Tethering can cause dogs’ distress
CITYWIDE A lonely dog tied to a tree on a busy walkway wags his tail excitedly as people pass, licks itself to keep company and whines as he waits for his owner’s return.
Scenes like this are a heartbreaker for dog lover Larry Manzancirez.
“I hate seeing [dogs tied up],” Manzancirez said on Thursday afternoon, as he sat on a bench on the Third Street Promenade with his three Italian greyhounds. “I see enough of it and I look to make sure they’re OK.
Lucky for Manzancirez, the sight of chained dogs might be less frequent after a new anti-tethering law went into effect across the state on Jan. 1. The new law prohibits dogs from being tethered to a stationary object for more than three hours in a 24-hour period.
“I never leave my dogs tied out,” the Los Angeles resident said, gazing adoringly at his three sweater-wearing dogs — Romeo, Chico and Elliott. “I always walk my dogs with friends so we can take turns.”
Tethering dogs for extensive periods of times can cause emotional distress for man’s best friend.
“It frustrates them and makes them aggressive,” said Bob Ballenger, spokesman for LA County Department of Animal Care and Control. “We don’t think it’s a very good animal control technique.”
Violators will be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable with a fine not to exceed $1,000 per dog and/or up to six months in county jail. Though the fine is at the judge’s discretion, realistically, an offender probably won’t go to jail for tying his dog for three hours, Ballenger said.
Before to the new year, state law mandated that dogs be tethered to an area in which the animal could have adequate exercise. The dog could be tethered for as long as an owner pleased, that is, as long as there was shelter and water. a dog, according to Michael Hake, who was out walking his 1-year-old pit bull mix, Ohana, on Thursday. It would be hard for an Animal Control Officer to enforce the law since they probably won’t stand by and watch the dog for three whole hours.
Ohana and Hake, both of Hollywood, run errands together all the time. The longest that Ohana would ever be tethered is 15 minutes, Hake said, while walking his dog downtown.
“She’s usually better with me than not,” he said.
Some dogs shouldn’t be tethered and left alone at all, especially if they’re overly energetic, Hake said. He recalled an incident in which a family member’s dog jumped over a fence to which it was tied and choked itself to death.
The law should lower the tethering time to 20 minutes, Hake said, as Ohana garnered the attention of a couple small children who seemed happy to see the dog.
“You have to be aware [of your dog’s energy level],” Hake said. “You can’t just drop them off. You have to make sure they have water and shade.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 19, 2007. Read the original PDF.