Dog tethering bylaws stir conversation across the GTA
Mississauga already has one, Oshawa city council will vote on a similar bylaw next week.

thestar.com
Nov. 26, 2015
By May Warren

Dog lover Stephanie MacDonald still remembers a little pit bull that was kept tied up all day in her neighbour’s Toronto yard, years ago.

“For hours nobody was home, and the dog was freezing,” said MacDonald, who now owns her own dog-walking business.

“He wouldn’t move around too much. He would just kind of lay there. He looked so sad.”

At the time, MacDonald didn’t know what to do. There were no regulations in place to help that dog and others like him.

But that’s changing. Dog tethering bylaws are being debated in communities across the continent as animal welfare advocates look to stop what they see as a cruel practice they say results in dogs becoming more aggressive.

In the U.S., dog tethering bylaws have attracted some controversy, particularly in Fairfax County, Va., where people can face steep fines and even jail time if they are caught leaving dogs tied up outside unsupervised for more than one hour.

Closer to home, Mississauga passed a bylaw last year that included a ban on leaving dogs tethered outside for more than four hours.

Oshawa city council will vote on a similar regulation at a meeting next week, and Toronto animal services will be looking at tethering restrictions as part of a 2016 review of the existing bylaw.

Pet owners in Mississauga and Oshawa wouldn’t face jail time for keeping their dogs tied with a rope or chain.

Len Butticci, a member of the board of directors with the Humane Society of Durham Region who advocated for changes to the city’s responsible pet owner’s bylaw, said he’s happy to get “something” in terms of a law to protect dogs, but he will try to get council to set the limit even lower, at one hour, to match Fairfax County.

“What we see are many cases where collars are embedded into their necks. Where they’re choked. Where they’re kept outside during cold winter days, and hot summer days without adequate food and shelter,” he said.

Butticci said studies from animal welfare organizations have shown that when dogs are tethered they are more aggressive.

“So it’s dangerous to humans. It’s also cruel to the animal as well,” Butticci said.

Toronto dog walker Meghan D’Arcy said she’d like to see something similar in the city, especially with the extreme temperatures in Canada.

“There isn’t a lot of stimulation that can be offered to a dog that’s on a tether,” she said.

“I do empathize when people have a dog that they have to keep outside because they don’t know how to train it. Because going to a trainer can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars,” D’Arcy said, adding it also depends on how the dogs are being provided for.

“There might be some situations where you could say all the boxes are being checked, the dog is not neglected or abused. But, in general, I think it could be really helpful.”

Elizabeth Glibbery, manager of Toronto Animal Services, said the department will be looking at possible tethering time restrictions as part of a review of the existing city bylaw this spring and will hold public consultations on the issue.

“For the last two years, we’ve noticed an increase in complaints with respect to tethering and the length of time an animal is tethered,” she said, adding most of the complaints are about dogs on private property.

For D’Arcy, the proud owner of a 5-year-old black mutt named Wile E. Coyote, it’s something she sees every day as a dog walker in the west end.

“Often those dogs are upset and the ones barking defensively at me or other dogs passing by because they’re bored or understimulated, or because they’re simply upset,” she said.

“I feel worried seeing them out every day, and I just wonder if their needs are being met.”