Bill hiking standards for dog breeders splits canine lobby

The Senate brought forward a measure this week that would expand housing, veterinary care and exercise requirements for dogs under breeder care — but its path to law remains murky.

WASHINGTON (CN) — Congress took aim at puppy mills this week as lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at improving living standards for dogs owned by commercial breeders.

But while some animal welfare advocates hail the measure as a necessary step to revitalize lacking federal regulations for breeders, the country’s largest canine registry has expressed concern that the bill would saddle them with arbitrary requirements.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin on Tuesday unveiled the Puppy Protection Act, a bill which he said in a statement would ensure a commitment from breeders to raise dogs in humane conditions.

“I’m proud to lead this effort in protecting dogs from neglectful breeders who have evaded proper oversight and inspection in the past,” the Illinois Democrat wrote.

Under federal law, enshrined in the 1966 Animal Welfare Act, commercial dog breeders must be licensed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency requires breeders that sell animals to pet stores, as well as people who sell dogs to customers “sight unseen” — that is, without meeting them in person — to apply for such a license. Small-scale “hobby” breeders sometimes can be exempt from licensing.

But federal guidelines for canine living conditions under breeder care are severely lacking, argued John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills campaign.

“Fundamentally, the USDA regulations for commercial dog breeders right now are so poor that a puppy mill can keep a dog in a tiny little cage, and it’s legal,” he told Courthouse News in an interview. “If you or I were to do the exact same thing, the sheriff might be knocking on our door.”

Current standards allow breeders to keep dogs in kennels that are a maximum of six inches longer than their body, Goodwin said, so long as the breeder has a written exercise plan for the animal. Without such a plan, the space requirement doubles to 12 inches.

“That’s still like keeping a dog in the worst closet in the worst apartment I ever lived in, in terms of space,” he pointed out.

Enforcement of federal standards is also spotty, Goodwin said, and oversight actions on commercial breeders plummeted during the Trump administration under Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The situation has since improved under President Joe Biden, but ongoing issues remain, Goodwin said.

Durbin’s bill, on which the Humane Society was a consultant, would create legal mandates for many of the kennel standards set by the USDA and even expand requirements for commercial breeders.

The measure would improve enclosure minimums and bar breeders from stacking kennels on top of one another. It would also require breeders to get veterinary screenings for their dogs before each breeding attempt, slap restrictions on the number of litters a dog can have in her lifetime and mandate that retired breeding dogs get a “humane” placement with an adoptive family or rescue organization.

The legislation adds new provisions not laid out in existing federal standards, such as 30 minutes a day of socialization with humans or other dogs, as well as a requirement that breeders keep canine enclosures between 45 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit when dogs are present.

Goodwin argued that the Puppy Protection Act was a step in the right direction for canine welfare. But it is also the most politically viable option, he added.

“Could the standards be better? Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “But the conditions that these dogs should live in, the standards that should be in place, wouldn’t pass Congress.”

The American Kennel Club, the country’s largest registry of dog pedigrees, has lobbied against the proposed bill. In a statement opposing the House-side version of the Puppy Protection Act unveiled last year, the organization blasted the legislation for imposing what it called “arbitrary” restrictions on breeders.

Sheila Goffe, director of government relations at the American Kennel Club, said that the measure would impose an unfair mandate on many small hobby breeders who, despite being legally considered commercial breeders, may lack the resources to meet the new requirements.

“In fact, what you’re doing is taking away the opportunity for really good breeders to achieve improved outcomes and putting everybody back to a sort of mean which is okay, but not encouraging best outcomes,” she told Courthouse News in an interview.

Most of the standards set forth in Durbin’s bill already exist in the Animal Welfare Act, Goffe contended — but as flexible guidelines rather than mandates carrying the force of law. Less stringent standards, she said, allow the USDA to work directly with licensees to implement them based on individual circumstances.

Another issue with the legislation is what the Kennel Club has described as its “one size fits all” mandate. Goffe pointed out that different breeds of dogs require different standards of care.

“They are incredibly diverse, and I think we all agree that they absolutely must be kept in conditions that allow not only for good care but also for constantly improving care,” she said. “The way that the restrictions are placed in statute, they actually undermine the flexibility that’s already built into the Animal Welfare Act.”

Goffe worried that placing rigid legal guidelines on commercial breeders would also dissuade new, responsible people from joining the industry.

“There’s absolutely no question at all that we all want to get rid of any bad actors, in terms of breeders,” she said. “It’s an incredibly tough job to be a breeder, it’s very tough for people to make money at it. But for people who want to do it, we encourage people to do it in a responsible way that ensures the health and wellbeing of those animals.”

The Humane Society, meanwhile, has slammed the Kennel Club for its opposition to legislation aimed at hiking regulations for breeders.

In a Wednesday op-ed published on its website, the Humane Society accused the organization of “actively obstructing” stronger protections for dogs, pointing out that that the Kennel Club has fought against humane bills in Congress and state governments on more than 500 occasions.

Goodwin claimed that the Kennel Club, which registers dogs and litters in its database for a fee, has an interest in propping up large breeding operations which register hundreds of animals, arguing that they have become “reactionary” on the issue.

"Let's say you've got a puppy mill in Missouri that's producing 1,000 puppies a year, and you've got a reponsible breeder in Maryland who has one litter a year," he said. "That puppy mill owner who is registering up to 1,000 dogs, the AKC is going to have a lot more influence on the direction they take on these things than responsible breeder who only has five or six puppies born a year."

But the Humane Society's contention is "purely speculative," said Goffe. "This is a false narrative that they've built to support their efforts. In fact, less than 10% of breeders who register their litters with AKC have more than six litters per year."

In a one-pager document provided by the organization, the Kennel Club said that it supports “strong enforcement” of the Animal Welfare Act.

The Kennel Club also argued that Congress should consult stakeholders with animal husbandry experience when developing legislation and said that such bills should be “reasonable, enforceable and non-discriminatory.”

The Kennel Club also appeared to take another swipe at organizations such as the Humane Society.

“[A]nimal protection organizations that seek to limit pet breeding typically have little scientific knowledge or practical knowledge or experience with animal husbandry,” the one-pager read.

As of Friday, the Puppy Protection Act has yet to be assigned to a Senate committee. Both the Kennel Club and the Humane Society have forecast that language from the legislation would likely appear in this year’s Farm Bill, an agricultural omnibus still under debate in Congress.

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Bill hiking standards for dog breeders splits canine lobby

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