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Email from John Gibble highlighting important points! On Saturday, December 16, proposed regulations will be published for comment in the Pennsylvania Bulletin regarding the issuance of kennel licenses, entry of dogs into the Commonwealth, and conditions in which licensed kennels maintain their dogs. There is a 60 day comment period allowed. Written comments must be received by Mary Bender, Director, Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110-9408. Highlights of the proposed regulations: *Creating standard legal processes to prosecute and apply administrative penalties to violators up to Class III Felony. *Requiring properties where 26 or more dogs are kenneled at any time during the course of one calendar year to obtain a valid kennel license (This may include a beagle club and the dogs being trained or housed there temporarily , a person that has several litters of puppies, someone that boards dogs for a friend on one or more occasions) *Requiring set standards for ventilation, shading, temperature control, and drainage for all kennels. *Requiring that all dogs in licensed kennels must be exercised at least 20 minutes everyday and establishing requirements for exercise areas. *Requiring intense record keeping including detailed information on all dogs housed in a kennel, time fed, disinfection of kennels, water and food bowls, and time and duration of daily exercise. As a member of the Governor's Dog Law Advisory Board, I will providing the attached specific comments. I would advise that we submit comments from the PBGA after a discussion at our January meeting. Individual and club comments are also very important. There is a long process following the public notice comment period, but the Governor has indicated that he wants changes fast-tracked. The object of these regulations is ostensibly to clean up "puppy mill" operations. I don't think any of us has an objection to holding commercial breeders to a humane level of operation. We do need to make sure that we're not caught up in the same net. John Gibble
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Advisory Board Comments from Gibble |