Hall County officials made their first official presentation of a proposed ordinance that would ban the long-term outdoor tethering of dogs to the county commission Monday.
Warden of the county's correctional institute, Walt Davis, presented the proposed law, saying that officials believe the law will help prevent animal abuse in the county. He read the current draft of the proposed ordnance at Monday's commission work session.
"It will read as follows, and this is our recommendation to the commission: It shall be unlawful for the owner of a canine, or one who has a canine in his possession, to restrain or leave unattended by means of anchoring with a chain, cable, rope, leash, runner cord or similar tethering device," Davis said.
To approve the ordinance the commission will need to approve a first reading at its Thursday voting session as well as a second reading, which is currently scheduled for October 25. If both readings are approved, county attorneys said the law would go into effect on November 1.
Davis said that if the ordinance is approved, law enforcement plans to allow a six-month grace period where violators will receive warnings instead of citations. He said that temporary tethering of dogs would still be allowed.
"I passed a guy, actually, just the other day, he was mowing his back yard and he had his dog out on a chain in the backyard next to his dog house," Davis said. "You can still put the dog out on a cable like that if they're outside with you, but only temporarily."
District Four Commissioner Jeff Stowe asked Davis what reasons people give for keeping dogs permanently tethered and Davis said it is typically due to costs.
"We have found that this is a situation that is not good for the animal, obviously. There's a lot of maintenance issues with not maintaining those areas, anchoring them to those dog houses, it's to be defined as an abusive situation."
