Darien, Connecticut—Allied Security Group, based in New Jersey and touted as the largest guard dog company on the East Coat, has been fined for cruelty to animals. On May 23, the company paid a total of $1500 for poor treatment of the dogs under its care.

Friends of Animals, the international animal rights group, has channeled many complaints to the New Jersey SPCA regarding the abusive and neglectful treatment of guard dogs in the Newark area.

Says FoA’s Outreach Coordinator, “The ongoing neglect that commercial guard dogs endure has long been ignored by law enforcement and the legal system.”

And, “Allied Security Group leases dogs to commercial property owners throughout the New Jersey metro area. Guard dogs are often placed on construction sites, in and around old warehouses, in used car lots and on industrial properties. During business hours, many of them are kept isolated in small pens. At night they are let out to roam the properties they have been hired to guard—vulnerable to trespassers who may try to poison, wound or even kill them. As long as the dogs will turn a profit, the company will put them just about anywhere.”

FoA finds that the guard dog industry not only harms animals, but poses a threat to public safety. “So-called ‘fence dogs’ are deprived of socialization and the opportunity to form positive relationships with people and other animals. They are ‘rotated’ in order to keep them anti-social and unfamiliar with people in any given area and are constantly taught to distrust people.”