Legislation

There are currently several bills pending across the United States that severely restrict the rights of dog owners. One in California, AB 1634, has sparked a fair amount of controversy.

I know in the dog show community it would have a devastating impact. To quote the bill:

This bill would, until January 1, 2012, authorize a local jurisdiction
or its authorized local animal control agency to allow for issuance of
an intact permit for one male and one female dog per household in order
to allow the dogs to produce a single litter of offspring, subject to
specified criteria.

It would be extremely difficult to maintain any sort of breeding program under those restrictions. One litter and then the dog is neutered, this apply to both the sire and the dam. Crunch would have never sired a second litter, a litter that surpassed the first in quality. I don’t think John (he’s from the first litter and is the only intact one left) will ever be used at stud and thus Crunch’s line would have ended. Quite a pity since he is already a grandfather by the second litter and at least one of them is gorgeous and doing very well in the ring.

Note also the expiration date. Does this mean no more exemptions after January 1, 2012?

Anyone serious about breeding better dogs would have to move out of state.

Then there are the many, many dog shows (500+ by my count for conformation shows held annually in Ca, this does not include performance events such as obedience, field trials, etc) held in California. I know I would think twice before going to California for an event and with no local breeders to host the shows there wouldn’t be anybody to organize or work at them. Dog shows bring a fair amount of money into a community, from the booked out hotels to the full restaurants.

I think the law wouldn’t work to reduce the pet over population. There would still be strays, all of the ethical breeders would be driven out leaving behind those that do not care and work outside of the law. The funding for enforcement and the low cost spay/neuter programs is to come from within the communities via fines and licensure.

I also object to the further erosion to the rights of the average pet owning citizen.

It’s a train wreck in the making.

Then there is my state’s rabies data base. Veterinarians in the state of Virginia are, as of last week, required to do the following:

Each veterinarian who vaccinates a dog against rabies or directs a veterinary technician in his employ to vaccinate a dog against rabies shall provide the owner a copy of the rabies vaccination certificate. The veterinarian shall forward within 45 days a copy of the rabies vaccination certificate or the information contained in such certificate, to the treasurer of the locality in which the vaccination occurs.

The rabies vaccination certificate shall include at a minimum the signature of the veterinarian, the animal owner’s name and address, the species of the animal, the sex, the age, the color, the primary breed, the secondary breed, whether or not the animal is spayed or neutered, the vaccination number, and expiration date. The rabies vaccination certificate shall indicate the locality in which the animal resides.

Ultimately all of the county information will be brought together and placed in a statewide, searchable database.

Courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act, information about my dogs and where I live will be publicly available.

People that don’t want to be caught in the system might just decide not to vaccinate. The kicker is that Virginia is currently experiencing an upsurge in rabies. We could have a serious rabies epidemic.

I’m seriously considering getting my dogs vaccinated out of state.

It’s scary out there for anyone involved with dogs.