Ohio Valley Dog Owners, Inc.
Protecting dogs, dog owners and our neighbors
through education and community service
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Ohio Valley Dog Owners, Inc.Protecting dogs, dog owners and our neighbors
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HB 606 and SB 342, the 51-page kennel licensing bills introduced in the Ohio General Assembly, are being promoted as anti-puppy-mill bills.
HB 606 and SB 342 make major changes in Ohio's animal welfare law: they license breeding, boarding, and training kennels and pet stores; require criminal background checks for license applicants; set strict requirements for dog confinement and care; and remove kennel licensing authority and enforcement from county government.
These bills require licenses for all breeding kennels with more than eight breeding dogs and for all boarding and training kennels with space for more than eight dogs. An amended version of SB 342 adds a threshold of six litters per year as a trigger for licensing.
Anti-puppy mill activists are pushing for passage of these bills and are using dubious interpretations of current law and the bills' language to convince Ohioans that passage is necessary to protect dogs. Ohio Valley Dog Owners Inc. believes that dogs can be protected by adding simple standards of care to current law without an elaborate licensing scheme that includes a new state bureaucracy, a heavy financial burden for kennel owners, loss of the right to determine vaccination and health care plans for owned dogs, and loss of income for local dog and kennel funds.
Current dog licensing law (Ohio Revised Code 955.02 and 955.04) requires licenses for those "professionally engaged in the business of breeding dogs for hunting or for sale." Many hobby breeders with more than five dogs also purchase kennel licenses because they save money over the cost of individual licenses.
Activists supporting the bills claim that 11,000 kennels are licensed under current law and imply that these are breeding kennels with dozens or hundreds of dogs kept in bad conditions solely for the purpose of making a profit. However, it is highly likely that the majority of these licenses belong to hobby breeders, hunters, and small commercial breeders with fewer than a dozen dogs and that those dogs are kept in adequate or better conditions.
HB 606/SB 342 eliminates current kennel licensing law; passage will place a financial burden on small breeders with six-to-eight dogs and on those who keep more than eight dogs but do not keep them all for breeding. For example, instead of buying a kennel license for $75 under current law, under the pending bills breeders with eight dogs could pay $105 for individual licenses at $15 each and those with more than eight dogs who are exempt from the new regulations will be hit with individual fees for each dog.
All dogs in Ohio must be licensed each year. License fees are set by counties and the fees are deposited in the county dog and kennel fund. This fund pays for the county animal control program, i.e., hiring dog wardens, purchasing trucks and other equipment, and paying for housing for stray and unlicensed dogs. Kennel licensing fees are generally five times the fee for an individual dog license. For example, Warren County charges $15 for an individual dog and $75 for a kennel; Hamilton County charges $13 for an individual dog and $65 for a kennel.
HB 606 and SB 342 collect all kennel licensing fees and kick back at least $50 of each fee to the county where the kennel is located. The bills set license fees for breeding kennels as follows:
Here's the scoop: Both bills describe a breeder as someone who keeps more than eight dogs "primarily for reproductive purposes" which in turn is described as a female that has whelped a single litter and a male that has sired a single litter. The Senate bill goes further: it adds production of more than five litters per year. Thus a breeder with nine dogs who whelps a single litter and provides stud service for four more litters must prove that he is not required to be licensed — regardless of the number of puppies produced on his premises. Obviously, under these bills some litters will be counted twice — once for the stud dog owner and once for the brood bitch owner.
The major purpose for these bills is to merge kennel licensing law with animal welfare law so that state inspectors have the authority to enter licensed kennels and check for violations of animal welfare standards. They accomplish this purpose by placing administration and enforcement in the hands of the state department of commerce, a potential disaster for several reasons:
The Department of Commerce regulates the sale of inanimate objects like mattresses and non-animal businesses such as liquor stores, pawn shops, and construction. The Department of Commerce has no experience with animal housing and care, and the bills do not require training of the inspectors who will enforce the law.On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture regulates farm animal products and businesses, and Ohio courts have determined that raising dogs is an agricultural pursuit. Animal rights activists have repeatedly demanded that care of animals be removed from the Department of Agriculture.
Businesses can be regulated by specific standards and measurements, but animal care does not fit that mold. However, HB 606 and SB 342 fail to recognize that there is a broad range of acceptable animal care practices and instead micromange housing, veterinary treatment, and grooming. SB 342 even allows the director of commerce to set adoption fees for private rescue groups!
Ohio animal welfare laws already require food, water, and shelter and prohibit cruelty, so HB 606/SB342 would duplicate existing law and split enforcement between state and local agencies depending solely on the number of dogs involved.
Animal rights advocates who oppose the breeding of purebred dogs consistently lobby to deny agriculture departments oversight of animal facilities because farm groups have a large constituency and challenge the activists' perspective on animal care. Placing responsibility for administrationa nd enforcement of kennel licensing bills helps them achieve their agenda. (The animal rights agenda to end animal ownership and use has been widely published; see 6 things animal rights activists will like about HB 606/SB 342 for more information.)
OVDO
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