Ohio Introduces Dog Chaining Ban - National Humane Education Society
Paws Up!
To Ohio Representative John Barnes, Jr. for sponsoring a bill to ban continuous dog chaining in Ohio.
Dogs require daily socialization, exercise, and shelter to live happy lives.
The practice of continually tethering pets outside for extended periods of time is known to be both harmful to animals and the communities they live in. Chained dogs are vulnerable to extreme boredom and frustration as result of isolation and lack of exercise. In addition to the psychological stress caused by long-term chaining, dogs who are chained continuously are vulnerable to extreme weather, attacks by other animals, and infestation by disease-carrying insects. Many dogs who are chained can also become entangled in the chain itself, resulting in injury and even strangulation. Dogs living under these conditions are not provided with opportunities to be good canine citizens and may be more likely to bark, lunge, or snap at passing people or other animals.
In an attempt to rescue dogs and other animals from the fate of life on a chain, Ohio Representative John Barnes, Jr. has introduced H.B. 94, also known as the Animal Protection Initiative. The bill was introduced to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on March 4, 2015. If passed into law, this bill would drastically limit the conditions under which an animal can be legally chained or tethered. Specifically, owners would not be permitted to chain any animal for longer than two consecutive hours. After two consecutive hours, owners would be required to relieve the animal from the tether for a minimum of one hour. Provisions under the law also stipulate conditions under which an animal can be tethered. For instance, the law would prohibit the tethering of an animal for more than six hours in a 24-hour period, between the hours of 10:00pm and 6:00am, in severe weather, or in an unsanitary environment. Violators of the law would be subject to a fine and possible seizure of animals from the property.
Take action. Residents of Ohio, contact your representative and urge them to pass H.B. 94, also known as the Animal Protection Initiative.
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has this law been passed?
I have a neighbor that don’t pay any attention to there dog. He is chained up day and night. Never has food, water and without proper shelter. I called the dog warden they didn’t do anything but warn him. Last night he was tangled up and about to strangle hisself. He seems aggressive so I knocked and they didn’t answer. Finally I just got the courage to help. He seemed to know he was in trouble and let me help him. Anyway I was wondering if this law passed? I am worried something bad is going to happen to him!
Has this law been passed into law in Ohio? Thank you!
Hi Marleen, thanks for your comment. According to this link: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-committee-documents?id=GA131-HB-94 it has not progressed past the committee hearings. Don’t give up hope! Please continue to support animal welfare legislation in your state!
Please pass this Bill. There are so many dog that are miss treated by chaining them outside and leaving them.
(Out of sight out of mind) they dont get feed for day unless they might have a nice neighbor to help them out once in awhile.some starving freezing in winter, overheat without any water in the summer please help these dogs thank you
We have a neighbor a few houses down that has a pitmix that is chained up outside 24hrs a day 7 days a week that we know of for sure the past 4 years we have lived here ,it’s her sad our husky has slipped loose before out of his collar while walking him and he ran to this said dog ,she was really friendly but sad and wanted to be free and play but could do to the chain it’s a lot chain at that .
I’m dealing with the exact same situation, but with not just one pit, but now 3 as of a few weeks ago 🙁
Please pass H.B.94 We live in the Burlington Oh area and there is a dog tied up all the time. It has sores on its ears and is going into heat. My heart goes out to the precious animal. It is a friendly dog. They had it in the house for a couple of months and then turned it outside which I know is confusing to the dog. I wish they would take it to Little Victories Rescue and then the dog would have a chance. It might be close to a year old,probably more like 8 months. Thank you.
Pass the bill
My neighbor’s dog is chained in the backyard 24/7 and the backyard is like the local dump. It’s horrible. Standing water, garbage. We had to listen to the dog cry the other night during a rain storm. He’s been cited for this before with another dog that ended up dying. He’s had more dogs than I can count. This dog has knocked down part of the fence that separates our yards, which endangers our little dog when we let her out. She’s a little dog that thinks she’s a big dog. I’ve called the city. Hoping they do something about this. I give the dog cookies when I can, but, she needs human interaction. Shame of it is they have kids and this is teaching their children it’s okay to lock away their family member. Please pass this law!
