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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: May 2008

About six million U.S. dogs live on chains, Dogs Deserve Better count projects

 

TIPTON, Pa.--How many dogs are chained or penned in abnormally close quarters as their primary means of confinement?

The quick answer appears to be about six million dogs, 9% of the U.S. dog population, based on an ANIMAL PEOPLE analysis of data gathered by Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes and public liaison director Dawn Ashby.

Grimes and Ashby in mid-April 2008 spent 12 days counting chained or closely penned dogs in a dozen southern and southeastern states. They found 1,051 chained dogs in 1,483 residential road miles, or about one mile in 2,648 of the U.S. residential road mile total.

Grimes believes they saw about half of the actual number of dogs along their route who are usually kept chained or closely penned. They saw mostly yard dogs. Not visible from the road were puppy mill breeding dogs, hunting dogs, many guard dogs, and fighting dogs. Sled dogs, usually kept chained, would not have been common along their route.

"There are definitely states where chaining and penning is much more likely to occur frequently than in other states, and we hit 12 of the worst," acknowledged Grimes.

Grimes and Ashby covered a route running from Missouri through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.

These states are not demographically or climatically representative of the U.S. as a whole, but appear to have a disproportionately large share of the total U.S. dog population.

"I don't know of any studies that identify how many dogs are chained," Grimes told ANIMAL PEOPLE before the journey. "It would be really tough to do," she guessed, "because of dogs who are hidden in the vast expanses of rural areas, chained dogs behind fences, the really scary cases of dogs who are chained in basements, and those luckier chained dogs who aren't chained all of the time, but actually do spend some time indoors. I threw together some numbers based on dog ownership, recent fatal attacks, and an older dog bite study, and came up with the estimate that 8.1 million dogs in the U.S. are tethered."

Though this now appears to be about two million high, Grimes' preliminary estimate incorporated enough older data to perhaps project accurately the prevalance of tethering before Dogs Deserve Better began mobilizing opposition to chaining in 2002.

ANIMAL PEOPLE confirmed Grimes' preliminary estimate by adding up the numbers of dogs of breeds who are often kept chained, based on classified ad counts, and guessing that the numbers of these breeds who are not chained might be approximately equal to the numbers of other breeds who are chained.

Crude as these approaches are, they converge on a likelihood that chained dogs are hugely disproportionately involved in fatal attacks, especially on children. Why this is, however, is unclear and intensely debated.

Reviewing hospital data now nearly 20 years old, then-Centers for Disease Control & Prevention public health economist Jeffrey Sachs reported in 1996 that about 29% of all fatal dog attacks on children involved chained dogs. But Sachs also found that nearly half of the attacks were by pit bull terriers. This was closely comparable to ANIMAL PEOPLE findings from an ongoing log of dog attack fatalities and maimings kept since September 1982.

As Sachs told ANIMAL PEOPLE, his data was insufficient to determine whether the dogs were chained because they were dangerous, or were made dangerous by being chained.

The ANIMAL PEOPLE log continues to show that about half of all fatal attacks are by pit bulls, who are about 5% of the U.S. dog population. About 30% of the fatalities appear to involve chained dogs.

Grimes and Ashby encountered hazards during their dog count including, "A mastiff wanting us for dinner, a paranoid woman freaking the moment she saw us, and a couple of inebriated folks vowing to 'put lead in someone's ass if they didn't stop talking to them about their dog.'

Dawn was bit by a chained German shepherd," Grimes recounted, "who faked nice and then grabbed her ear, and was lunged at by a Rottweiler as she tried to give him water. "

They made efforts to entice dog caretakers to quit chaining with "offers of free fencing, free collars, leashes, dog treats, and toys, which we handed out with a smile and a friendly attitude,"

Grimes said. "Each day we interacted with around 20 caretakers, and left information for at least 20 more who were not home."