Urgent: Action Needed Now On
Ohio Dog And Kennel Legislation

Key Votes Expected This Week On Both Bills

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

COLUMBUS, OH – Proponents of two separate pieces of dog and kennel
legislation are expected to try to ram them through the legislature
this week. These bills will have a serious if not devastating impact
on all kennel and dog owners if they are passed in their present
form.

While some of our concerns have been addressed, this legislation
continues to reflect a clear animal rights agenda that is attempting
to discourage people from owning or breeding dogs.

It is more important now than ever to write to your state
legislators and ask them to vote "no" on this legislation.
Directions for contacting the legislators are provided below.

The House State Government and Elections Committee will hold a
hearing this coming Thursday, May 22, on H.B. 223, at 9:30 a.m. in
Room 122. A hearing on its Senate version, S.B. 173, was canceled
last week due to reported opposition in that chamber. However, the
sponsors of this draconian animal rights legislation have switched
their plan to try to push it through the state House.

This legislation imposes heavy financial and legal liabilities on
conscientious kennel owners, and would virtually eliminate hobby
breeding of purebred dogs by imposing burdensome regulations, biased
enforcement and frightening penalties.

The other legislation is H.B 446. A slightly improved version of
this bill passed out of the House Local Municipal Government and
Urban Revitalization Committee last week by a 10-4 vote. It now
faces a vote of the full House, which is expected to happen on
Tuesday.

H.B. 446 adversely affects all dog owners. The amendments reflect
some of the concerns expressed by dog owners, but many more changes
are needed to make the bill livable. Some of these changes have been
promised verbally by the bill's sponsor, but have not been presented
in writing at this time.

It appears that an attempt is being made to ram these two bills
through the House as quickly as possible. If they pass the House,
they will go to the state Senate for consideration and hearings in
committee.

These two bills take a giant step toward fulfilling the extreme
animal rights agenda of the eventual elimination of the private
ownership of animals. They would drastically reduce the number of
puppies available in Ohio by sharply curtailing hobby breeding of
purebred dogs.

Testimony on the bills has been mixed, with only a few people
attending previous hearings. However, we are getting several reports
that legislators have received many letters opposing the legislation.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is supporting Ohio dog and kennel
owners in an effort to defeat this legislation, and has offered
strong testimony in opposition to the two bills. Ohio Valley Dog
Owners President Norma Bennett Woolf has addressed the hearings on
behalf of dog owners. Ms. Woolf has worked tirelessly to defeat this
destructive legislation, and she is one of the true heroes of the
movement to protect dog owners' rights.

We strongly urge all Ohio dog and kennel owners to take an active
role. Your participation and support are crucial. We cannot
emphasize too strongly that this legislation stems from an extreme
animal rights agenda that aims to greatly reduce the number of dogs
as a giant step toward eliminating dog ownership altogether.

H.B. 223

This legislation (a companion to stalled S.B. 173) claims to
target "puppy mills," but would have a devastating impact on every
kennel that has nine or more unsterilized adult dogs that could be
construed as a "breeding dog." Because of the definition and
required burden of proof, almost all small hobby breeders will be
affected.

A breeding dog is defined as any male or female dog that is intended
for breeding or has produced one litter in a year, either as a stud
dog or a mother. The law does not define standards for this
definition or for the burden of proof, and the burden of proof rests
with the kennel owner. We see this as a "Catch 22," as there would
be no way to conclusively prove the purpose for keeping any dog. It
would a matter of convincing the dog warden to take the owner's word.

This unvarnished animal rights legislation also grants dog wardens
the power to confiscate any dog for which there is probable cause to
call a breeding dog. The standards for probable cause are not
defined, but could be construed as any dog that has the potential
for being bred. We believe that the ambiguity is a deliberate
attempt by the bill's sponsor to use a "backdoor" approach to force
people to spay or neuter their dogs, in order to avoid being classed
as a breeder.

To obtain a breeding license, a kennel owner would have to pay an
annual fee ranging from $150 to $750 (plus buy individual licenses
for each dog), submit to inspections by state officials, provide
proof of insurance, purchase a bond guaranteeing financial
liability, submit to a personal background check by the police, be
fingerprinted and obtain and use an approved vendor number to
advertise or sell a dog or puppy.

