South Carolina’s second-most populated city is considering legislation that would put a limit on the amount of time dog owners can keep their pets tied up outdoors, plus give owners violating dog rules a chance to avoid fines by attending an animal training program.
Proposed animal control regulations now under review by the Charleston, S.C., City Council’s public safety committee would stipulate that dogs could be tethered outside for just two hours at a time.
Tethered dogs would require a three-hour break per each two hours of tethering, and could not be tethered more than five times in a 24-hour period.
When temperatures rise above 90 degrees or fall below freezing, dogs could be tied up no more than an hour at a time, with three-hour breaks, according to the proposal.
Also, owners who violate dog rules could have a chance to avoid fines by attending an animal training program, similar to how motorists can avoid penalties by attending traffic safety school.
The new regulations would also give animal control officers more freedom to pick up dangerous dogs than under the current laws, which local police have said are hard to enforce.
The committee has taken no formal action on the matter, and is scheduled to discuss the proposals again on Feb. 27.