Please, please pass this bill, how would you like to be chained up without food, water and shelter? Pass the Bill
I had one neighbor that threw out their pit pup right after 4th of July no food no water. Was being eaten by flies and didn’t have much lead to get away from it’s own feces. I added another lead fed and watered the dog as I would hear him whine and moan. These people deal drugs so I didn’t go any further and I know they saw me feeding him. Next he disappeared. New neighbors moved in two weeks ago right next door and they not only have this poor girl tied out 24/7 but are starving her. What is wrong with people?! If you can’t afford to feed them then DONT GET THEM.
ATTN. LAWMAKERS ● WE NEED THIS BILL PASSED !! PLEASE HELP THESE INNOCENT ANIMALS. SO SAD.
Please pass this bill. I see a dog on my way to work and back that is always tied up and the owners have a fenced yard. Doesn’t seem to get needed exercise. I feel so bad for him. Breaks my heart.
My neighbor is a repeat offender. He’s been fined numerous times. He proved provides a plastic kids play house as shelter so the Humane Society said, that’s all that’s required. Some type of shelter. So, the dog is tethered day and night 24 hours a day in the 100degre heat and the below zero temps for 3 years now . No one will help this poor doggy .
Chris,
Thank you for your comment. Let’s hope the new dog tethering bans that are catching on all over the U.S. will bring a positive result to your neighbor’s dog and other dogs like him! Contact your representatives and ask them to support the ban on dog tethering and to support legislation that improves the welfare of animals.
Please please pass this law. There’s so many dogs on leashes 24/7 without food and water for days. There’s so many like this in our neighborhoods!
We really need this law passed. Have a neighbor across the street that has a pittie that is chained outside 24/7. Why they don’t have him inside is beyond me. They have a female pit with seven pups, and two types of dogs. We are not allowed to feed him as if the sheriff or dog warden sees food than they can not do anything. So pleaser please pass this law for outside chaining of dogs.
Please pass a humane law for the dogs.Do you really care?I do!
Please give these sweet pups a chance to be loved and cared for. Our neighbor keeps her dog chained all day and night to protect her chickens? So sad. She is so beautiful and longs to be loved and warm. Please pass before it is too late for these sweet souls.
I contacted my representative, Theresa Richardson. The message I received from her office stated that it was passed last general assembly (132nd), & was signed by Governor Kasich. I can’t find any evidence to support this. Is this true? Thanks
Hi Angela,
Thank you for your comment. This particular bill did not make it past committee hearings. It was also introduced last year (H.B. 684) but died in the House again. See here. Did your representative give you a bill number to reference? As it stands, dog tethering bans are being put in place by city and county ordinances but nothing statewide in Ohio yet. Please talk to your representatives and ask them to reintroduce this important legislation! Thank you.
I think it passed the 132nd, as Angela noted:
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-status?id=GA132-HB-94
So this law hasn’t even passed yet? Yet there are people trying to enforce other dog owners to do exactly what this says even though the bill has yet to pass.. or has the bill passed already?
Hi Larry,
Thank you for your comment. This particular bill did not make it past committee hearings. It was also introduced last year (H.B. 684) but died in the House again. See here. As it stands, dog tethering bans are being put in place by city and county ordinances but nothing statewide in Ohio yet. Please talk to your representatives and ask them to reintroduce this important legislation! Thank you.
Would like to report {address redacted} in Streetsboro Ohio. 365 days a year, this dog is chained to a puny doghouse. Deep snow, high winds & below zero wind chills this weekend. Several people have reported this to Portage County APL over the years. Please help this animal
Jamie,
Please contact your local animal control or humane society immediately to get this animal help. Unfortunately we do not have any legal authority. You must speak with your local authorities. Thank you and we hope this animal gets help!
