In most cities, you can find dogs chained in their yards. Some sit for hours on end. Some sit day and night.

Some are well-cared-for, but many are not.

A group of dog lovers has asked the Athens City Council to ban the practice in the city limits. They asked council members during their regular meeting Monday to implement another city’s pet ordinance, which prohibits tethering — or tying dogs to stationary objects with chains, ropes or wires — and sets minimum sizes for dog enclosures.

Karen Bethea, Athens resident and founder of Athens Animal Warriors, spoke for a group of residents who attended the council meeting Monday.

“Athens is an absolute dream place to live,” Bethea told council members.

But, she said, when she saw a terrier tethered to a dog house, it reminded her Florence has an ordinance that bans the tethering of animals and requires their enclosures to relate to their size.

She told council members to consider a tethering ban as “a gain, not a loss, in the city.”

“Exactly what to do we need to progress in Athens?” she said. “Think about the jobs and the companies.”

She also argued tethering of some animals is not safe for humans. She used a neighbor’s pit bull as an example, saying that even though the dog is legally tethered, it could still attack her if she walked past its yard.

Ron Oakes, a retired animal control officer, addressed the council before Bethea spoke. He said animal control officers (and others) are “a broken chain or a split collar away from disaster.”

At a home in the city where a vicious dog is tethered, he said, “All it has to do is pull (loose) from the stake, and you’ve got a killing machine.”

He also cautioned pet owners about fabric fences because one may not contain their particular pet.

Council members listened to Bethea and others but took no action Monday other than to say they would look at the Florence ordinance and consider the request.

The current city ordinance focuses on keeping animals from roaming. It says if they are continuously in an enclosure, it must offer room to move around to allow the animal “reasonable outdoor exercise.”

Bill Wilkes of Athens told the council his dog had been killed in his own fenced backyard eight days before by the neighbor’s pit bulls, he said. He had let his dogs — a Maltese and a poodle — into his yard. But, when he went to bring them inside, he opened the gate and saw the neighbor’s two dogs were inside his yard. His Maltese was running around, but his poodle had been attacked. Wilkes took his poodle to the Decatur Animal Hospital, where it died.

“These people have young children, the people who have these dogs,” he said Tuesday. “My concern is that once they taste blood, from what I understand, it puts them in another category — they may go after that.”

Still, he believes tethering pets is cruel. He thinks pit bulls are just not a good dog to have as pets.

Nationwide movement

The mood toward tethering animals is changing in the country. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have imposed restrictions on the practice, according to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation.

Some people oppose tethering because they believe such dogs are not cared for well. In addition, dogs on tethers may get tangled up and become unable to access food, water or shelter, if it is provided.

In some cases, owners may fail to provide the dogs with fresh food, water and adequate shelter in summer and winter, as well as routine walks or other exercise and attention.