This February 7-14 is Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Week, and we’re continuing to work to end this cruel practice and raise awareness for the countless dogs suffering at the ends of tethers who are often out of sight, out of mind for many of us.

While most of us keep our dogs indoors and consider them to be members of our families, and wouldn’t dream of having it any other way, that sadly isn’t the case everywhere. Countless other dogs are left to languish at the end of a chain or tether, without consistent access to food and water, are denied veterinary care, and are never given opportunities to socialize or engage in healthy behaviors. Some may spend their entire lives that way, and be left so long without attention that their collars become painfully embedded in their necks as their bodies grow to adulthood.

Not only is this practice cruel, and incredibly dangerous for dogs who can become entangled and killed, it’s putting community safety at risk — chained dogs are defenseless, lonely, frustrated, and pose a greater risk of biting.

Many communities have taken action to address this by banning or restricting tethering — as of last year, it was estimated that 23 states had laws that ban or restrict tethering — but there’s still a long way to go to change hearts and minds about how we treat dogs and much work to do before we see this ended across the U.S.

In 2020, we launched our Break the Chains campaign to help bring an end to this practice and have worked tirelessly aiding in seizures and rescues of dogs in need and seeking justice for those who have suffered and died.

More than 13,000 of you signed our alert seeking justice for a dog who suffered and died after he was left unattended for at least three days and had become entangled. Although the outcome of the case was incredibly disappointing with nothing more than a guilty plea and a fine, through our work so many other dogs have been saved.  

For dogs like Max, who spent eight years on a chain and now has a loving forever home, and Winston and Louise (and her eight puppies) who were rescued and are now thriving, these efforts are vital.

You can help chained dogs by downloading and distributing our A Day in the Life of a Chained Dog flier and finding more ways to get involved at our Break the Chains campaign.

By giving generously today, you can help bring about strong, enforceable, anti-tethering laws and their enforcement across the nation. 

Together, we can free dogs everywhere from desperate, lonely lives at the ends of chains.