Two Forsyth County animal-welfare organizations are joining forces to raise $30,000 to help low-income dog owners put their dogs in fences rather than keep them chained.
Meanwhile, a proposal to ban chaining is inching its way toward action by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. The proposal is in the department of animal control's annual report, but no date has been set for when it would be brought to the county or discussed there.
"I feel it is inhumane to tether a dog," said Jennifer Tierney, who is active with the two animal groups and who also sits on the advisory board of animal control. "To isolate them makes them very territorial and aggressive."
That's not a position everyone on the advisory board shared. Joe Redman, a hunter who sits on the board, said that a properly chained dog is not an abused dog.
"If a dog is tied out, and tied out properly, where the chain can rotate and they can pull against the chain, it can give them exercise," Redman said. "A chain has never hurt a dog. The person who owns the dog has abused dogs and put chains on them too tight and put them where they will wrap around things."
The two groups raising money for fencing are the Forsyth Humane Society and Fur-Ever Friends of North Carolina. The groups are pledging $15,000 for dog fences and challenging people in the community to match that amount for a total of $30,000. The groups announced the project as a way of supporting the proposed ban on tethering, or chaining, dogs.
Under the groups' plan, people would apply for fencing help through two non-profit groups with experience in building dog fences: the Coalition to Unchain Dogs and Dogs Deserve Better. The groups will screen the applicants, design a fence, deliver the materials and schedule volunteers to build the fence.
Also, dog owners can get their pets spayed or neutered, and collect a gift certificate if they take part in the program.
Organizers said that for each completed fence project, the Forsyth Spay/Neuter Clinic would spay or neuter up to two dogs at no cost and provide rabies vaccines.
Each family that receives a fence will also get a $30 gift certificate from Steve Benefiel, the owner of Pet Supplies Plus on Reynolda Road.
Tim Jennings, Forsyth County's director of animal control, said that the tether ban got overwhelming support when the department took comments on the issue.
He said that most of the cases involving animal neglect involve dogs that are chained or otherwise tethered.
"In the current economic times I don't think we are going to get more animal-control officers, and we as a department are maxed out," he said. "Anything that can set guidelines for the community is probably a good thing."
Making more rules is just the problem, Redman said.
"We have all kinds of animal-abuse laws and we are not enforcing them," he said. "Why aggravate people and put more laws out there?"
Redman said that opponents of chaining aren't willing to consider any middle ground, such as allowing dogs to be tethered by methods that won't let the dog become entangled.
"It is all or nothing, that is the way I see them (tethering opponents) working," Redman said.
Tierney said that the issue goes beyond how dogs are treated.
"Most importantly, it is not safe, and it shouldn't take a child being killed before we act on it," she said.
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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