Good Guys And Dogs Will
Pay For Proposed Ohio Law

by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

COLUMBUS, OH – Legislation revising Ohio's animal control laws is
designed to penalize law-abiding dog owners and burden kennel owners
by making them pay for the cost of enforcing the law against people
who don't comply with it. Law-abiding dog and kennel owners would
face a fivefold increase in the cost of licensure, plus greatly
increased burdens of paperwork.

Other changes in the law will greatly increase the number of dogs
killed in shelters, give county auditors unrestrained power to
revoke kennel licenses in violation of constitutional guarantees of
due process, promote medically dangerous sterilization and
vaccination practices, mandates breed-specific euthanization, and
make it harder for good Samaritans to help stray pets.

For dog owners, the legislation boils down to this: Responsible dog
owners and innocent dogs would have to pay for the sins of people
who don't obey the law.

Rep. Shawn Webster (R-Columbus) is the prime sponsor of House Bill
446. We urge Ohio dog owners to contact Rep. Webster before Tuesday,
March 11, when he is scheduled to meet with representatives of the
Ohio Valley Dog Owners (OVDO) to discuss problems with this
legislation. Rep. Webster's email address is
district53@ohr.state.oh.us. The American Sporting Dog Alliance
strongly supports OVDO's vital work to improve this poorly conceived
legislation, and we urge all Ohio dog owners to do the same by
emailing Rep. Webster today about your concerns.

Please feel free to use any information contained in this report,
and also to cross-post it and forward it to your friends.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is the unified voice of sporting
dog owners and professionals in America. We work at the grassroots
level to defeat unfair legislation and policies that are harmful to
dogs and the people who own and work with them. Our work to protect
your rights is supported solely by the donations of our members.
Please visit us on the web at
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.

In Ohio, ASDA also is currently working to defeat proposed kennel
legislation that would severely burden if not destroy responsible
hobby breeding, and to defend the rights of people who hunt with
dogs or compete with them in field trials.

House Bill 446 would require county registration (licensure) of all
dogs, and puppies that are eight weeks of age or older, and also
criminalize the sale or transfer of any puppy or dog that is not
licensed. Current law requires registration at the age of three
months.

Registration fees for each dog and puppy would be increased from $2
to $10. In addition to these individual fees, owners of kennels
would see an increase in their county license costs from $10 to $50.
Anyone who raises dogs for hunting, or offers dogs for sale, is
considered to be a kennel owner. Raising dogs for hunting is
specifically singled out.

The purpose of these greatly increased fees is to pay for the cost
of animal control in Ohio. The unfairness and irrationality of this
approach is that responsible dog owners and breeders, who are
perhaps the least likely cause of the problem, are the people who
are being forced to pay for it.

Breeders and owners of purebred dogs rarely burden animal control
agencies and animal shelters. Moreover, purebred puppies almost
never are found in municipal animal shelters. This legislation makes
responsible dog owners and breeders the "cash cow" that will be
milked to pay for animal control efforts directed at irresponsible
people who ignore the law. ASDA regards this as the unethical
exploitation of law-abiding citizens.

People who actually violate the law should pay for the cost of
enforcing it, through fines and other penalties. This cost should
not be borne by law-abiding dog owners. We should not be held
responsible for the actions of others, over which we have no control.

A particularly onerous part of the legislation gives county auditors
the unrestricted power to revoke kennel licenses (this includes
anyone who raises a single litter of hunting dogs) for unproven
allegations of animal cruelty. County auditors do not have the
qualifications to make judgments about animal cruelty, and the guilt
or innocence of a dog owner facing such accusations should be
determined only in a court of law.

This power is given to auditors "if the auditor determines" that a
violation of animal cruelty statutes has occurred. No limits are
placed on this power, and the legislation does not define any
criteria for an auditor to use. In fact, the law gives an auditor
the power to revoke a license if he/she simply feels that a kennel
owner may have violated cruelty statutes, or even extra-legal
personal opinions about what constitutes cruelty.

This is a clear violation of constitutional protections of due
process of the law.

The legislation allows animal control officers to confiscate any dog
or puppy over eight weeks old that is not wearing a collar and
license, even inside its owner's home or kennel, or if it slips its
collar or the collar is chewed off by rambunctious littermates.
Officers also would be given the power to sell or kill a dog or
puppy that is not wearing a collar and license, and its owner would
have no recourse.

