Below is the USDA Standard for Housing Dogs. Are you in compliance?


PART 3_STANDARDS

Subpart A_Specifications for the Humane Handling, Care, Treatment, and Transportation of Dogs and Cats \1\

Facilities and Operating Standards
Sec. 3.2 Indoor housing facilities.

(a) Heating, cooling, and temperature. Indoor housing facilities for dogs and cats must be sufficiently heated and cooled when necessary to protect the dogs and cats from temperature or humidity extremes and to provide for their health and well-being. When dogs or cats are present, the ambient temperature in the facility must not fall below 50 [deg]F (10 [deg]C) for dogs and cats not acclimated to lower temperatures, for those breeds that cannot tolerate lower temperatures without stress or discomfort (such as short-haired breeds), and for sick, aged, young, or infirm dogs and cats, except as approved by the attending veterinarian. Dry bedding, solid resting boards, or other methods of conserving body heat must be provided when temperatures are below 50 [deg]F (10 [deg]C). The ambient temperature must not fall below 45 [deg]F (7.2 [deg]C) for more than 4 consecutive hours when dogs or cats are present, and must not rise above 85 [deg]F (29.5 [deg]C) for more than 4 consecutive hours when dogs or cats are present. The preceding requirements are in addition to, not in place of, all other requirements pertaining to climatic conditions in parts 2 and 3 of this chapter.

(b) Ventilation. Indoor housing facilities for dogs and cats must be sufficiently ventilated at all times when dogs or cats are present to provide for their health and well-being, and to minimize odors, drafts, ammonia levels, and moisture condensation. Ventilation must be provided by windows, vents, fans, or air conditioning. Auxiliary ventilation, such as fans, blowers, or air conditioning must be provided when the ambient temperature is 85 [deg]F (29.5 [deg]C) or higher. The relative humidity must be maintained at a level that ensures the health and well-being of the dogs or cats housed therein, in accordance with the directions of the attending veterinarian and generally accepted professional and husbandry practices.

(c) Lighting. Indoor housing facilities for dogs and cats must be lighted well enough to permit routine inspection and cleaning of the facility, and observation of the dogs and cats. Animal areas must be provided a regular diurnal lighting cycle of either natural or artificial light. Lighting must be uniformly diffused throughout animal facilities and provide sufficient illumination to aid in maintaining good housekeeping practices, adequate cleaning, adequate inspection of animals, and for the well-being of the animals. Primary enclosures must be placed so as to protect the dogs and cats from excessive light.

(d) Interior surfaces. The floors and walls of indoor housing facilities, and any other surfaces in contact with the animals, must be impervious to moisture. The ceilings of indoor housing facilities must be impervious to moisture or be replaceable (e.g., a suspended ceiling with replaceable panels).

[56 FR 6486, Feb. 15, 1991, as amended at 63 FR 10498, Mar. 4, 1998]

I didn't put this thread on the site to intimidate anyone, and I am not the "kennel police."

What it was meant to do was stimulate conversation and awaken those of us who are dedicated dog hunters to the fact that in our recent legislature in this great State the animal rights groups used big money to convince our legislators to sign HB1451 into law; aka the Puppy Mill Bill.

When you read it, it appears on the outside to be a law that will shut down substandard dog breeding operations. And hopefully it will. However, the word is already on the street that in 2013 the animal rights and anti-hunting groups are going to use this law as the foundation upon which to attached legislation that will slowly but surely take our rights to own dogs and to hunt away from us.

I would venture to say the majority of us that have hunting strings will not be able to comply with the USDA standard as listed. That's why we need to start now banding together to repeal this law and fight the animal rights groups like they are rattlesnakes.

What I found interesting is each section started out stating "Indoor housing facilities". The way I read it it sounds like it only applies to indoor facilities although that doesn't make a lot of sense. Can you give any clarification?

This is a little bit of a long winded post, but Buster is a little long winded. I picked up my dog box for my Gator from a guy who kennels dogs west of Ft. Worth. He was not there buy his wife insisted that we see their kennels. The kennels might have been in compliance, but they made me want to through up. The dogs never got any human contact.

The regulations are lengthy for outside kennels, so here's a link from an inspection that will shed some light on the issue. This is what HSUS and THLN are working towards in Texas. This last legislative session, hunting dogs got carved out, but Sen.John Whitmire from Houston made a public comment on the senate floor that he would be back in 2013 with more stringent regulations to amend 1451.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/foia/enforceme...y%20Coleman.pdf

My county has a part in their regulation about dogs being housed on a surface that does not absorb water. The animal control officer reccommended stainless steel. Outside. In Texas. All year. This is what we have to contend with.

Their worse than rattlers. If I said my real thoughts about them this thread would be deleted.

I see nothing wrong with that bill. Ive litterly visited 20-30 kennels(puppy mills) that are disgusting and border on inhumane. Glad to see the state finally doing something about it.

The problem is that it's not going to do anything to stop puppy mills. The people running the real "puppy mills" already know what they are doing is illegal so one more law isn't going to stop them. It also authorizes warrantless searchesto include homes without the owners's presence. Need I go on ? There's plenty more reasons not to like 1451.

There's absolutely everything wrong with that bill. The puppymillers will go underground, and implementation of the bill into law and its' enforcement is going to cost the taxpayers several million dollars which coulb better spent on our educational system. The idiotic legislators such as Senfronia Thompson and "Boogie" Whitmire (both from Houston) will push this type of legislation through because HSUS, THLN, and Les Montgomery (Owner of the Houston Rockets)throw millions of dollars at it in trips, game tickets, campaign monies, etc.

The worst part of all is that Gov. Goodhair signed it into law.

