Home > Pet
News and Articles > Time to Break the Chain
Time to Break the Chain
Article By: Glenn Redmond
I rented the movie "Murder in the First" this
weekend. This is the fact-based story of prisoner Henri
Young who, in 1938, was incarcerated in Alcatraz for stealing
$5 to feed his starving sister. After an escape attempt,
Henri spent over three years in isolation, deprived from
human contact. He emerges frustrated, scared, savage and
barely human, and in a fit of rage quickly kills one of
his fellow inmates.
The parallels between this movie and the savage attacks
by dogs that are isolated in the same manner were not
lost on me. After learning about the 17-month-old child
killed in Ontario by a chained Rottweiller/Shepard cross
and then listening to the VOCM open lines, I was disappointed
to hear that breed bans were again the topic of conversation
as a solution to dog attacks.
This line of reasoning is misinformed and downright reckless.
It has the same sense of holding The Ford Motor Company
accountable for accidents that involve speeding. The powerful
Mustang is not responsible for the accident, the driver
who speeds is, and the same can be said of owners of many
dogs that bite. Banning the Mustang is not going to stop
drivers from speeding and banning certain dog breeds will
not address the link between dog aggression and dogs that
are kept chained and isolated.
Now, before everybody gets a bee in their bonnet, understand
I am not talking about tying your dog outside so that
they can get a bit of fresh air or to relieve themselves.
I am talking about prolonged confinement in one place,
either chained or within a pen.
All data confirms that unsocialised dogs are a grave
danger to the public, especially children. A dog forced
to live on a chain for days, weeks or years will build
in frustration, becoming anxious, agitated, fearful, territorial,
and aggressive. Not only that, if these tethered dogs
somehow manage to escape the chain, they now roam the
street as a loaded weapon, much like Henri Young when
he was finally released from isolation.
Here are the facts:
- In America, chained dogs kill as many children as
do firearms, and more children than falls from trees,
falls on playground equipment and fireworks put together.
- Karen Delise author of "Fatal Dog Attacks"
states in her book, "statistically, chained dogs
are more dangerous than a free-running pack of dogs."
- Centre for Disease Control - "chained dogs are
three times more likely to bite."
- The American Veterinary Medical Association, quote
for Dog Bite Prevention Week - "never tether or
chain your dog because this can contribute to aggressive
behaviour."
- The Humane Society of the United States - "A
dog kept chained in one spot for hours, days, months,
or even years suffers immense psychological damage.
An otherwise friendly and docile dog, kept continuously
chained, becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and often
aggressive.
- St. John's SPCA - "Tethering - Inhumane for
Dogs and Dangerous for People."
- Mother's Against Chained Dogs - "chaining dogs
is cruel to the animals - and dangerous to children."
- Safety Council of Canada on the Dog Bite Epidemic
- "Any owner who must keep a dog locked up (or
chained outside) for 12 hours a day should probably
not own one.
Most people get a dog and allow them to have a role in
their family. It boggles my mind why someone takes on
the responsibility of dog ownership only to chain the
animal to a post or confine within a pen. These owners
leave their pets day and night with no social interaction
or mental stimulation. These dogs have no say in this
inhumane treatment and our society blames the dog when
they act out from this abuse.
Having said all this, what is the solution? Very simple
actually, if you get a dog, be a responsible owner and
chaining your dog for prolonged periods is not responsible
ownership.
It is a tragedy what happened in Ontario and to the thousands
of other children killed or maimed in dog attacks.
We have come a long way from the dungeons of Alcatraz,
realizing the dramatic affects that isolation and mistreatment
has on the human mind. When are we going to realize that
similar treatment of animals has the same affect.
<
Back
