Montclair drops dog tethering proposal

They came wearing "My Dog Votes" buttons. They carried fliers headed "No! Anti-Tethering Law!" There were collie breeders and Rottweiler owners, even the author of a new owner's guide on German short-haired pointers.

The overflow crowd of canine fanciers, some hailing from as far away as Morris County's Flanders, came out in force to tell Montclair's governing body that a proposal requiring an 8-foot fence for some dog pens and a 30-minute time limit for tying a dog on a backyard lead simply went too far.

But before anyone even stepped to the podium Tuesday night, Montclair's councilors, holding stacks of opposition e-mails, had already made up their minds. They yanked the ordinance.

"So this is gone," said Joyce Michaelson, an at-large councilor and deputy mayor. "Somewhat moot."

But the audience wouldn't be silenced.

"Absolutely insane," said Allen Joslyn of Montclair, who mocked the idea of an "8-foot fence for Chihuahuas."

"What it attempts to do is make one size fits all," said Joan Tabor, who with her husband, Joel, runs Montclair Feed & Pet Supply.

Even some proponents of an anti-tethering ordinance said this one went too far.

One of those, Sandy Reynolds, an attorney and member of the New Jersey State Bar Association Animal Law Committee, said dogs are "naturally social beings" and that tethering them is "extremely cruel."

Chained canines, she said, are 2.8 times more likely to bite, a contention disputed by Barbara Haywood of Montclair, an organizer of Tuesday night's opposition. "There is no research or science that tethered dogs lead to aggression," she said.