Kaylee the dog now lives with a loving family, but that wasn't always the case.
Three months ago, she was found chained up outside a property, malnourished and without shelter.
"I was quite shocked to hear that," her new owner Michelle Shailer said.
"How could someone be so cruel to a lovely animal like her? She's absolutely gorgeous."
She was only freed after a concerned member of the public called the SPCA, and said the dog had been left chained up outside the Porirua property for days.
But Kaylee is one of the lucky ones.
Many dogs are permanently tethered and current laws make it difficult for inspectors to remove them from a property, unless they're found without access to food, water and shelter.
"It be would be fair to say our inspectors see this on a daily basis," according to SPCA Science Officer Alison Vaughan.
Following an SPCA campaign last year, new regulations were released by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) for public consultation.
The proposed regulations, still in draft form, were developed by MPI with input from the SPCA.
Finalised proposals are now with the Associate Minister of Agriculture, Jo Luxton.
"I fully intend to take a paper on this to Cabinet for consideration," she said in a statement.
"But given the time period we're in, this will have to occur after the general election."
"We would like to see more urgency around this," said Vaughan.
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