Rose Gordon

Mollie spent the first 11 years of her life chained to a tree in a back yard. Now she spends her time lying on a sofa or on a comfy bed in a house with the Gordon family of St. Louis, MO.

By Adam Goldfarb

Animal rescuers across the country know how prevalent the practice of dog chaining is in their own communities, but national trends remain elusive.

That's exactly why Dawn Ashby and Tammy Grimes of the group Dogs Deserve Better set out to prove that dog chaining is so rampant that they could drive to any state and, within hours, easily find 10 dogs spending their lives on the end of a chain.

A few weeks ago, this "dognamic duo" set out on a road trip, their goal: to find 10 chained dogs in each of 12 different states over 12 days.

Journey of 1,000 Dogs

Even though their original goal was to spot 120 chained dogs, the final tally of their journey numbered more than 1,000. As a group that works to reduce the number of chained dogs, this level of success isn't exactly what they had hoped for. 

"We found dog after dog after dog, and the conditions that they were in were worse than I ever imagined," said Ashby.

Ashby and Grimes hoped to create better lives for these dogs by working with their owners to get the dogs off of chains and into their owners’ homes. Dogs Deserve Better brought free collars, leashes, food and applications for financial aid to provide fencing.

Bite Risk

Many owners were receptive and thankful for this help, but the same can't be said for all of the dogs that they met. Studies have shown that chained dogs are at a higher risk to bite. This resonated for Ashby, who was bitten on the ear by one of these chained dogs, despite his initially friendly appearance.

"Overall, probably 10 percent or more of the dogs we encountered were aggressive. There was a lot of growling, barking, lunging and teeth snapping," she said.

Dogs Deserve Better

Pictured from left with Mollie are Tammy Grimes, Rose and Gary Gordon.

Legislation Makes the Difference

On the bright side, Ashby and Grimes noticed what a huge difference legislation can make. They visited a number of communities with laws in place to ban or restrict the practice of tethering because they had heard some of these laws weren't effective. They described the difference in these communities as "night and day."

When visiting borders between communities with and without tethering ordinances, Ashby said, "we went to the county line and on one side of the road, there were no chained dogs. You go across the street to the neighboring county and there's just a row of homes with dogs chained up."

The contrast led Ashby to conclude that "having an ordinance on the books makes a huge difference."

A Growing Awareness

The trip was an emotional journey for Ashby and Grimes, too. When speaking to some of the owners of the chained dogs Ashby said, "I always hear 'my dog is happy on a chain.' This whole trip I never found one happy dog."

On the whole, Ashby is reassured by the general progress on the issue, but will continue to work hard: "I can see a change beginning to happen and a growing awareness. I know that chaining is going to be a part of history, but it’s going to be a long road until we get there."

Adam Goldfarb is an issues specialist for the Companion Animals section of The HSUS.