Edit: Jamie, we called the Portage Animal Protective League with these details and requested them to do a welfare check on the dog at the address you gave us.
Come on OHIO!!! Get with it! Dogs will not survive the next couple days in this weather!
There are some tied outside in Kensington Ohio, corner of Lynchburg and Rt 30! So so sad!!! Makes me sick!
Please share on this page there is a Ohio Law 1717.13 it reads; 1717.13 Any person may protect animal.
When, in order to protect any animal from neglect, it is necessary to take possession of it, any person may do so. When an animal is impounded or confined, and continues without necessary food, water, or proper attention for more than fifteen successive hours, any person may, as often as is necessary, enter any place in which the animal is impounded or confined and supply it with necessary food, water, and attention, so long as it remains there, or, if necessary, or convenient, he may remove such animal; and he shall not be liable to an action for such entry. In all cases the owner or custodian of such animal, if known to such person, immediately shall be notified by him of such action. If the owner or custodian is unknown to such person, and cannot with reasonable effort be ascertained by him, such animal shall be considered an estray and dealt with as such.
The necessary expenses for food and attention given to an animal under this section may be collected from the owner of such animal, and the animal shall not be exempt from levy and sale upon execution issued upon a judgment for such expenses.
Effective Date: 10-01-1953 . Everyone please keep working to get your representatives to pass a “no chaining law” But know that you can help protect any animal under this law when necessary.
What about if it’s inside that the dog is tired up all day? My aunt bought a husky a few months ago. She’s 5 months old now and nobody is ever home over there other than at night. The dog is tired up all day in the heated garage. They only give her like 3 feet of the leash to work with ALL day! Even when they are home.. they keep her tied up. They are waiting for her to be trained so they can take the leash off!!! WTF???? That’s not how you train a dog!!!!
Hi Alexandra,
This sounds awful for the dog! Please try to explain to to your family members that this is inhumane for the dog, and that training a dog can begin immediately, not at a later time in the dog’s life. Also, tying a dog up for long periods of time is inhumane whether it is inside OR outside, but unfortunately this law does not extend to inside a citizen’s home.
Since 2015 – are you kidding me – this bill should never have been turned over to the agriculture and urban development-the farmers have nothing to do with the cities and their laws – the farmers don’t want to have to abide by these types of laws and have major lobby groups – think about it – the don’t have to tag farm equipment even though they use them on the road – they do t pay gas tax on farm fuel and get paid sometimes to not plant certain crops – don’t let them decide about animals in the city – give it to another department to get passed. These animals have been suffering way to long.you politicians need to get off your buttocks and do what is needed. To many of us these animals are more important than people. People make their own bed to lay in but the animals don’t have a choice and it is up to us to see that they are taken care of. Four years to pass a bill on this is ridiculous.
Thank God someone is finally getting it. I’ve been preaching on this very thing for the last 3 years to friends and family.
Seriously you representatives of the great state of Ohio cannot pass a law to help innocent animals chained in a backyard or sometimes even worse. Maybe if it was done to you all you would pass the animal protection iniative. Where is your compassion for defenseless animals. How can something so simple not pass. Sad days for the people we pay to protect creatures of all makes. Especially furry ones who can’t unchain themselves and live the live they deserve. Do something about this please.
I absolutely do not understand why this law is not passed, although putting it in the hands of the agriculture and urban development committee is definitely a bad idea. They have nothing to do with this problem. I too have to witness a dog being tied to a dog box day after day, laying in the mud and water daily. It breaks my heart to watch this animal suffer. I have contacted my local animal shelter on 2 separate occasions, and was told that the animal is “fine” living outside on a chain. When I got angry with her response she got very defensive. I fell helpless with absolutely no support from my local agency. I live in Jackson, ohio I have just begun my quest to help these poor suffering dogs. Everybody who wants to help end this practice of tying dogs outside needs to speak up, support each other, and let our voices be heard at the local level.
