Fairfax, Virginia, Passes City-Wide Ban on Continuous Dog Chaining
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

The National Humane Education Society (NHES)
February 2015

Fairfax, VA, recently passed a city ordinance to set strict limitations on dog chaining.

• The new city ordinance stipulates that companion animals can’t be tethered or chained for more than one hour per day.
• Residents are not permitted to tether any animal who is sick, injured, or under the age of 4 months.
• Tethering and chaining is also prohibited when the temperature is above 90 degrees or less than 32 degrees.
• Penalties for chaining a companion animal outside of these stipulations range between $50 and $250.
• Dogs who are chained continuously face daily threats to their physical and psychological well-being.
• In addition to the dangers posed by extreme weather and disease-carrying insects, chained dogs are also vulnerable to attacks by wild or roaming animals.
• Furthermore, dogs who are chained continuously suffer from extreme frustration and lack of socialization, which can make some dogs more likely to bite.

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