Dogs are getting a new kind of protection in Raleigh.

Starting Wednesday, July 1st, a new ordinance will ban keeping dogs tied up outside for hours on end.

Violators will be fined $100 dollars a day.

They new rule brings Raleigh into line with a number of other areas, including Orange County, which have previously banned the unattended restraint of dogs.

“It’s a very progressive move for dogs,” said Hope Hancock, the Executive Director of the SPCA Of Wake County. “They are social animals.”

No where is that more evident than at Raleigh’s Millbrook dog park.

The place is filled with the kind of people who would never think of tethering their dogs all day.

“To be tied up is terrible,” said dog owner Barbara Sales. “We want our dogs to be as free as possible.”

Come July 1st that’s pretty much what Raleigh will require.

Under the ordinance, dogs may not be tethered for more than three hours in any 24-hour period.

But some dog owners think even that’s too much.

“I think two to three hours is too long,” declared dog owner Lucy Shores. “Dogs don’t need to be tethered, especially in this heat.”

The SPCA of Wake County says long term tethering also creates dogs with problems.

“You could have a myriad of behavior issues like anti-social aspects. Plus it’s no way for a dog to live,” said the SPCA’s Hancock.

And some dog owners say tethering creates more worries than it solves.

“If you leave your dog all tied up, you don’t know what’s going to happen to it. It could get loose. It could get attacked by other dogs or an animal,” said dog owner Tom Fairweather.

For its part, the SPCA of Wake County says it intends to be very aggressive in educating people about the tethering issue in the coming weeks.