(For more information on these items and more, go to Ohio Valley Dog Owners Inc. at http://www.ovdo.org)
Lawmakers are considering kennel licensing bills sponsored by Senator Jim Hughes and Senator Gary Cates in the Senate (SB 95) and Representative s Hagan and Weddington in the House (HB 124). Publicized as an attempt to stop "puppy mills," these bills require criminal background checks for license applicants, place a minimum annual license fee of $150, micromanage veterinary care, mandate certain conditions for all kennels with more than nine litters or 40 puppies. Amendments have been proposed to modify some of the provisions but have not been introduced.
See OVDO for more information.
Louisville Kennel Club and other plaintiffs won an important partial victory in the lawsuit against the metro animal control law passed in 2007. The judge granted the plaintiffs a judgment on two grounds: there is no reason to to treat owners of intact dogs differently than owners of sterilized dogs and that the law unconstitutionally deprives an accused owner of his ownership pending outcome of the case if he is unable to post $450 bond for care of an impounded dog. The court also reaffirmed that court orders are necessary to enter property and impound animals.
Meanwhile, dog owners who have lost their dogs to the Metro animal control agency have filed suit against the government and the agency, and several employees have leveled charges of harassment against shelter director Gilles Meloche. Meloche resigned effective December 31, 2009. As director, he helped the Louisville metro Council andHSUS write the animal control ordinance.
See the Louisville decision here. For more information, visit the Louisville Kennel Club website.
The Humane Society of the US and other animal rights groups are promoting anti-breeder laws in several states. In many states, as in Ohio, they find sympathetic lawmakers to introduce bills to close "puppy mills." These bills generally consider all commercial kennels to have substandard conditions and usually contain provisions that make it difficult for breeders of show dogs, hunting dogs, and performance dogs to continue their avocation to produce high-quality purebred dogs.
In Missouri, these groups have bypassed the legislature and are attempting to put kennel standards on the state election ballot in November. However, Missouri not only has kennel standards that are supported by the commercial kennel industry in that state, it has the Missouri Federation of Animal Owners -- MOFED -- a strong pro-ownership organization that has filed suit against the initiative petition language. Find more information at MOFED.
The Pet Animal Welfare Statute, a federal bill introduced by
Senator Santorum and supported by the American Kennel Club,
died in the 2005-06 session of Congress. Senator Richard Durbin revived some
of the provisions of this bill in an amendment to the 2007 Farm Bill, but quickly
deleted them in light of renewed national opposition. The Durbin amendment calls
for regulations governing the import of commercially-bred dogs. For more information
about dog imports, see the following articles on the National Animal Interest
Alliance website:
CCKC joined other clubs in supporting the failed LKC effort to derail the proposal to regulate dog breeding in the Louisville Metropolitan Area.LKC and the League of Kentucky Sportsmen have joined in a lawsuit to overturn the law. Our letter against the proposal is available here.
In May, 2005, the Massachusetts Bureau of Animal Health
set new rules for shelters and rescue groups
that import dogs from foreign countrie and offshore territories for placement
in Massachusetts homes.
For more information, see the NAIA
article by Patti Strand.
The US Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control passed new animal welfare regulations in 2004 to help protect dogs raised in commercial kennels, transported by airline, and imported into the US from foreign countries and offshore territories.
The old Animal Welfare Act regulated owners who sold puppies to retail outlets if they owned more than three breeding bitches. Some breeders circumvented this rule by claiming multiple owners for the dogs in their facilities. The new regulation passed in August requires a USDA license and inspection of each premises where the dogs are housed regardless of the number of owners.
A second USDA change approved in April requires foreign airlines to provide the same accomodations for shipped animals that US carriers must provide.
The CDC rule requires that all imported dogs be vaccinated against rabies at least 30 days before entry into the US. Puppies younger than three months of age must be kept by the importer until that age, vaccinated against rabies, and kept for an additional month before sale. This rule will impact the importation of street dogs from outside the US by shelters and commercially-bred puppies from Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.
These changes were promoted by AKC and by the National Animal Interest Alliance. See the NAIA article at http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/usdaregs2004.htm
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