Determining when a pet owner can legally tether a dog has become a rallying point for Gwinnett County residents who want to see the county’s animal ordinance updated to reduce the number of chained dogs in the area.
County commissioners were due to vote last month on a provision that, among other changes, would have required an owner to be outside, and within view of the animal, the entire time it is tethered. But the vote was delayed so the county’s Animal Advisory Council could hold a public hearing and solicit the thoughts of residents. That hearing will be Thursday at 7:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the county’s Justice and Administration Center.
Under the current rule, dogs cannot be tethered for more than an hour. Those in favor of the proposed change say it is impossible to enforce that limit, which requires an officer to watch that the dog is left outdoors unattended for longer.
Lawrenceville resident John Hilinski called the current rule a “loophole” and encouraged commissioners in February to make the change.
“It breaks my heart to see dogs tethered around the county,” he said.
Jen Wagner, a Snellville resident, told commissioners that tethered dogs were often dangerous to approach. Some governments across the metro area completely forbid tethering, she said.
An anti-tethering petition Wagner started on Change.org has garnered more than 3,500 signatures. The response to the proposed changes has been vocal enough that, on Wednesday, the county moved the hearing to the commission meeting room, which seats several hundred, from the conference room of the animal welfare and enforcement center, where it was originally scheduled.
In addition to the tethering change, the proposed rules would change the amount of time a stray animal is held before it is euthanized to six days from five. It would change the time a stray animal must be held before it’s put for up adoption to three days from five. Multiple animals in eligible litters could be put up for adoption immediately.
The ordinance would also require microchipping of impounded dogs and cats.
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