It gets cold everywhere in Canada. Even on the west coast of Canada, the most temperate climate in the country, it gets too cold to keep a dog outside overnight.
In Metro Vancouver, there’s a ban on tethering dogs for more than four hours.
New Brunswick is about to become the first province in Canada to ban the tethering of dogs 24 hours a day and take a tough stance on people who mistreat their dogs.
Starting Dec. 1, dogs cannot be kept outside all night, with a few exceptions according to Hilary Howes, executive director of the New Brunswick SPCA.
The new law says that you cannot tether your dog between 11 o’clock at night and six o’clock in the morning except for short durations, if you have to let them out for a pee break or whatever, half an hour max.”
The exception to that would be owners can keep dogs out all night if they’re in a pen with a good dog house, a dog house adequate enough to protect it from the cold, insulated with straw or other materials.
Keeping dogs tethered outside all day and all night long in bad weather is not only cruel, it endangers the community.
Neglected dogs are more likely to get frustrated and break loose, and may then attack innocent people and their pets.
Dogs shouldn’t be left alone. From everything we know about them, they’re social/pack animals. They like belonging and without the benefit of companionship of other dogs or people and socialization, dogs become neurotic, depressed or aggressive.
Owners who leave their dogs tethered outside 24/7 do not deserve to have pets, frankly.
There’s a petition out here that supports dog tethering. More than 30,000 other people agree. Sign here if you think that it should be stopped.
