An animal advocate group wants to make it illegal for dogs to be permanently chained or tethered in Surrey.
Photo: Jennifer Fong
Chaining dogs in your backyard may soon be a crime in Surrey, if Janet Olson has anything to say about it.
Olson’s request to speak to the city was approved at last week’s council meeting. Olson, the founder of A Better Life Dog Rescue, will be presenting her case on April 23. She is calling for a legislation to ban the chaining, tethering, and cruel confining of dogs.
“We want to see an end to permanent chaining,” said Olson. “We’re not concerned if they put a time limit on that, say two or three hours, or they put an amendment on it saying that they cannot be chained unattended.”
Anti-chaining legislations elsewhere
This kind of legislation isn’t new. Lion’s Bay, a community in Vancouver, and several states in the U.S. have anti-chaining legislations.
Olson said that communities who have implemented this change have seen a reduction in workload for animal welfare and animal control organizations, as well as a reduction in dog bites.
The danger of chained dogs
“Chained dogs who are unsocialized and don’t have the ability to run if they’re afraid respond with a fight or flight response,” said Olson. “The flight response is taken away from them, so their only other response is fight.”
“They are responsible for most of the dog bites, especially to children.”
Is the city liable?
One of Olson’s arguments will be about the city’s liability. “One of our comments to the city is going to be that . . . if a child or adult is bitten by a chained dog, could the city be held responsible?”
“Think about how at risk you are with liability, if people choose to decide that you should have been responsible for preventing it,” said Olson.
“There’s a whole bunch of issues that come along with it. If you’re not just concerned about how cruel it is, then think about how dangerous it is,” she added.
Animal cruelty
Olson will also be discussing the animal cruelty aspect before council.
“There’s probably nothing you can do to a dog that’s crueller than isolating it, it’s a highly social animal that you are now keeping alone.”
“A dog would prefer, probably, to be beaten every day for 5 minutes than to be alone on a chain 24 hours a day.”
Public misconception
Some critics believe that anti-chaining laws will lead to more out-of-control dogs, creating more harm than good. Olson calls these people “uninformed.”
“Nobody’s talking about letting your dogs run around on your property,” said Olson. “The city wouldn’t allow it, there are bylaws and everything to prevent that, so obviously that’s not going to be a consequence of an anti-chaining legislation.”
“If you want to have a dog then you build a fence around your yard, or you keep the dog in the house.”
“In fact, dogs running free, most commonly are dogs that slipped off their chain.”
Surrey just the first
This is the first time Olson has tried to get this legislated. If it is passed in Surrey, Olson will then go to other communities with the same request. Chilliwack and Abbotsford are next on her list.
“I can’t see it not going through because there’s nothing to lose, and everything to gain for a community,” said Olson.
“We wouldn’t have to investigate as many dog reports, wouldn’t have as many dog bites, and they’d actually save community money as well.”
A councillor's reaction
Coun. Linda Hepner agrees with Olson in principle, but is waiting to see the presentation before taking a definitive stance.
“It’s more of a question of what they ask and the examples they bring,” said Hepner. “But do I agree with a legislation that would not confine animals? Yeah, I do.”
“It’s hard to be unsympathetic to that.”
