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TN-Montgomery County Commission to consider revising dog tethering rules

Vicki

Administrator
August 22, 2009

The County Commission next month will consider an addition to the county's Animal Control regulations that deal with the tethering of dogs.
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The Animal Control Committee on Thursday approved the addition that sets out methods for chaining dogs, as well as a provision to daily take the animal off the chain.

"This is for dogs that live their life on a chain," said committee member Carmen Hunter. "It will at least give them some time when they are not chained up."

Hunter, who is a former Humane Society president and a liaison between the two entities, presented two possible changes proposed by a Humane Society committee that researched the issue of tethering.

One option prohibited chaining for more than 10 hours during a 24-hour period. The other requires 30 minutes of exercise off the chain within a 24-hour period.

After discussion, committee members decided the second option had a better chance of being approved by the full County Commission.

The first option was considered a ban on chaining dogs.

"I think Option 2 would go through a lot easier than Option 1," said District 17 County Commissioner Ginger Miles, who is a committee member.

The effort of Hunter and Humane Society members was spurred by a particularly gruesome case of neglect of a dog that had became entangled in his chain and had to be euthanized because of his poor condition.

However, Animal Control Committee members were conscious of previous unsuccessful efforts to change the regulations.

Animal Control Director David Selby lamented that it took him years to get the regulations in place. "I kept coming back (before the County Commission) until I got something," he said.

Hunter was proposing many other changes to the regulations and planned to provide commissioners with the current regulations and a copy of the revised regulations.

Other committee members didn't think such a strategy was a good idea with the short time period commissioners would have to review the two documents. Instead, they preferred to provide specific details of what would be changed.

"They've got to know what the changes are," Miles said of her fellow commissioners.

Hunter agreed to work up a better presentation of the revisions to be presented at a later time.

The committee voted to add the section on chaining to the regulations and recommend the change to the full County Commission.

"I'm fine if we add to what we've got," Hunter said just prior to the vote. "But we don't need to let this rest."

Other members agreed.

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090822/NEWS01/908220346