So, there is this really insane bill that is working it's
way up the Ca legislature, that, if passed, will mean
that all dogs and cats over 4 months will have to be
spayed and neuterd if they do not meet a very narrow criteria
of acceptability set out by the law. The idea behind this law is to
reduce shelter population. However, because of the way
the bill is worded, effectively this will destroy rare breeds, service
narcotics, and police K9 programs, and working dog and herding dog
breeding programs.

 So I am working towards saying " no" to this bill,
along with the reps for police,
search and rescue, narcotics, working herding dog,
and service dog agencies. Currently the bill is not
worded in a way that *ensures* that there will be any
way to have a new generation of dogs for these
agencies from local sources. Police and Service dog
reps were at the last meeting to strongly protest
this bill *as written* . Not all dogs that serve in
these capacities are sourced from internal breeding
programs.

   I don't oppose more stringent breeding laws, but we
need to make sure what we pass is actually what we
want instead of responding to whatever comes down the
pipeline at us.

  Also, while there are ways for responsible breeders
to work with this law by paying much higher fees, and
complying with, in some cases , as the bill is
written, some fairly clunky guidlines , ( How do you
prove you are show training a cat? )  in no way does
it prevent truckloads of poorly-bred, non health or
temperament tested puppy mill dogs from coming in to
California from other states to meet demand.

  There is a bigger scope to this law than shelter
intake and euthanasia. I would hope that all of us
would make sure that the laws we help to pass ,  are
, in fact, what we want passed.

 I think it presumes that most dogs are commercially bred,
and for a profit to sell to the pet market.
Most dogs are not bred in facilities, most are bred
in homes. The problem with the bill is it doesn't
cover the scope of who and why dogs are bred, it
presumes all dogs are bred for the same reason and
towards the same ends , and legislates thusly.

  Not every litter that is born fits into the same
box. Many police dogs are Malinois / GSD crosses,
some are Shiloh Shepherds,  occasionally there are
American Bulldogs.Those dogs are not AKC or UKC ,and
are not protected. Not all the K9 or search dogs are
registered with a registry that this bill recognizes.
There is no generic police dog, often these non
standard dogs are used for specific reasons.

  Rare breed dogs of US and other origin are also not
protected, working bred dogs, who are often not
"pure" by AKC standards, are not protected. Many dogs
that we are familiar with in California, like the
McNabb, are not AKC or FCI breeds. The state dog of
Texas, the  working breed, the Texas Blue Lacey, will
not be allowed to be bred in California. Many flock
guardian breeds and the crosses that work farms all
over California are not protected .

The worst that could happen is no more dogs from
responsible breeding programs get produced , not only
for the working dog and showing dog people, but for
the average family dog situation. A responsible hobby
breeder will health and performance and temperament
test their dogs to try to ensure quality in the next
generation . The puppies coming in from Mexico and US
puppymills out of state will not. The demand for
those dogs will not diminish. And this law does nothing to prevent
puppymill dogs from coming in.

 The breeders that will profit from the passing of
this bill this are not the hobby breeders who show or
do performance events , health and temperament test
their dogs, participate in rescue, and actually care
about where their pups go . The people who will
profit are USDA regulated puppy mills, and their
Mexican and Eastern European counterparts.

  Also, ridding Ca of the responsible hobby breeder is
not going to change the feral cat situation, or the
"just one time" unlicensed backyard breeder, or the
kids on the street who want to breed their Pit
because it has a big head.

 I've done shelter work, participated in mass
rescues, held dogs while they were euthanised, made
euthanasia decisions in shelters.

  I also have spent time with working dog breeders,
show and performance breeders, herding, protection,
flock guardian, rescue , and dogs bred for behavioral
studies. It's not one box fits all, and no one on any
side is evil. We all love dogs.

 I was at the AB 1634 meeting, the Ca Police rep was
one of only two speakers for orgs allowed to speak
against AB1634 . He represented : California
Organization of Police and Sheriffs, California
Association of Highway Patrolmen, North American
Police Work Dog Association, United States Police
Canine Association, Western States Police Canine
Association, Canine Specialized Search Team.

  The service dog speaker represented :
  Guide Dogs for the Blind, Guide Dogs of America,
Canine Companions for Independence, Assistance Dogs
International, International Assn. of Assistance Dog
Partners and Pets for Disabled Americans.


