"To chain a dog is to deprive it of its essential nature. A dog is a wolf…and to turn that animal into an isolated chained prisoner is the height of cruelty."
Jeffrey Masson, Ph.D. author of Dogs Never Lie About LoveYour Worship and Councillors:
In Edmonton and St. Albert, as in all communities across Alberta, indeed across North America, many dogs are alive, but not living. Because they have no voice, they have no choice but to live in hovels and pens, on chains and ropes, in boxes and runs and cages, in basements and garages, in filth and darkness. They are forced to endure blazing heat, bitter cold and wet, fear of storms and unknown noises, taunting by children, attacks from other dogs, and the degradation of having to walk and stand and lie in their own feces and urine, and to never be clean.
Many dogs spend their lives at the end of a chain: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Neglected dogs often suffer from the pain of untreated ear, eye, and tooth infections as well as the discomfort of worms, fleas, sores, itchy skin conditions and the pain of a matted coat. Dogs that spend their life on the end of a chain or in a confined area do not have the opportunity for adequate exercise. A chained dog may bite out of fear, and it is most common for a person known to the dog to be the victim, rather than a stranger. This behaviour is the direct result of lack of human contact and on-going confinement.
For a dog, being starved of socialization is a punishment far more abusive than lack of adequate food, water, and shelter and veterinary care. Dogs suffer anxiety and depression when they are deprived of social interaction. A dog would rather be beaten and starved than isolated.
Isolation is the greatest cruelty a dog can endure. It’s important for dog owners to understand that dogs do suffer physically and psychologically when they are not properly cared for and when their right to freedom from suffering is not respected.
It is time to raise the bar on animal care. We know that love cannot be legislated, but we ask you to enact laws that will reduce suffering and establish standards of care that reflect some of a dog’s needs, not just the dog-owner’s needs. If owning a cheap alarm system becomes not so easy and cheap, we believe fewer people will use a dog this way.
Please ban the permanent chaining and isolation of dogs and ban the use of industrial yard dogs.
Print a copy of the petition for your signature.
"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or abilities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." ~William Penn
