. If studies are to go by, then the probabilities of a chained dog biting a human is 2.8 times higher as compared to the ones that are not chained.

Leaves your dog without any defense Can you do anything when you are chained? No! The same goes for your dog too. There is little that your pet can do when he has been chained. This is even when your pet is being attacked by a predator or being bothered by an insect or a fly. Since your dog is left defenseless, he turns aggressive. Over a period of time, your pet may even lose his self defense capabilities.

Partial Source:  dogs-help.com

Have you ever thought of how your neighbors may feel?

Having lived next door to a dog that was tied up inside a very small pen, I know how painful it is to watch day in and day out the suffering these social, loving animals endure.  Having to lie in bed at night during freezing weather and listen to him or her bark,  as if begging for someone to come and give them warmth, is a helpless feeling.  Please consider how those that live around you feel, being the neighbor of a chained or inhumanely confined animal.

Considering the numerous ill effects of dog chaining, it would only be wise if you keep your pet away from dog chains, ropes and tethers.

Angie Wyche, VOCAL Founder