Is It Safe To Tie A Dog To A Chair And Walk Away?

Do people really think it is safe to tie a dog to a chair and walk away? I regularly see dogs tied to a chair and left unattended when when their pet parents walk into places like a Starbucks, a mini market, or somewhere they intend to walk in and out of fairly quickly.   Every time I see this, which can be daily in Sherman Oaks, where I live with nice weather year round, I can’t help but shake my head.  I question why someone would knowingly expose their precious fur-baby to a potentially dangerous situation.

Last week, I had the unfortunate experience of seeing first-hand why it isn’t safe to tie a dog to a chair and walk away when I was at a local bakery.  When I was walking inside, I saw a Maltese-like dog tied to a chair in front of the bakery.  The dog’s human parent, clearly knew her dog was uncomfortable because she would call out through the door, each time it opened or closed, to reassure her dog she was nearby.

Then out of nowhere, everyone in the bakery heard a crashing sound.  We all looked outside the window and the next thing we knew the dog was running away with the chair crashing behind her.  A few people quickly took off after the dog.  We were only a hundred feet or so from two major streets.  The dog further spooked by the noise of the chair chasing after it, continued to run while building up more speed despite the cries from its doggy mom and other people to stop.  Fortunately, a man jumped into the busy intersection on Ventura Boulevard catching the dog as she was heading into moving cars.

6 reasons why is not safe to tie a dog to a chair

1. A passerby could steal your dog.  I’ve heard of someone trying to do this to a neighborhood dog who was outside of a local liquor store.  Luckily, another neighbor saw what was happening and ran after the dog napper.
2. Your dog could get spooked and run off with the chair like I saw happen.
3. A passerby with a another dog on a leash may allow their dog to approach yours not knowing how your dog or their dog will react which may end in a dog fight.
4. You run the risk of knowingly causing your dog to feel stressed or anxious while you leave them alone.
5. If your dog has food sensitivities or allergies, you risk someone coming up to your dog giving him or her a treat thinking they are being nice when it could cause them to get sick.
6. Your dog could get tangled up circling the chair and injure himself or herself.

If you think what I witnessed isn’t common and you would still tie your dog to a chair when running into a store, check out the below story that happened to Cindy Dallas, a friend of our Rufus and Delilah, Pack Leader.  Cindy posted the below on her Facebook page after this happened on June 23rd and gave us permission to share it here.

“So you know weird shit always happens to me in LA, but this one is pretty high up on the list. I got hit by a dog today. Yeah, you read it correctly. A dog hit me. I’m driving to a meeting today, and I see this huge dog freaking out and running in and out of traffic with a table dragging behind him. Apparently the owner tied the dog up to a table while he was in Starbucks. Something must have spooked the dog and he took off (you think with how much Starbucks charges for a chai latte, they could afford sturdier patio furniture). Of course I stop because I didn’t want to hit the poor thing. So what does the dog do? He swerves around my car and the table bashes into my front bumper. *Sigh* I got the owner’s info and he’s going to pay for the damages, but what are the freakin’ chances?! I’ve been in a lot of fender benders, but this is a first. Only in LA:-(”

Cindy also shared that the dog was an Irish Wolfhound.   She said he almost got hit by other cars by the time they caught the dog, his paws were bleeding.  Cindy did not make the dog parent pay for the damage to her car.  To make this story even worse, this wasn’t the first time the dog parent tied their Irish Wolfhound to a table or chair to have him run off.

Would you tie your dog to a chair and walk away? Have you ever witnessed anything go wrong when seeing a dog tied to a chair?