Dog tethering safety standards in Washington adopted by city of Spokane

Spokane dog owners who fail to safely tie up their animals could face fines under a new law unanimously passed by the City Council on Monday.

The city adopted safety standards laid out in a new state law that took effect last month, requiring dog owners to tether their pets in a way that allows access to shelter and water, gives the animal room to freely walk around and uses a collar that doesn’t choke the dog. Sick and injured dogs, pregnant mothers and puppies younger than 6 months can’t be tethered at all under the new regulations.

“This is kind of an attention-getter,” said Nancy Hill, director of the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service that is responsible for enforcing the new law in Spokane.

SCRAPS agents could not begin issuing citations in Spokane based on the new state law until its regulations were adopted into the city’s code of laws, Hill said. The city took a similar step in 2015 when the Washington Legislature passed a law about confining animals in cars during extreme weather, she said.

Enforcement is based on complaints, and SCRAPS has already received three in Spokane County based on the new law that took effect July 23, Hill said. Owners are issued a warning for the first violation, with fines for subsequent calls. The first violation will cost owners $131, the second and any further calls could net fines of $261. Repeat offenses, and egregious situations, could result in criminal citations, Hill said.

The Washington Legislature added specific language on tethering to the books this year at the request of humane societies and animal control agencies, whose officers did not have any legal standard to apply when receiving complaints about chained-up dogs where the animal’s life was not in imminent danger.

That hasn’t stopped SCRAPS agents from interfering in situations where conditions have reached a potentially criminal level of neglect or abuse, Hill said.

“We’ve gone on calls where people have tethered their animals, and the dog jumped over a fence and got caught on their hind quarters,” Hill said.

The City Council passed the law without testimony. City Councilwoman Lori Kinnear, head of the city’s Public Works Committee, said SCRAPS doesn’t come to them with requests very often, and the proposal made sense.

The new law includes exemptions for animals that are being shown in exhibitions, temporarily tethered at a camping or recreation area or are in the presence of an owner or caretaker.