URGENT: Speak Up for Chained Dogs in Virginia!

Virginia law doesn’t prohibit around-the-clock chaining of dogs during any weather conditions. Bills to restrict continuous tethering in the Commonwealth were introduced in both the House of Delegates and the Senate this session. Thanks to compassionate people like you, they’ll soon be up for a vote on the floors of both houses. Your help is urgently needed.

House Bill 1552 will soon be heard on the floor of the Senate and Senate Bill 272 on the floor of the House. If enacted, they would prohibit keeping dogs tethered during certain times and weather conditions.

Today, please contact your legislators and ask them to vote YES on HB 1552 and SB 272.

Step 1: Go to Who’s My Legislator and enter your home address to get contact info for your state senator and delegate.

Step 2: E-mail your state senator about HB 1552, and follow up with a phone call.

Step 3: E-mail your state delegate about SB 272, and follow up with a phone call.

Step 4: Please share this alert with other Virginia residents!

Need some talking points for your e-mail and phone call? Here are some suggestions:

• As your constituent, I respectfully urge you to support this bill, which would afford vital protections to dogs kept chained outside 24/7. Current Virginia law doesn’t prohibit around-the-clock chaining of dogs during any weather conditions. If enacted, this bill would prohibit tethering dogs during certain times and in certain weather conditions.
• Chained dogs are in constant danger of becoming entangled, hanging themselves, or being attacked by other animals. All dog breeds are vulnerable while tethered outside unattended, and all dogs are in extreme danger if left tethered during a flood, hurricane, or blizzard or when they become entangled and unable to reach water, shelter, or shade. During certain weather conditions, a doghouse isn’t sufficient protection for a tethered animal even if it meets the definition of “adequate shelter” under current Virginia law.
• Dogs are social animals who want nothing more than to be with their pack, including their human guardians. They suffer terribly when they’re kept chained in solitary confinement, forced to eat, sleep, defecate, and urinate all in the same small circle of dirt.
• Humane officers routinely find dogs tethered by chains that are thick and heavy enough to tow a vehicle. Chained dogs are often found with embedded collars that have cut deeply into their necks, and many are deprived of adequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care. Chained dogs are unable to reach any food, water, or shelter that has been provided for them when their chains are too short and/or become tangled. Many chained dogs who are left to fend for themselves fall prey to attacks by other animals or cruel humans. Last June, a tethered dog in Altavista was fatally attacked by two loose dogs. Many others become injured, are hanged, or choke as a result of getting entangled or caught in their tether. Last July, a dog in Danville was found dead, tangled in his own chain.
• Recent weather disasters during which animals have suffered and died outdoors, even when provided with doghouses, have demonstrated that tethered dogs are highly vulnerable during flooding, high winds, and extreme temperatures. Many owners are insensitive to these dangers and leave their animal companions to struggle for survival in weather conditions that they themselves would never brave. In the winter of 2017, a man was charged after his chained dog was found dead, frozen solid, inside a doghouse on the Eastern Shore. In 2018, a chained dog in Lynchburg was found dead from hypothermia inside a doghouse. That summer, a chained dog was found dead from heatstroke in Martinsville. Chained dogs abandoned by owners who had evacuated ahead of hurricanes like Florence, Harvey, and Irma were found dead or struggling desperately to survive in rising floodwaters.
• Chained dogs can become overly fearful and aggressive toward intruders as well as protective of their tiny patch of ground. The American Veterinary Medical Association advises dog guardians, “Never tether or chain your dog, because this can contribute to aggressive behavior.” Nicholas H. Dodman, a professor at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, explains, “Chaining dogs makes them more aggressive—the shorter the chain, the greater the aggression.” And a study partly authored by two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention physicians found that chained dogs are almost three times as likely to attack as dogs who aren’t chained, and most victims are children. Last September, a man in Appomattox County fatally shot his friend’s chained dog after the animal attacked the man’s 3-year-old son.