Susanna Richer hears about it a lot: Dogs chained outside all day, all night, all the time. Dogs choked by small collars and heavy chains. Dogs tortured by bugs in the summer and freezing temperatures in the winter.

Lonely dogs.

“I don’t think people understand what can happen to a dog when he’s left out like that,” Richer said.

Soon, she hopes, people will.

Maine Friends of Animals, a statewide animal protection group, has launched a massive “Chained for Life” campaign to educate people about the abuse dogs suffer when they’re permanently tied outside.


When education doesn’t work, the group hopes the law will. Maine Friends of Animals is backing state legislation that would require pet owners to, among other things, unchain their dogs for at least three hours a day.

“I would love to go for no tethering at all. But this is a step,” said Richer, a Maine Friends of Animals board member and the campaign’s chairwoman.

Norma Worley, director of the Maine Animal Welfare Program, agrees Maine has a problem with chained and abused dogs. In 2006, her program handled 335 dog cases. The third most frequent complaint: dogs left outside without good shelter.

In Central Maine, Animal Control Officer Wendell Strout believes the problem has gotten better in recent years, largely because TV shows, like those on Animal Planet, now educate viewers about animal cruelty and proper pet care. Still, he encounters dogs – particularly hunting dogs – permanently chained outside.

“My dog would not be outside today under any circumstances,” said Strout, who serves Lewiston, Auburn, Greene, Leeds, Turner and Wales. “It’s common sense. If I stand out there for five minutes and it’s cold, imagine how the dog feels.”

During the last legislative session, Maine Friends of Animals helped pass a law that prohibits very short chains and requires adequate shelter for dogs left outside.

This year, the group is making a bigger push to help chained dogs. It’s started running televised public service announcements geared toward pet owners. It’s offering sample letters and door hangers for people who want to contact a neighbor who owns a chained dog. It’s backing legislation that would better define adequate shelter, would prohibit heavy, burdensome chains and would require dogs to be off the chain for at least three hours a day.

Both Worley and Strout like the group’s campaign. Aside from suffering from health problems and loneliness, they said, chained dogs are more likely to be aggressive and endanger the community.

Worley, however, isn’t convinced officials can enforce a law requiring dogs to be off the chain for three hours a day. She’s also afraid owners will simply let their dogs loose for three hours instead of bringing them inside.

Still, she said, the Maine Friends of Animals campaign is a start.

Being permanently chained, she said, “it’s not something that should happen to a dog.”

BREAKOUT>>>>

For its “Chained for Life” campaign, Maine Friends of Animals is:

Running televised public service announcements geared toward pet owners

Offering sample letters and door hangers for people who want to educate a neighbor with a chained dog

Outlining steps people can take to help chained dogs

Backing legislation that would, among other things, require owners to untie their dogs for at least three hours a day

FMI on the campaign: www.mfoa.net

To report animal abuse: call 1-877-269-9200 or your local animal control officer.