Dog tethering issue returns
Claudine Sleik with Cindy Lou-Who.
NEWS/ CITY HALL — Dog tethering will be back for discussion in City Hall on Tuesday as several animal welfare groups try to convince City council to put a leash on the length of time dog owners can keep their pets tied up.
B.C. SPCA, Habitat for Hounds Kamloops and Pommy Country Rescue representatives will ask council for a bylaw that puts limits on tethering dogs as the primary means of confinement.
The delegation follows a letter from Claudine Sleik of Habitat for Hounds in January that got no traction with council members, who declined to take any action.
“We would like to see limits on the time a dog is permitted to be tethered within a 24-hour period and guidelines as to the method in which the dog may be tethered,” said Sleik. She said the bylaw should include such things as the method of tethering, type of collar used and housing and shelter.
Habitat for Hounds focuses on dog tethering, while Pommy Country Rescue is a small-breed dog rescue group based in Barriere, Kamloops and area.
In January, council decided to continue to leave it to owners to decide how long dogs are tethered, defeating a motion by Coun. Denis Walsh to research the issue.
“I’ve never had one phone call about a tethered dog,” said Coun. Marg Spina at the time.
The SPCA has written a model bylaw used by several B.C. municipalities that have set various limits on how long a dog can be kept chained up. The SPCA calls tethering “passive cruelty, neglect and ignorance.”
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Once again, council proves that it hasn’t the gumption to make a real decision until someone leads them by the hand, or gives them a good hard shove to one side of the fence, or the other. This bylaw just makes sense, for the animals, and for the chance to mitigate the noise by barking dogs that annoy so many people.
LikeLike
And I almost overlooked this comment ” “I’ve never had one phone call about a tethered dog,” said Coun. Marg Spina at the time. “. I’ll bet she has had many calls about bored, lonely, hungry,and cold dogs barking incessantly though. What a stupid statement to make, especially since the two are related.
LikeLike