Inspections would open any area that houses dogs to state officials
without a warrant, including the owner's home. Papers, documents and
bank records also could be examined or subpoenaed.

Citations can be given and fines levied for violations
or "threatened violations," which are not defined. Any hearing,
trial or appeal of an action must be done through only one Ohio
court, in Franklin County.

The inspections would be based on providing a specified level of
physical care in housing, sanitation, medical care and food and
water.

They would require a kennel to be cleaned every 12 hours, mandate
professional veterinary care for even minor conditions, injuries or
ailments, require grooming and nail trimming, mandate vaccinations,
deworming and heartworm prevention, and require available water at
all times, even in freezing weather.

Here is a link to the actual text of this legislation:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_223.

We urge dog and kennel owners to submit written comments to each
member of the House State Government and Elections Committee.
Emails, letters and phone calls all are important. This is urgent!

This link will take you to a list of the committee members:
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Committee.jsp?ID=24. A page will
open up giving you a link to each senator's email and mailing
addresses. Committee Chairman Rep. David Daniels' email is
district86@ohr.state.oh.us. If you do nothing else, please a least
write to your own legislator and Rep. Daniels to support dog owners.
Your voice is very important now.

HB 446

Every dog owner will be affected by HB 446.

It says:

· Puppies must be licensed for $10 apiece at three months of
age, and also must wear a collar and license tag at that age. A
puppy must be registered and licensed before it can be sold or
transferred. Unlicensed puppies and dogs can be confiscated. The
sponsor said he would amend the bill to allow the sale of an
unlicensed puppy, and to permit puppies to be without collars inside
the owner's home (but not in the yard, and apparently not in a
kennel outside of the home).

· Individual dog license minimum costs would rise from $2 to
$10 per year, and kennel license costs would rise from $10 to $50.
Each dog in a kennel would have to be individually licensed. Many
counties charge much more money than these minimum costs. The extra
charge for licensing for a dog that is not spayed or neutered will
be imposed on dogs at six months of age, instead of the current nine
months. However, dogs that reside in kennels still would have to be
individually licensed.

· Kennel licenses would be required for anyone who raises a
single litter of hunting dogs. The bill says: "A kennel owner is a
person, partnership, firm, company, or corporation professionally
engaged in the business of breeding dogs for hunting or for sale."

· 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.

· Good Samaritans who find a stray dog must notify authorities
within two days and would have to license the dog in their name
within two weeks, under a new amendment. The original bill required
people who find a lost do to turn it over to the animal control
agency within 10 days. This would have exposed the dog to a high
probability of euthanasia. The amendments still do not give people
the option of turning over the dog to a no-kill shelter or rescue
group, or to find someone to take the dog if its owner cannot be
found. In addition, this amendment would make it easier for animal
rights extremists to steal hunting dogs, as they have done in many
places, as there is no requirement for seeking a dog's potential
owner or scanning for a microchip. Animal rights extremists also
sometimes steal hunting dogs, remove their collars, and turn them
loose far away from their homes, so that they will be taken to an
animal control facility and killed.

· People no longer will be allowed to give their dogs rabies
vaccinations, but will have to have the vaccinations done by a
veterinarian at a much higher cost and the loss of personal time.
There is no reason for this, as the U.S. Center For Disease
Prevention and Control reported last year that canine rabies has
been eradicated in America. Not one case has been reported in more
than10 years.

· The bill allows state inspectors to go into people's homes
and onto their property to enforce the law. It does not specify what
officials can do inspections, and it would appear to include both
local dog wardens and Humane Society animal cruelty police officers.
Many animal cruelty police officers have ties to radical animal
rights groups, and this legislation would permit non-local officers
to come to your county to enforce the law.

Other provisions regulate dogs that are declared dangerous, cats,
ferrets and other animals.

The purpose of greatly increased fees is to make law-abiding dog
owners 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.

We urge dog and kennel owners to submit a letter of opposition to
your own representative, and also to as many other legislators as
you can.

Here is a link to the text of the legislation:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_446.

This link will take you to a list of legislators:
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Directory.jsp. Please click on
each legislator's name. A page will open up giving you a link to the
legislator's email and mailing addresses.

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.
Your participation and membership are vital to our success. Please
visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.

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