For all you that hunt big game, Texas Wildlife Association compromised their position on their opposition to 1451 by giving up something to get something.

catchrcall is right on target.

It just gives the state a little more power to stop these people. If your runnning a sanitary kennel with the dogs best interest in mind you will have no problems. Everying is blowing this thing way out of proportion and fear mongering. I have talked to about 10 people today in major kennels across the state and not one of them is worring about this. As a matter of fact their happy someone is actually trying to do something to stop the abusers out there instead of just saying "The people running the real "puppy mills" already know what they are doing is illegal so one more law isn't going to stop them."

Regardless of our views against breeders, as owners, we must band together for our rights and the dogs.
How can an individual claim to be in it for the dogs, or care about the betterment of our breed of choice if they are unable to standup for their rights? Any restriction is a restriction against all dog owners. It is not rocket science.

caddo, have you read the text of this thing? Does giving a third party inspector, who could be anybody, the right to access someone's home without them present mean nothing to you? How exactly will this law enable the state to stop them, especially when unsanitary conditions were already covered under the old animal cruelty laws? This bill requires registration with the state, so do you really think that someone running an illegal dog breeding operation is going to run right out and register? How about where it authorizes fire departments and police forces to conduct inspections on kennels, don't you think they have better things to do? A really BIG reason to oppose this one is the REQUIRED BACKGROUND CHECKS on every kennel employee. Huge invasion of people's privacy and lives, just to work at a kennel. I haven't even touched on the dog related reasons to dislike this law, just the basic common sense and freedom ones, and not all of them at that. Nobody that has been in favor of this bill has provided an answer yet that answers these questions. Most of them just say " that's too bad" like that's enough answer to justify violating constitutional rights to illegal search, or requiring invasive background checks. I'm interested to see what anyone has to say.

Caddo
HSUS lost their way a long time ago as for as I'm concerned.
Their idea of animal cruelty and mine are not the same.
They are against breeding a dog to a certain standard. I own pure bred dogs.
They are against hunting of any kind, especially if you use dogs in anyway while hunting.
I hunt with my dogs.
We are a family that's hunts together and my dogs are better taken care of than a lot of peoples kids.
In their eyes I'm just as bad a person as the ones that run the puppy mills.
If you think theyre only after true puppy mills than you haven't done much research.
If You don't mind whats the name of the 10 kennels you spoke with?

Most companies today do background checks on potential employees. Also, every company I've ever worked for has the "Have you ever been convicted of a crime" question. I really don't see doing background checks as a big issue here. You still have the right not to apply for the job if you feel this would be an invasion of privacy.

I don't see anything above that talks about running background checks or searching of residences without consent. Does this apply to those that are running businesses out of their houses? Is there another part of this bill that isn't included above?

They wanted the background check results made public.
That's different than your regular job.

Isn't the information gathered during a background check already public record?

It may be, depends on how deep they want to go I guess. I'm not sure how exactly they work in a case like this. The issue is, does this state agency have the right to compile personal information on an individual because they want to work in a kennel. I would say no. Why would they need it, who would have access to it, and how long would it stay on record? Yes, someone would have the right to not work in a kennel, but why would the state have the right to pry into that person's background and keep their information on file like they would a sex offender. I would be concerned about the security of the information. If it got into the wrong hands any bunny hugger that wanted to could find out where your kennels are and who works there. If I own dogs does that mean my wife has to submit to a background check as well?

This is the USDA's standard for housing dogs. That doesn't mean it's a law. For all we know it's a recommendation. If it was a law who is going to enforce it?? The federal government... P*L*E*A*S*E

I used to live in a state where the state USDA required that you be licensed with them if you were a kennel operating as a business. You were required to be inspected by the local dog warden twice a year. Never had any issues with it since the laws governing kennel facilities were pretty lenient. The biggest thing was if they were clean, well lit, and well ventilated and the dogs had to have so many square feet of living space.

Angie

As with any legislation there is good and bad. I think we can all agree that it is never a bad thing to enforce a standard for kenneled dogs. The problem, previously mentioned, is that we have current animal cruelty laws - why not just amend those to add stipulations for kennels? To my knowledge background checks are not public record, and each company has to individually pay for them to be run on potential employees if they choose to run them. It should be left up to the employer to choose to run them or not, not an unfunded government mandate.

I would say contact your rep and voice your concerns, but that probably wont matter unless you are a financial donor to that political official.

Charles who is your source that has indicated to you that such a calamity shall befall us via this federal recommendation that's 13 years old???

This thread is stupid!!!

IMHO

Angie

Angie-

Check the following link and decide for yourself.

http://saova.org/TexasHB1451.html

Except for a couple of us, what I have deduced from this thread is "exactly" what HSUS and THLN want...no unity among the ranks...the ranks are us.

As of now, Responsible Pet Owner's Alliance is preparing to file a lawsuit against the law that evolved from HB1451. You can monitor the progress on the RPOA web site.

This law, when enacted, and if enforced will require anyone of us with eleven intact bitches to register our kennel with Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Hypothetically, let's say I only have three intact bitches, and I produce three litters 3 months apart; in the combined litters I have nine bitch puppies. I decided to hold them back to determine what to sell and what to keep. Doing the "fuzzy" math, I now have twelve intact bitches...guess what? I now have to register my kennel with Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, an arm of the Texas State government, and subject myself to their regulations.

Now, Angie, let's take this closer to home. You have a phenomenal web site and obviously have your heart into your dogs. Judging by your facilities, at any given time, you could have eleven intact bitches in your possession...even though they are not yours, you fall under the TDLR regulations.

Personnally, I modified my web site and removed all physical contact information from it. I don't want the AR's anywhere around my facility.