 And what about the crossbred dogs ?
I really think Labradoodles are a
 hoot, but Cockapoo's and Labradoodles and such will
 have to come only from out of state with the passing
 of this law, since they belong to no purebred
 registry, so will never be able to be bred in Ca.
 It's a shame, since Labradoodles and Goldendoodles
 are used as non shedding guide dogs and service dogs
 as well as grand family pets. The people who breed
 these dogs will have to leave Ca or sterilize their
 dogs.

 Rare breed dogs , who are not AKC, will also have to
 leave Ca, they won't be able to be bred here, so no
 McNabbs, no Mini Aussies, no Shiloh Shepherds, no
 American Bulldogs, no Hovawart, none of the
 Coonhounds but the single variety accepted by the
 AKC, no Belgian Laekenois, no White Shepherds , no
 Jack Russell Terriers , since the AKC split to
 Parsons Russells, the foundation stock will be
 disallowed, no Paterdale Terriers, no Feists, no
 Alaskan Klee Kai, no Dingo's, no Carolina Dogs, no
 Eurasiers, no Chinooks, no Jindo, no Peruvian Inca
 Orchid Dogs, no Thai Ridgbacks, no Xolozcuitle, no
 Silken Windhounds, Chart Polski, Azawahk, Norwegien
 Lundehunds, no Texas Blue Laceys, none of the other
 two sizes of Basset Griffon Vendeen, no long haired
 Weimeraners,no Sloughi , non of the American Cur
 dogs, no American Staghounds, no Boerboels, none of
 the many French gun dogs, and on and on.
 
 No more wolf hybrids or coyote hybrids or wild cat and
domestic cat hybrids either. Maybe they will outlaw mules to
boot.

 At least it will be easy to learn all the AKC breeds.

 Obtaining a dog from a reputable breeder is not as
 easy as buying one from a pet store. I have a waiting
 list with people on it sometimes for years, I make
 sure I know the people getting my pups over a long
 time before they get a pup from me , I do home
 checks, I make sure the pup suits the household. The
 parents are health tested and performance tested.
 Everything can come back to me at any time for any
 reason. I board pups from me and sometimes their
 other housemates at no fee for their lifetimes. I
 help with food, and vet, and training referrals. Some people
 would find the amount of involvment with a reputable
 breeder irritating, and would rather get the mystery
 puppy in the pet shop window or in the little cage at
 the flea market.

 Most reputable breeders are hard to get dogs from,
 even though the cost of a breeder dog is often lower
 than the pet store price on the puppies . People
 currently mostly choose to get their Mexican puppy
 mill dogs at the flea market, back yard bred dogs out
 of the newspaper or at the supermarket parking lot,
 or their Mo or Penn puppy mill dogs from the mall
 instead of go through all the screening and the hell
 of having to be related by dog to a breeder.
 
 This is a poorly worded law that won't
 address the problem, and will have wide reaching
 negative effects . We are not seeing overflow at the
 shelters of dogs from police, schutzhund, service dog
 , working/herding , dogs bred for study, the show
 dog fancy, or narcotics dogs. You don't see Sch
 breeders dumping their little gator dogs into the
 shelter if they haven't sold them by 16 weeks. You
 don't see Guide Dogs for the Blind filling up
 shelters with fail out or old Goldens and Labs and
 Shepherds. You don't see show winners past their
 prime being dumped at shelters. There are internal
 systems for taking care of most of this, and
 reputable breeders participate in rescue.

 The overflow you see in the shelters is from
 backyard breeders, feral cats, feral dogs, fighting
 dogs, hoarders, homeless peoples animals, puppymills,
 and "just one time" between fluffykins and missy, or
 the "101 Dalmations" in for a quick buck type
 breeders. This law does nothing at all to address
 that.

Oh boy, I am sooo glad I don't live in California!

CA is one of the places on earth with the densest (is that a word?) population of Silken Windhounds. It would be devastating if you suddenly had to spay and neuter them and not go on breeding them. And your big Boofest at Halloween would come to a halt.

I say :( to California if you pass this stupid nonsense of a law.

Susann, breeder of Silken Windhounds in Sweden
http://www.windhound.com

yay - it got killed in Sacramento! just heard it on the news today.