Ohio Senate Gets Dog Control Bill

Several Serious Problems Remain After House Vote

by JOHN YATES

American Sporting Dog Alliance

http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

asda@csonline.net

COLUMBUS, OH – House Bill 446, which amends Ohio’s animal control law, is now before the Senate State and Local Government and Veteran’s Affairs Committee following passage last week by a 74-22 vote in the House.

While the legislation has been improved, it still contains many serious flaws that unfairly burden Ohio dog owners and serve no logical purpose. The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges the Senate to either improve the legislation significantly, or reject it outright.

Several issues remain of concern to law-abiding and conscientious dog owners. The legislation:

• Requires rabies vaccinations to be administered only by a licensed veterinarian. This makes no sense as there has not been a single case of canine rabies in the United States in more than 10 years. Last year, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared that that rabies has been eradicated from dogs and no longer is a public health concern. The current system clearly is working, and there is no justification to change it. Current law requires all dogs to be vaccinated against rabies by either a veterinarian or the dog’s owner. The legislation burdens dog owners with pointless expenses and demands on time for no good reason. It serves no public purpose.

• Increases the cost of a kennel license from $10 to $50, but also requires each dog and puppy that is more than three months old to be individually registered at a minimum cost that would be increased from $2 to $10 per dog. We view this as essentially double-dipping into the pockets of law abiding kennel owners to pay for the cost of enforcing animal control laws against people who break the law. This is an unfair burden on people who do not cause animal control problems – a penalty for being innocent. This issue magnifies in importance because counties are empowered to increase individual license fees for dogs that are not spayed or neutered, and we have had reports that some counties charge more than $200 per dog per year. These kinds of multiplied fees easily could drive a good kennel out of business, causing pointless harm to people’s lives and the economy of Ohio.

• Continues current law that provides a refuge for these extra registration fees for intact dogs used for hunting, shows or breeding. These exemptions are a good idea, but the list should be expanded to include other forms of competition (such as field trials, herding events and obedience events), as there is a valid reason for not sterilizing these dogs. The definition also should included retired dogs that are past the age of competition. We also think that a cap should be placed on counties’ ability to impose higher registration fees for unsterilized dogs. Law abiding people should not be required to pay prohibitively high registration fees because of the actions of people who break the law. The cap should limit registration fees for intact dogs to no more than twice the fee for sterilized dogs. Current law also is maintained that requires people who “professionally” breed dogs “for hunting or for sale” to obtain a kennel license. The word “professionally” is not defined, and could be interpreted to mean anyone who sells even a single litter of puppies. We also object to singling out hunting dogs in this regard, when other kinds of dogs are not included.

• Empowers county auditors to revoke a kennel license if inspectors believe the kennel owner has violated animal cruelty laws or fails to provide adequate care. An inspection’s opinion is not the same as being found guilty in court. This would be like revoking a driver’s license based on getting a ticket by a police officer. Everyone who is accused of violating the law is entitled to his or her day in court. Revocation should not occur prior to a guilty verdict or plea in a court of law. This issue takes on special importance because Humane Societies have the power to appoint people to investigate animal cruelty cases. There have been many reports of biased and illegal enforcement actions by these officers.

• Allows counties to contract with non-local Humane Societies to enforce animal cruelty laws. We believe that all enforcement officers are essentially police officers, and they must be subject to direct oversight by elected officials who are accountable to the voters. We see a great danger of non-local Humane Societies being influenced by an animal rights agenda to persecute dog and kennel owners, and using this power as a platform for unfair and biased law enforcement.

• Requires every dog and puppy of more than three months of age to wear a collar and registration tag at all times, except inside of its owner’s home. Thus, even playing with a puppy in its owner’s yard could result in enforcement action if the puppy is not wearing a collar and tag. Dogs that live in kennels also would have to wear a collar and tag at all times. These provisions allow animal control officers to seize, impound, sell or destroy these dogs for noncompliance. This requirement is needlessly burdensome for dogs that are on land owned or rented by their owners. This issue has nothing to do with allowing dogs to roam at large, and accomplishes nothing. In some cases, it also is unworkable, as older puppies are notorious for chewing off their littermates’ collars. Many show dogs also do not wear collars at home or in the kennel because it can damage their coats

• Improves provisions in the initial legislation by making it easier for good Samaritans who find a lost dog to help it, but doesn’t do enough to protect the dog’s original owner. Dogs that are found must be reported to animal control within two days, and the finder has 14 days to find its owner, adopt the dog, foster it to a rescue group or turn it over to animal control. These are good provisions, but an additional provision should be added to require animal control to scan the dog for a microchip and examine it to see if it matches any description of a lost dog that has been reported. This provides additional protection for the dog’s original owner against mix-ups or theft.

• Fails to do enough to reduce euthanasia rates at animal shelters. We believe the Legislature must take a pro-active role in moving Ohio toward “no-kill” as a rule for its animal shelters. This means having a realistic goal of not euthanizing any dog that is healthy and adoptable. “No-kill” approaches have been proven to work in many places, and Ohio should be at the forefront of this movement. We believe that a substantial portion of the increased revenues that will result from this legislation should be earmarked to plan and implement no-kill programs.

It is possible to turn H.B. 446 into a good law if the Senate makes the above changes to the legislation.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges Ohio dog owners to contact every member of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee to express concern about the problems in the current bill. Please ask the senators to make improvements to the legislation to reflect our concerns, and also to call for extensive public hearings before any action is taken. There are no hearings on this bill listed on the legislative calendar for the coming week.

This link will take you to a list of the members of this committee: http://www.senate.state.oh.us/committees/com_state.html. Click on each Senator’s name, and a page will open giving complete contact details.

We also ask Ohioans to contact members of the House to thank them for voting against the legislation in its present form, and also to ask the legislators who voted in favor of it to reconsider their position. It also is appropriate to remind the legislators who voted in favor of it that this will be an important issue for Ohio’s million-plus dog owners in the November general election, and that their votes will not be forgotten.

Please politely remind the following 74 legislators who voted for the legislation that their positions do not reflect the interests and concerns of Ohio dog owners: Reps. Adams, Aslanides, Bacon, Batchelder, Beatty, Blessing, Bolon, Boyd, Brady, Brinkman, Brown, Budish, Carmichael, Chandler, Coley, Collier, Combs, DeBose, DeWine, Dolan, Domenick, Driehaus, Dyer, Evans, Fende, Flowers, Garrison, Goodwin, Hagan, J. Harwood, Heard, Heydinger, Hite, Hottinger, Hughes, Jones, Koziura, Letson, Luckie,  Mallory, Mandel, McGregor, R. Mecklenborg,  Miller, Oelslager, Otterman , J. Patton, Peterson, Redfern, Reinhard, Sayre, Schindel, Schlichter, Schneider, Sears,  Setzer, Skindell, Slesnick, Stebelton, Stewart D, Strahorn, Sykes, Szollosi, Uecker, Ujvagi, Webster, White, Widener, Williams B., Wolpert, Yates, Yuko, Zehringer and Husted. Please ask these legislators to do better if an amended version of H.B. 446 comes back from the Senate for concurrence. At a minimum, please make sure you contact your own legislator. Your voice will count now, and your vote will count in November.

This link will allow you to search for any legislator’s contact information, either by name or location: http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, hobby breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life. Please visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org. Our email is asda@csonline.net.

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