Vicki
Administrator
Updated:08/11/2009 10:48:34 AM MDT
Tethering a dog outside for more than eight hours a day would be illegal under a proposed Salt Lake County ordinance unveiled Monday at the Humane Society of Utah.
The law would be enforceable in unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County and would apply to all tethers except those connected to a "running" or "trolley" line, at camping or recreational areas where dogs are required to be restrained, when a dog is involved with licensed recreational activities, such as hunting, or when necessary for agricultural purposes.
Humane Society director Gene Baierschmidt concedes that enforcing the law would require a witness to prove that a dog had spent more than 8 hours on a tether in one day.
"This is meant to serve as a deterrent so people don't tether dogs as long as they have been," Baierschmidt said.
The ordinance also would place limits on how dogs may be tethered at all: Tethers must be at least three times the length of the dog, and they may not be used if the temperature is 95 degrees or higher or 32 degrees or lower, according to the proposal. The permitted running lines would not be allowed with choke or pinch collars.
The isolation and vulnerability of being tethered overwhelms any benefit to a dog that is kept outside but cannot move, Baierschmidt said. Chained for long periods of time, dogs are deprived of contact with people and other dogs, are more likely to bite and are at risk of being injured or overexposed to severe weather, Baierschmidt said.
"Not a day goes by when you don't hear this [reported] on a police scanner," said Humane Society spokesman Carl Arky.
County Councilmen Randy Horiuchi and Joe Hatch said they plan to back the proposal. "There will be opposition to responsible pet ownership," Horiuchi predicted. "It'll be rather amusing and frightening."
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_13034065
Tethering a dog outside for more than eight hours a day would be illegal under a proposed Salt Lake County ordinance unveiled Monday at the Humane Society of Utah.
The law would be enforceable in unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County and would apply to all tethers except those connected to a "running" or "trolley" line, at camping or recreational areas where dogs are required to be restrained, when a dog is involved with licensed recreational activities, such as hunting, or when necessary for agricultural purposes.
Humane Society director Gene Baierschmidt concedes that enforcing the law would require a witness to prove that a dog had spent more than 8 hours on a tether in one day.
"This is meant to serve as a deterrent so people don't tether dogs as long as they have been," Baierschmidt said.
The ordinance also would place limits on how dogs may be tethered at all: Tethers must be at least three times the length of the dog, and they may not be used if the temperature is 95 degrees or higher or 32 degrees or lower, according to the proposal. The permitted running lines would not be allowed with choke or pinch collars.
The isolation and vulnerability of being tethered overwhelms any benefit to a dog that is kept outside but cannot move, Baierschmidt said. Chained for long periods of time, dogs are deprived of contact with people and other dogs, are more likely to bite and are at risk of being injured or overexposed to severe weather, Baierschmidt said.
"Not a day goes by when you don't hear this [reported] on a police scanner," said Humane Society spokesman Carl Arky.
County Councilmen Randy Horiuchi and Joe Hatch said they plan to back the proposal. "There will be opposition to responsible pet ownership," Horiuchi predicted. "It'll be rather amusing and frightening."
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_13034065