There are a disturbing number of laws putting limits on the numbers of intact dogs a breeder can own, wending their way through state legislatures right now. They are billed as ‘puppy mill’ laws, but what they really are is ‘make dog breeding so expensive and troublesome that no one will do it’ laws. A prime and particularly egregious example is Illinois HB 198. This law would apply to anyone who keeps three or more intact bitches. It places a limit of twenty intact dogs. Only three dogs may be in one ‘primary enclosure.’ Puppies cannot be kept in the same enclosure as adults other than their dam, which means you cannot raise a litter of pups in the house unless you expel any adult dogs living there. Pups under twelve weeks old cannot be housed with adult dogs as well, meaning pups will not get important socialization skills and learn to live with adults other than their mother. There are ridiculous standards about kennels, heating and cooling, etc. But this is the best part: if your license gets revoked, you have seven days to request a hearing, and they don’t have to give you one. If you don’t request a hearing, you have seven days to ‘dispose’ of any unaltered adult dogs. But you can’t sell them, place them with friends, or even give them away. You can’t even just neuter them so they don’t count towards your intact dog total. You must, and I quote: “licensee may only dispose of the dogs to an animal control facility or Illinois licensed shelter or by having a dog humanely euthanized by a licensed veterinarian.” So, if you go to the trouble of getting one of these licenses, and it gets revoked, you can give your dogs to a shelter or kill them. Period. I’m just talking excess intact dogs here, not starved, abused or neglected dogs. Your dogs, that you should be able to sell, or give away, as you wish.

This bill is sponsored by HSUS. In fact, if you e-mail Representative Fritchy, who filed the bill, you will get a reply from an HSUS representative. He’s actually forwarding all correspondence about the bill to HSUS. Almost all the current ‘puppy mill’ legislation has been introduced by HSUS, and pretty much all of it contains provisions stating that dogs must be kept in kennels.

HSUS, on their web site, has a PDF entitled “How to Identify a Good Dog Breeder.” HSUS’ definition of a ‘good’ breeder? One that keeps their dogs in the house, not in kennels. Quote from the PDF: “keeps dogs in the home as part of the family, not outside in kennel runs” (emphasis mine.) So, how to create a whole new class of ‘bad’ breeders? How do you make the majority of non-commercial home based breeders into both criminals and ‘bad’ breeders in one fell swoop? Pass laws that require dogs to be kept in kennels. Now anyone that has an actual breeding program, one that involves keeping pups back from each litter to watch how they grow and evaluate the breeding program, one that maintains one or more ‘lines’ of dogs to breed from, one that keeps their older, retired dogs, one that keeps pups until they find new homes instead of dumping them at a shelter when they’re no longer young and cute, one that takes back dogs that can no longer be kept by their owners, in other words, a breeder like dozens I know or know of, WILL ALL BE ‘BAD BREEDERS.’

Why are laws with kennel requirements, space requirements, and all that jazz bad? Because dogs are not machines, all the same except for the size. The best husbandry, or animal care, is not institutionalized, but customized: to the breed, the breeder, the climate, and the breeding program. Good husbandry for Foxhounds will be totally different that good husbandry for Chihuahuas. Some dogs do well in groups, some don’t. Some are pretty weather proof, some are delicate. Hunting dogs, for instance, need to acclimated to the environment. Keeping them in air-conditioning all the time will impair their performance and may actually make them more prone to heat exhaustion. Sled dogs need to be exposed to the cold, so they develop good thick coats. Things like wormers and vaccines are highly individualized. Most breeders have a protocol that works for them. Likewise with food, puppy raising, and housing. People who keep multiple dogs usually have a management system that works for them. Ask twenty people what the best way to keep twenty dogs is, and you will get twenty different answers. If the people who introduce these bills really wanted to protect dogs (assuming that the local welfare laws are good enough), they would apply performance standards instead of engineering standards. Are the dogs in good condition? Do they have shelter? Puppies healthy? Yard acceptably clean? Any sick or injured dogs taken care of? Then it would not matter how many dogs there were, or how they were housed, but whether the actual dogs were cared for. Unfortunately this type of enforcement is harder, and requires people who are intelligent, well-versed in animal husbandry, and unbiased to do the enforcing. I don’t think that’s going to happen because protecting dogs from neglect and abuse are not what these laws are all about, that is just the surface glitter designed to distract the bleeding hearts. These laws are all about limiting or eliminating purposeful dog breeding and driving breeders out of their business or hobby.

Laws like these are a blatant attempt to stop all purposeful breeding of dogs, whether for shows, hunting, or pets. They are not laws to protect dogs, but to keep them from ever being born. They are not puppy saving laws, but dog destroying laws. Passage of these types of laws on a large scale will result in a disastrous reduction in the gene pools of purpose bred dog breeds or types. Breeding will be reduced so much that it will be impossible or extremely expensive for you to buy a healthy puppy in your chosen breed. These laws will only hurt pets and their owners in the long run. So, tell me again how HSUS isn’t after the extinction of the purpose bred dog. Tell me again how they only want to stop those evil ‘puppy mills’ and ‘irresponsible’ breeders. No, wait. Now that I think about it, don’t tell me, because I’m tired of listening to their lies.