The Ohio legislature has certainly faced clear opportunities to enact new legislation to regulate dog breeding and to battle the terrible fungus that is the puppy mill breeder. (And I apologize to fungus.)
Of course, Ohio is not alone in dropping this sort of ball, but as an editorial posted Tuesday on the Toledo Blade website notes, the state’s legislature has been failing on this subject for at least seven years.
A state House committee canceled debate last week on the latest bill and apparently no further discussion will take place until after the November election. The editorial did note the Senate version of the bill “was flawed in many ways,” classifying dogs as livestock. And the fines were too low.
The editorial also suggests any new bill should include a restriction on the number of dogs a breeder can own, a ban on dog auctions, standard inspections, minimum standards for animal IDs and record keeping, regular veterinary care, socialization and cleanliness and size standards for kennels.
All of that sounds reasonable to me – but I would add regular exercise requirements. I know some folks on the other side will scream about limits on the number of dogs, but the problem goes to caring for large numbers of dogs.