I had the same situation concerning a dog tied-up to a dog house and short chain. I called the dog warden and was told the dog was fine…. I told her he doesn’t get any attention and she told me she could not do anything about that. I know for a fact a dog is not fine tied up all day long without human touch. This is cruel and inhumane. This is the same as dog abuse.Something needs to be done about this.
Instead of letting my dog enjoy the outdoors on a 30 ft leash while I’m working with food, water, and a padded shelter, itll now be stuck inside a cage in my house all day with no food or water or space to move. Since supposedly that’s better for it.
Hi John,
This bill was introduced five years ago and died in committee.
I have tried everything-email to politicians- calls to humane society – call to dog warden and only response was from dog warden who says all they can do is check for dog tags while I look out my back door across 2 yards and see two dogs standing outside their dog house – it is snowing and wind chill of 11 degrees-something needs done in Lima ohio
I’m confused by these comments. This link says HB 94 passed by in 2017 and went into effect in Jan. of 2018. Is that incorrect?
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-status?id=GA132-HB-94
This dog tethering bill was introduced in the 131st General Assembly. It did not pass (please follow the HB94 link in the article above). You are referencing a different bill in a later General Assembly. Different bills can have the same number if they are introduced during a later General Assembly.
I live in Northwest, Ohio. When we lived in a town 40 minutes from where we live now, in the city limits, about 10 years ago, our next door lady neighbor tethered her boyfriend’s dog, a beautiful Siberian Husky, to a shed with no access to food, water, or shelter in the middle of winter. I called the dog warden several times and they never bothered to check on the dog and it died. We later found out it had been poisoned. I wrote our local newspaper and complained about the dog warden. The dog warden wrote in to the paper and lied about their conduct in the matter to save face for their job. We called our neighbor to ourselves, “dog killer” from then on. Nothing was done to this lady neighbor. Then I moved to our present location, which is outside the city limits, and one of our neighbors has been doing the same thing, all spring and most of the summer to a Pitbull with no food water, or shelter. The dog cried constantly. It could have had kidney failure, or all sorts of things happen due to just a lack of water for hours. Then another neighbor leaves his first dog chained up all day and night, all seasons with the dog howling. We think it died or was given away. Who knows? Now that same neighbor has a new dog chained up, howling and clearly in distress every single day. I work from home and can hear the dog suffering. When is backward, Ohio (I was born here BTW) going to have this anti-tethering law so animals are protected? This is bull%%%!!.
This law must pass, we are tired to fight to do the right thing and nothing happens!!!! That’s insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A dog chained outside 24h/day, in below zero temperatures it’s cruel, barbaric!!!!
This is a law that need to be passed sooner than later. With the extreme heat dogs are dying whiled tied up for days on end.
I hate seeing this. It happens every day ,and people afraid to get involved. We need to fix this now!
https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/campbell-residents-hope-stricter-no-tether-ordinance-will-save-dogs/ the city of Campbell, Ohio overwhelming support to ban tethering. please check it out.
There are organizations that will come and build fences (free of charge) so these dogs can run free in their yards. 2 that I found online are Beyond Fences and Fences for Fido. There may be more. The people that I read about in the above site, should be banned from owning any dog. I am absolutely appalled, angry and sad that some human would treat a dog like has been described. We need stricter laws and fines. And again these horrible people should never own a dog or any other animal!
You can’t go around sticking your nose in everyone’s business all the time. These dogs that are tied out are probably fine but people have decided they want to treat animals better than humans. When you live in the country it’s not unreasonable that a dog is tied with shelter. I wish people would mind their own business. You don’t know the circumstances and you’re making lots of assumptions. I’m all about cats and dogs but this calling the authorities all the time because you think something is ridiculous
You are right, we do not know the circumstances of others’ lives, but it is important to stand up for others–humans and animals–when we see they are in potentially harmful situations or suffering. We encourage concerned citizens to contact animal control when they see these situations.
Great one! Thanks for sharing