Chaining dogs makes them territorial, mean

By Scott E. Williams
published in the Daily News
October 13, 2006

As breeds of dogs go, boxers are not known as ferocious fighters. The nonprofit Web site www.boxer-dog.org describes the breed as “energetic, playful, loyal, family-oriented.”

Ashley Evans, 2, has evidence to the contrary all over her body.

The toddler was still in a Houston hospital Thursday evening, in stable condition but receiving treatment for bites to her face and arms, police said.

On Monday, the toddler was in her aunt’s yard in the 3400 block of Ohio in Dickinson when she wandered toward her aunt’s dog, chained to a tree.

The dog mauled the child and later charged a police officer, who shot the animal. County Animal Control officers later euthanized the dog.

The problem was not the dog’s breed, but its confinement, experts say. Animal experts and handlers say dogs chained to fixed objects and left unattended often became aggressive and territorial.

The problem appears twofold. Chained dogs often spend little time around people and other animals, stunting the dogs’ social development. Also, dogs are territorial by nature, and when their territory shrinks to the circumference of a chain, they defend their areas fiercely.

“What a lot of people forget is that dogs are descended from wolves, with an instinct for preying on other animals,” said Sgt. Joel Caldwell, animal-cruelty investigator for the Galveston Police Department. “If they’re tied up and see other animals running free, it enhances that prey drive. It also frustrates them to have everything out of reach, and when something does come into their areas, they will often pounce right on it.”

Dogs that become fierce after being chained do not appear to care what that prey is. In the past three years, chained or tethered dogs committed 103 attacks that hospitalized or killed children, according to reports collected by the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit group Dogs Deserve Better.

Caldwell said about 90 percent of the calls he handled concerning aggressive dogs on the island involved chained animals.

Kim Schoolcraft, director of the Galveston County Animal Control division of the health district, said a dog’s nature was to be part of a pack or family.

“When a dog is isolated every day, for extended periods, it’s going to take a psychic toll, just like it would on a human being,” Schoolcraft said.

The chains and ties can also leave physical marks, as officials found on a 10-month-old pit bull found wandering in alleys Monday. The dog had developed two things — a bloody divot in its neck from struggling against a tether and a fear of all living creatures. Schoolcraft said that some animals whose psyches suffer from chaining can be rehabilitated.

“Unfortunately, she’s not going to get that chance,” Schoolcraft said of the pit bull.

Because of crowding, the county shelter often has to euthanize animals that are not adopted within 72 hours of their arrival. The pit bull was euthanized Thursday afternoon.

A dozen cities nationwide have outlawed chaining or tethering unattended dogs. Two of those cities — Big Spring and Electra — are in Texas.

Marie Wilson, a Big Spring City Hall records technician who handled animal records when Big Spring passed its law in 2004, said violators had three options.

“They can receive a warning, depending on the circumstances, but more likely, they’ll be subject to a fine, or they can sign the animal over to us.”

Wilson said city leaders passed the law after a rash of complaints about the welfare of dogs left tied to a tree or other fixed object.

“The advice our officers give pet owners is usually to create a fenced area for the dog,” Wilson said.

Many pet owners took umbrage at the idea of having to fence their entire yards for their dogs. However, Wilson said Big Spring’s law allowed dogs to be kept in a fenced pen that was smaller than the yard.

Although no city in Galveston County has a law that bars tethering an unattended dog, the island’s animal shelter is one of many shelters in the county that requires adopters of pets to sign a contract stating they will not chain the dogs.

Caldwell said many of the chained dogs he saw would have been better off in a pen in the backyard.

“If the dog has to be outside, dog owners should build a good enclosure, some place with plenty of water for the dog to drink and protection from the elements,” he said.

However, he said an even better place was the place many dog owners avoided — inside the family’s home.

“A lot of people are against kenneling a dog inside the home, but it’s actually one of the best things you can do, if you can get the dog outside regularly for exercise,” Caldwell said. “The contact with family members, kids, other pets — it makes all the difference in the world to that dog’s temperament.”

That familial feeling also means dogs need to be with the rest of their “pack.”

“They do not like separation,” Schoolcraft said. “Who does? I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a tiny area all day. Would you?”

On the Web:

• To learn more about the effects of tethering or chaining unattended dogs, visit the U.S. Humane Society’s Web site at
http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/animal_abuse_and_neglect
/the_facts_about_chaining_or_tethering_dogs.html.

• To learn more about boxers, visit www.boxer-dog.org.
• To learn about adopting an animal from the county shelter,
  call Animal Control at 409-948-2485.

Originally published  in the Daily News 10/10/06
Published in the Houston Chronicle 10/10/06
Published in the ABC Channel 13 News 10/09/06

For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org