We will never understand how people can treat dogs this way, day in and day out — through baking hot days and frigid, icy nights — yet we still see it all over our region of Ohio.
Unfortunately, our current laws only require adequate shelter, food, and water, so a dog can be ignored for 99.9% of its life, far from the owner's house (so it's not even kept "for protection").
Dogs get bored and extremely lonely sitting on the same patch of dirt 24 hours a day, year after year. Dogs want to spend time with their "pack," which often for domesticated dogs means "their humans."
Dogs can do amazing things — detect bombs, find survivors in search-and-rescue missions, allow people with disabilities to live fuller lives — so it's impossible to believe that they're just treated like useless objects and not the miraculous beings they are.
Many states and municipalities have enacted laws to protect dogs from being chained/tethered for their whole lives, though Ohio is not one of those states.
Here is a list of tethering laws by state for comparison: https://www.animallaw.info/topic/table-state-dog-tether-laws
Here are Ohio cities/municipalities that have successfully passed tethering laws:
Akron, Alliance, Anderson Township, Bexley, Boardman, Brook Park, Brunswick, Buckeye Lake, Canton, Chagrin Falls, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Columbia Township, Dayton, Delaware, Dennison, Eastlake, Elyria, Euclid, Girard, Green Hills, Howland Township, Lancaster, Lorain, Maple Heights, Lyndhurst, Marietta, Mentor, Miami Township, Middletown, New Richmond, Niles, North Canton, North Royalton, Norwood, Poland Township, Poland Village, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, Springfield Township, Struthers, Tallmadge, Toledo, Warren, West Carrolton, Whitehall, Willoughby, and Youngstown.
