This information comes from Paws for Praise.

Holly Stump, a local AmStaff owner (her dog is a therapy dog!) and long time dog advocate, has today sent us the following disturbing news. We hope you will all contact your legislators by phone and let them know that you want this bill killed and the original dangerous dog bill sponsored by Rep. Hill to go forward. The alternate bill is damaging to law abiding responsible dog breeders and competitors, and is being offered as a way to get breed specific legislation passed. If you think that this does not affect you, because you don’t own a Pit Bull, Staffordshire, American Bulldog, Doberman, German Shepherd, Akita, or other breed commonly discriminated against, please think again. Any breed can be banned if there is hysteria attached to a few, or even many, negative incidents. But, dog aggression is not a dog problem, it’s a human one. How many times have you ever heard of a dog attacking anything when it is well trained, on a leash, and under the control of a responsible owner??? Rep. Hill’s bill addressed that by laying the blame squarely on the irresponsible owners, and not on a particular breed.

We will never stop puppy mills by limiting a good breeder from keeping intact animals. We will only stop them when people stop buying their dogs from pet stores, internet websites, and backyard breeders who pay no attention to health or genetic testing of the parent dogs, or who don’t bother to work or show their breeding stock to insure that the dogs are structurally and mentally sound for their intended purpose or as pets.
(If you are new to dogs, and need more information about this subject, we can help. Also, be aware that if you have already made this error, and got your dog this way, we appreciate the fact that you are now more aware of the reasons against doing so the next time, and we understand that you love your dog no matter where it came from - and we do, too!)

Holly’s email follows - please pass it along to all your dog owner friends - we had thought that this substitute bill was dead, which it should have been. Tell your legislators that we want a solid, responsible, dangerous dog bill in Massachusetts that does NOT allow discrimination by breed or put ridiculously arbitrary constraints on responsible owners and breeders. If you have any reservations about the bully breeds, come to our play group on Sundays and let Rachel Ritter’s dog, MowMow, show you what a responsibly bred and trained pup can be!!!!
If you can show up at the State House in opposition, please do - I am unable to be there that day, but will be passing information along to every Paws for Praise client via this communication, and hope that we can all contribute to widening this circle for responsible dog owners and their innocent dogs. Anyone who has any questions or concerns as to why this bill does not make sense in the context of the fact that we had a GREAT bill that should have passed already, can contact me for more information, since I am the constituent who originally requested Rep. Hill to file HB1948.
Anne Springer

Just got word that there is going to be a hearing on the awful bill that replaced Brad Hill’s good dangerous dog bill.

Please spread the word!

09/08/2008 - H New draft of bill, see HB1948
09/08/2008 - H Referred to House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling
10/01/2008 - Hearing Scheduled JMR - 10/23/2008 10:00 A.M. A-2

Holly

Hi,

Trying to bring everyone up to speed on the new dog bill here in MA. It was originally HB 1948 filed by my rep Brad Hill. It was a fantastic behavior based piece of legislation. It had a hearing last year and had lots of support. At the same hearing it became clear that the committee chair on the house side Rep Pedone, did not like dogs and ” Pit Bulls” in particular. His committee gets almost all dog bills. He decided to kill all of the bills they got and draft one comprehensive bill to address all of the topics. Well it was released Monday. It took until yesterday for me to get my hands on the thing. I was able to get it from my rep (since it is technically a re draft of his bill) before Clerk even had it. It is the worst thing you can imagine other than banning dogs entirely! Because it is filed as a redraft of HB1948 it will not require a hearing.

Pedone has already managed to move this draft out of his committee and into :

HOUSE STEERING, POLICY AND SCHEDULING
Room 174
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2960

Who has moved it back to JMRG with a hearing Scheduled JMR - 10/23/2008 10:00 A.M. A-2
Please check Massfed web site for updates. They do sometimes change times & dates

This is a great time to talk about S2450 that is also a CH 140 rework ( but a good one ) and Hill’s original bill (HB1948 ) that he will be refilling next session!

Position paper for S2450 found here……

http://www.massfeddogs.org/PositionPapers/MassFed%20S2450%20(Jehlen).pdf

JOINT COMMITTEE ON MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
House Staff:
Room 540
State House
Boston, MA 02133 House Staff Telephone: (617) 722-2090

Senate Staff
: Room 413B
State House
Boston, MA 02133 Senate Staff Telephone: (617) 722-1634

It shall be the duty of the committee on Municipalities and Regional Government to consider matters seekingthe enactment of special laws for a city or town, the establishment of economic, district and local planning commissions, rent control and zoning, and matters concerning the various counties, former counties and regional government entities, including the salaries andtenure of employees, registers of deeds and sheriffs (but excluding the retirement of such employees) and such other matters as may be referred.

Members appointed to the committee:
Petruccelli of Suffolk and Middlesex
Jehlen of Second Middlesex
Baddour of First Essex
Fargo of Third Middlesex
Tisei of Middlesex and Essex
__________ of __________

Pedone of Worcester
M. J. Walsh of Boston
Patrick of Falmouth
Canessa of New Bedford
Guyer of Dalton
Peake of Provincetown
O’Day of West Boylston
McMurtry of Dedham
Garballey of Arlington
Barrows of Mansfield
Smola of Palmer

See AKC alert here:
http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3595

My main points against

Changes definition of health certificate

Now means : This is in main definitions section of Ch 140 so I feel it is new definition of health certificate in general

a letter by a certified veterinarian stating that the dog named in the application for breeding has been immunized or vaccinated for the distemper virus, hepatitis, parvo virus, para influenza virus, leptospira bacteria, and rabies.

Mandatory S/N over 12 months unless
intact permit obtained competition dogs assistance dogs service dogs dogs that have vet substantiated health reasons

“Assistance and service dogs”, any canine specifically trained to help people who have disabilities or any canine trained to help a person with a disability in life. The term shall also include canines trained for search and rescue and medical response dogs.

“Breed”, any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of a specific group or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards established by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club when defining breed of dog.

“Competition dog”, a pedigreed dog not used for breeding that is a breed recognized by and registered with an approved dog breed registry, such as the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club, the American Dog Breeders Association, or any other dog breed registry approved by the city or town; and shows or competes in a confirmation, obedience, agility, carting, herding, protection, rally, sporting, working or other event sponsored by an approved dog breed registry.

Municipalities can charge up to $500 intact permit

Permit requires completion of course on responsible pet ownership approved by municipality issuing permit.
Health certificate ( which requires vaccination verification by vet )

Litter limitations

One litter per year unless authorized

(a) protect the health of the female dog;

(b) avert a substantial economic loss to the permittee; or

(2) previously in the permit term, the female dog’s litter was euthanized or did not survive for the reasons.

Tethering limitations

No more than 3 hrs per day

Dangerous dog requirements

Allows towns / cities to ban breeds

ACO can seize animal they believe dangerous

The officer in charge of animals or the person charged with the responsibility of handling dog complaints has the authority, if they believe that a dog is dangerous, an immediate threat or that the animal is in danger to seize or impound the animal.