pet connection

The Concerned Dog Owners of California has not  followed the AKC’s lead and gone neutral on AB 1634. We’ve just confirmed this by phone with the CDOC’s Cathie Turner, who sent us a statement that will soon be is now up on the CDOC Web site.

From the statement:

Concerned Dog Owners of California does not support the most recent version of AB1634.  This bill is not about public safety or increasing responsible dog ownership; it is about unfair and inappropriate harassment of owners of intact dogs.

We completely support the section on impounded dogs but feel it should apply to all dogs, not just intact dogs.  We support permanent identification but believe it should apply to all dogs, not just intact dogs.  We support an effort to increase licensing but it should apply to all dogs, not just intact dogs.  But we cannot support the castration of dogs as the penalty for a paperwork violation. 

We oppose AB1634 because:

It increases costs to Californians.  As a new animal mandate, the State of California will now have to reimburse local animal control groups for their enforcement efforts if they are directed at intact dogs.  California has a $15 million budget deficit; we need to reduce expenses, not increase them.
 
It allows no exceptions for dogs that are loose as the result of a natural or man made disaster; earthquake, fire or flood.  And it takes away the discretion of animal control officers to acknowledge dogs that are loose as the result of such disasters.
 
The wording allows animals training off-leash to be targeted.  It allows competition animals who are not wearing their tags to be targeted, but altered dogs are not subject to the same requirements.

Here’s the rest.

Update: Here’s the AKC’s justification for going neutral on this bill.