Residents continue push for county dog tethering law

Apr. 30—PLATTSBURGH — Debbie Hicks vividly remembers what it was like seeing a dog live its life chained up outside.

When she was a child, she said an older woman who lived across the street from her kept a dog tied out "24/7."

"He was never touched by his owner, not even a pet on the head. He lived in a tiny dog house about 100 feet away from the owner's house without any shade. He was the sweetest dog ever," Hicks, of Champlain, told the Clinton County Legislature April 24.

"My siblings and I would go play with him whenever we could, but if we were caught by the owner, we were yelled at and told to get away from him. When she would leave, we would go unleash the dog and play with him on our property, always returning him before his owner would get home."

'HEARTBROKEN'

Hicks, who grew up on a farm, said on especially cold nights, her family would bring the dog into their barn so he would survive.

Despite their best efforts, however, her neighbor eventually moved and Hicks later learned the dog froze to death after being left outside.

"I was heartbroken and still think about it to this day."

Hicks shared another story that occurred years later when a couple moved into her neighborhood and shortly after, got a puppy.

"The first month they had taken it for walks and it was kept inside, but once the puppy had grown, they started tying it to the picnic table," she said.

"Soon after that nobody would go pet him or even give him any kind of attention. The kids that lived there would throw stones at him. It was then when I started seeing his food and water bowls turned over and never being filled."

But, despite her efforts to get law enforcement involved, she said that dog met a similar fate as a result of it being neglected.

COUNTY LAW

Now, Hicks, who attended the legislature meeting April 24 to advocate for a county-wide dog tethering law, is one of many who believe the law will prevent any more dogs from dying the same way.

Champlain resident Jennifer Jewett, who has become the face of the movement to get the law passed, previously said the legislation, which would include restrictions on when and how long a dog could be chained or leashed outside in the county, would ideally mirror Essex County's, which was implemented in 2016.

This may include restrictions on not leaving dogs outside during extreme weather conditions; limiting the period of time a dog is tethered to a fixed point to four continuous hours or eight cumulative hours in a 24-hour period while the owner is there; and prohibiting the tethering of a dog to a fixed point while the owner is not there.

However, Jewett recognized that legislators may want to tweak the law to better fit the needs of Clinton County residents.

At their last public safety meeting, legislators discussed a potential law at length and heard from Town of Lewis Supervisor James Monty about his experiences with Essex County's law so far.

In addition to answering any questions and concerns about how the law there works, he emphasized that the biggest advantage of having it is the education owners get. He also said it gives animal control officers the ability to do something if the situation calls for it.

Though, in Lewis, they have not had more than three complaints since the law took effect in 2016, he said.

THREE OPTIONS

At the end of the meeting, Committee chair and Legislator Calvin Castine (R-Area 1, Champlain) discussed possible steps forward for the law and said he wanted legislators to reach out to the town supervisors in their district and get their input on three possible options the county could take.

Castine said the options for towns to consider would be:

1) Leaving everything as is and don't pursue a law.

2) The towns create their own dog tethering law.

3) The county would craft a law and the towns would be responsible for enforcing it.

Since then, Jewett has been attending town meetings across the county to make sure supervisors and their boards have the correct information about the law.

After attending these meetings, Jewett said it's clear to her that many residents may not know the law is even being proposed.

"Please consider the feedback from the town supervisors, but please don't base your entire decisions solely on their feedback," she told the legislature April 24.

"And here's why: most people don't attend or even follow their town meetings, many don't even know who their elected officials are ... Really, how can you expect your town supervisors to know how their residents feel about the tether law? How can they speak for the entire town?"

The public safety committee is now expected to discuss the feedback they received from the towns and vote on whether or not they should move forward with a law at their meeting May 6.

Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: CarlySNewton