Stateline.org (TNS) by Elaine S. Povich
The death of Ollie, a 9-month-old labradoodle mauled at a Massachusetts pet care facility in 2020, led the state this October to enact the stringent Ollie s Law, tightening regulations on the care and housing of pets at boarding and training kennels.
The immediate reporting of such instances to local authorities is required by the recently passed Massachusetts statute. It also empowers state regulators to come up with new rules that may require that dogs be housed with similarly sized animals and not be left without human supervision, as Ollie was, according to his owner.
Jeremy Cohen, a lawyer who created Boston Dog Lawyers, claims that while some states, like Colorado and Iowa, have laws governing pet care facilities, the majority of states either have no laws at all or only local laws. His firm defends pet owners in instances including everything from dog bite defense to injury and wrongful death lawsuits to divorce custody disputes. (He did not represent Ollie s owner, who did not file a suit.)
Opponents of new regulations say the rules may make it more expensive to operate the facilities and could hurt small businesses. Facing such opposition, recent legislative efforts to tighten rules have failed to advance in other states, including Kansas and Washington.
That leaves some pet owners without assurances that the facilities they trust to care for their pets are operating under certain standards, said Cohen, who pushed for the new Massachusetts law.
According to him, pet owners are unaware until something goes wrong. They are also surprised to learn that there are no rules. Until anything happens, [pet care facilities] can remain hidden.
Amy Baxter, the owner of Ollie, was in that predicament. She dropped off Ollie, who was 7 months old, at a doggie day care center in East Longmeadow and later received a call that her pet had been hurt in a dog fight, she said in an interview.
The center, which she said was unlicensed and which has since closed, did not notify local authorities of the incident nor immediately take Ollie to a vet. He died two months later after multiple surgeries.
Baxter, a former legislative aide in New York state, gathered a coalition of pet owners, kennel operators and animal protection groups and spent several years lobbying the Massachusetts legislature for new rules. Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura HealeysignedOllie s Law in October.
Ollie, a labradoodle, died when he was 9 months old, two months after being mauled at a pet care facility in Massachusetts. He was the inspiration for Ollie s Law, a new state statute designed to protect pets in kennels. Business owners worry the regulations may be too expensive. (Rep. Brian Ashe/TNS)TNS
Thelawlimits the number of dogs that can be cared for in a single facility and requires recordkeeping, inspections and reporting of pet injuries and deaths. The precise rules on staff-to-animal ratios, dog group sizes and supervision, emergency planning, minimum housing and care requirements, and staff training and insurance will be written by the state s Department of Agricultural Resources over the next 18 months.
The National Humane Education Society said the Massachusetts law sets a new standard in kennel regulation and safety for pets.
In an interview, Baxter said the most important part of the new law is that pet injuries are now required to be reported to the local licensing authority and that investigation results be made publicly available if enforcement action is taken.
If I hadn t gone to the police, no one would have heard of Ollie, she said.
There should never be just one employee at a facility, she argued. If one worker is at the front desk taking payments, who s in the back taking care of the animals? It s an animal protection issue, it s a consumer protection issue, it s also an employee protection issue.
Extra staff and precautions cost money, and pet kennel owners are concerned about how the new rules will affect them, said Linda Wood, owner of Pawsitively Pets boarding and day care center in Bolton, Massachusetts.
Wood, who has owned her business for 20 years, said she fully supports the new law because it will give animal control officers better guidance on how to inspect facilities, as well as require training for kennel employees, such as the courses she provides her own workers.
Kennels that don t measure up are dangerous, she said. She limits the number of animals she takes at one time.
But, she added, the extra steps will be costly for pet boarding facilities and owners.
They are going to have to hire more employees. This will make it difficult for business. The prices are going to have to go up. It s necessary, but how is the public going to handle it?
Breeder concerns
The American Kennel Club, which represents dog breeders, is skeptical of new regulations such as the Massachusetts law, which it says would impede breeders. The bill originally included new rules for breeders, but after pushback from the group, lawmakers stripped that part and the organization dropped its opposition to the legislation.
Kennels care for customers dogs intermittently, while breeding operations raise puppies to be sold.
In a statement to Stateline, Phil Guidry, the American Kennel Club s director of policy analysis, said that while it is important that pets in day cares and kennels get proper care, including personal breeder kennels under the bill was unnecessary and went too far. The original legislation could have allowed inspectors into breeders homes and attempted to limit the number of dogs breeders own, he said.
Linda Wood, operator of Pawsitively Pets, a pet care facility in Bolton, Massachusetts, and Emmet, a mini-labradoodle she cares for. (Courtesy of Linda Wood/TNS)TNS
In Colorado, stateregulationsset cage dimensions and worker-to-dog ratios and requires facility license holders to be trained, among other provisions.
The Iowa kennel regulations require specific recordkeeping on all animals housed at the kennel and lay out standards of cleanliness. For dog day care centers, the rules require, among other things, that dog owners sign a waiver acknowledging that grouping dogs together involves inherent risks.
Safety costs
Recent efforts to tighten pet boarding regulations failed in other states.
In Washington state, the cost of the new safety measures was one of the issues raised at a legislative hearing on abillthat would have required a fire alarm system or a sprinkler system in kennels but that didn t make it out of committee this year. The bill had been filed after two separate fires at Seattle dog day care and boarding facilities in 2023, during one of which a dog died after it ran from the burning kennel and into traffic on Interstate 5.
Fire safety experts and animal activists supported the bill. But Sam McEntire pointed out at the hearing that the fires happened at two locations of the same business, and suggested that the problem is not widespread.
I don t think anyone would oppose having some standards and safety measure systems, but some of these would devastate small-business owners having to implement hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of systems to these buildings, he testified, adding that while the state doesn t have a lot of regulation of this industry, cities and counties do.
The bill died in committee in January. Its lead sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Darya Farivar, may reintroduce it next year.
In Kansas, a 2022billthat would have regulated dog kennels and breeders died in committee.
This year, the Kansas Pet Animal Advisory Board, an arm of the state Agriculture Department, considered new safety regulations designed to make pet boarding and day care facilities safer. A family in Olathe had lost both their dogs while boarding them at a kennel called Lucky Paws KC. Inthat case, two small dogs, a Pomeranian mix and a mini-labradoodle, were killed after being put in an outdoor area with more than a dozen large dogs. An employee was inside the facility with a door propped open to monitor conditions outside, according to KCTV.
Instead of passing new rules, though, the advisory board instead decided to increase education efforts on the current rules, said Heather Lansdowne, communications director for the Kansas Department of Agriculture.
Argo, Wallaby and Paluka check out the snow from the windows at Pawsitively Pets in Bolton, Massachusetts. (Courtesy of Linda Wood/TNS)TNS
The concerns would best be addressed by increased education and enforcement, Lansdowne said. That s better than additional regulations, which can sometimes be burdensome in a way that backfires and causes problems for the good facilities.
She said the department would be sending out reminders to kennels that they should house dogs of similar sizes together and monitor their behavior.
A lot of that is, how do you help those facilities work through decisions about which pets can be housed together? she said. You have to understand animal signs and signals.
Statelineis part ofStates Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.
2024 States Newsroom. Visit atstateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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