Good Samaritans would have a tough time under the legislation. Many
kind-hearted people take in a stray dog, care for it and try to
locate its owner. If they cannot locate the owner, they often try to
find another person to take the dog, take it to no-kill shelters
where the dog might be given a second chance, or keep it themselves.

The legislation would require good Samaritans to notify the county
within two days of finding a stray dog, and deliver it to a
municipal shelter within 10 days if the owner cannot be located.
Most municipal shelters euthanize most of the unclaimed dogs that
they receive.

This would eliminate the option of placing the dog with a rescue
group or shelter that does not kill dogs. It also would prohibit
finding a home for the dog with a neighbor, friend or family member.
For many dogs that good Samaritans would help, the result would be
death for an innocent dog in a municipal gas chamber.

ASDA believes that this provision serves no legitimate purpose,
while hindering people who want to help stray dogs and sentencing
many of those dogs to death.

County animal control officers also would be given the legal
authority to kill any "nuisance" dog for which proof of rabies
vaccination by a veterinarian cannot be produced, if a rabies
quarantine has been declared. There is no definition of the key
word "nuisance" in the legislation.

Under the existing law, it appears that a dog would not be able to
play in its own yard, go hunting or compete in a field trial if a
rabies quarantine is imposed in the state, as it would have to be
penned, leashed or confined inside of a home or kennel. This
unnecessary restriction should be removed from the law.

In 2007, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
declared that rabies has been eliminated from domesticated dogs
everywhere in America. A CDC statement said that no dogs with rabies
have been found in American kennels for more than 10 years.

ASDA believes that the current rabies prevention program is working
and should be continued. However, there is no rational justification
for more strict rabies controls in light of the CDC findings.

The legislation also requires rabies vaccines to be administered
only by a licensed veterinarian. This is an unnecessary burden on
dog and kennel owners, and especially on people who own several
dogs. Dog owners should be permitted to administer the vaccines
themselves. Veterinary expertise is not required to successfully
vaccinate a dog.

Potentially unsafe medical practices also would be encouraged under
the legislation. The age for making people pay higher license fees
for dogs that are not spayed or neutered was lowered from nine
months to six months. Many veterinarians believe it is potentially
harmful to spay or neuter an immature puppy, and an increasing body
of research suggests that sterilizing dogs carries many significant
health risks for the dog. Moreover, female dogs typically don't
reach reproductive maturity until they are around 11 months old.

ASDA objects to any law that would penalize serious breeders of
purebred dogs, as they do not contribute significantly to the
problem of unwanted pets. Most breeders take great pains to assure
that the puppies they sell go to good homes where they are wanted
and valued. The vast majority of unwanted puppies come from
accidental matings of dogs that are owned by negligent people.
Research also has shown that most dogs in shelters are there because
of other reasons, such as a landlord's objections, personal illness,
or job transfers to other states.

In addition, most dogs that will compete in dog shows, field trials
or performance events, or that will be used for hunting or farm
herding, cannot be fully evaluated for their fitness for
competition, hunting, herding or breeding until they are a year or
two old.

The legislation's definition of a dangerous dog automatically
includes all "pit bulls." It would make it illegal for anyone to
transfer any "pit bull," except for the purpose of euthanasia. ASDA
strongly opposes any breed-specific legislation, which would deny
due process of the law and equal treatment under the law to people
who show purebred American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire
Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers and other
breeds.

One of the major reasons why ASDA opposes breed-specific legislation
is that we see a strong tendency for legislation to include hunting
breeds. The proposed federal Pet Animal Welfare Act, for example,
includes all hunting dogs with pit bulls for much more intensive
regulation. The Ohio legislation also takes a major step in this
dangerous direction by requiring anyone who raises a litter of
hunting dogs to obtain a county kennel license.

Hunting dog owners also know that we are next on the list for the
extremist animal rights groups, who strongly support this kind of
legislation. We cannot let down our vigilance.

For these reasons and more, ASDA urges all Ohio dog and kennel
owners to voice their strong opposition to this legislation by
contacting Rep. Webster immediately.

Please visit us at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.