Tie out "warning this can happen"

[RowdyDogs]

Originally Posted by Anubis_Star

Very true, and I do hope that I wasn't coming across as saying tie outs are perfectly safe and fine. I just think risks are minimal with proper supervision, and simply wanted to share my positive experiences for another side of the picture.

Interesting about cotton, we DID have a gentleman bring in a young smaller breed dog one time, he came home and the dog was SCREAMING in it's kennel, would NOT allow the owner to touch him. Owner had no idea what was going on, rushed him in. He would not allow us to touch him, was SCREAMING. We finally sedated him with an injection through the bars, pulled him out, and as it turned out his blanket in the kennel had frayed a little and had actually become tightly wrapped around his leg, causing severe pain and swelling. Like I said, risks to everything

Oh, absolutely. I've gotten wicked rope burn myself from a soft cotton rope. I was just thinking of the safest material possible...and there isn't really a perfectly safe one! Enough force and friction can cause injury with any material.

Originally Posted by doggiedad

if you look near the left shoulder of the dog it looks like
the dog is laying on the blue line. where is that line when
the dog stands up? is it underneath the dog? if the line is
under the dog all it takes is one turn from the dog to be tangled.

I kind of agree, but this is where supervision and the dog's individual personality come in. If you're there checking on your dog, you'll notice if he's tangled or if he's fighting it.

Just from walking or tying during training (as a specific exercise to increase drive), I'd say most dogs stop or don't pull so hard when they feel an abrasive surface against sensitive skin like that. The majority of dogs won't pull, compared to when you attach the rope to a point on their back.

But some will, and just that will cause serious injury in them. And the problem is, like many things, you don't really know which dog is which until they're tested. Which is why you shouldn't leave a dog alone for long periods of time on a tie-out.

So yeah, I'm not going to say that Anubis here is a bad owner by any means (quite the opposite ), but I'll agree that the picture illustrates a potential issue with tie-outs.

edit: just to be clear, I'm seeing the left paw probably being on top of the leash, and assuming that the dog is likely to get up with that paw still over the leash. Basically, I'm thinking a simple and common "under the armpit" situation. I also think it is a lovely picture and want to reiterate that I am not criticizing Anubis_Star at all, just pointing out how things could go wrong if she was dumping her dog out there for hours on end without a checkup.

[selzer]

Oh my, a dog might get tangled in a tie out, yes, I suppose that is true. And a loose dog might get run over by a truck. I would risk a tie out rather than risk the truck.

My parents have had dogs that were pretty much tied constantly, and dogs that were in and out, and chained when they were out. They never, not once had a dog injured by a chain.

Now, I, as a very temporary solution to a problem containing my brother's bitch so she would not eat my bitch, ran a runner between the tree out front and the house. This was supposed to be until they could finish the kennels in my back yard. I put up the cable run, and set it up so that she could run that distance and the tie was only long enough for her to lay down. I dragged a dog house out there for shelter. I put a bucket of water for her. Then I went to work.

On my way it started to rain.

When I got home it looked like something out of Animal Cops. No she was not injured. Between my house and the tree there was a mud pit. She was mud from her snout to her ear tips to her tail tip. She went from beautiful black and silver to all brown. Look, Mom, I redecorated your yard.

That night I moved the cable out behind the shed where the ground was harder. And that worked for the most part until the kennels were completed. Jazzy was crazy. She was high energy, high drive working line bitch who was intent on eating Arwen, who was intent on eating her right back. We ALL went to the hospital over that. She went through my bedroom window three times, twice trying to get out, and once trying to get in. Finally my bedroom window was boarded up. It still is, for that matter. I haven't replaced my television antenna that she ate either. It has been over ten years since I haven't had TV out there all because of that crazy bitch. And Arwen went through 5 separate crates. So, desperate measures to keep them safe. No injuries from the tie-out. They prevented injuries.

[harmony]

When I clean the house and mop the floors means all dogs outside too!
Please know a dog can get hurt more in a wire tie out more then a chain, ok (won't say it again).
Dogiedad you only made one good point, but some others is like when I hear my toilet flushing.

[Chicagocanine]

Another thing to be aware of is if you have a fence or anything the dog could climb. I knew a dog who almost died because she was left in the yard on a tie out (chain type) and she jumped the fence. The chain only reached about a foot down the other side of the 6 ft fence so she was hanging from it. Luckily she was also on a prong collar-- while I would never recommend leaving one on unsupervised, in that case it may have saved the dog's life. The prongs came apart when she struggled and so she was able to get free and drop down. At that point she was loose on the street, luckily a friend of mine was walking by and had seen her struggling and came over to help, and was able to catch her before she ran off. I did not see it myself but my friend brought her to my house right after, since I knew the dog and the woman who had rescued her (and tied her out), because she didn't know what to do since the woman was not home. The fence had claw marks from the poor dog struggling to get free. She was luckily ok and my friend ended up asking the woman if she could foster the dog and then ended up adopting her.

I don't use a tie out but if I did I would probably use a zip line, where the dog can't reach it or get tangled.

[GSDGunner]

Originally Posted by harmony

Dogiedad you only made one good point, but some others is like when I hear my toilet flushing.

Wow, that was a tad rude.

[harmony]

I almost forgot about this but another thing to keep in mind if you chain/tie a dog out is a flat collar is best, a dog can get strangled with a choke collar too.

[empem90]

Originally Posted by harmony

When I clean the house and mop the floors means all dogs outside too!
Please know a dog can get hurt more in a wire tie out more then a chain, ok (won't say it again).
Dogiedad you only made one good point, but some others is like when I hear my toilet flushing.

I agree with Dogiedad on this it doesnt matter what the material of the tie out is there is a chance of a tanglig of some kind. it all depends on the environment and the dog thats on te end of it. you can only say that a chain is better because you have had good experiences with them. There is zero evidence to back up you stating a wire tie is more likely. However if there is evidence I would love to see the study.

My experience has seen far more issues with a chain over a regular wire tie but i am not going to say one is less likely to hurt the dog. because there are more variable than the material of the tie out.

[selzer]

The world is devoid of common sense these days. Who would chain a dog in a fenced area where the chain reaches over the fencing? There are tragic deaths and then there are deaths due to utter stupidity. Leaving a prong collar on a chained dog? Those people need to go to a home for people who are a danger to themselves.

[Chicagocanine]

I really don't know what they were thinking (if they were thinking at all), although to be fair I think they didn't think the tie out could reach that far, or that the dog could get over a 6 ft. wooden fence, but it was definitely a lot of horrible decisions. The person was someone who rescued dogs, too.

[Traveler's Mom]

Hi,

Usually I don't enter these conversations but I just have to because my heart is broken.

We had our GSD on a nylon(poly? maybe) 30 foot long line-one end tied to the garage and the other on his collar. We were right next to him. He sees a cat and runs like ****. Bam! End of the line. He flips around. He is now suffering from neck injury. Now, he's getting better but gets a zinger if he swings his toys or doesn't wait for me to set up the ramp to exit my SUV.

The xrays didn't show anything but an ortho testing him figured soft tissue injury or pinched nerve. We opted to go holistic with acupuncture since the alternative was steroid and NSAIDs that just cover up the pain.

Bottom line? Live and learn. I'm spending a lot of time feeling guilty and pretty stupid.