Woodstock Vermont August 2, 2009
More pictures.
Attn Mass Dog Owners: Mass Bill 5092 Public Hearing 10/23
UPDATE 10/26/08: The proposed bill discussed in the post below was sent to study following an extremely well-attended hearing on October 23rd. This means that the bill is effectively dead for this session.
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Below is the text of an update I received today from the American Kennel Club’s Government Relations Department about a public hearing on Mass Bill 5092.
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[Monday, October 13, 2008]
Massachusetts House Bill 5092 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, and is /tentatively/ scheduled for public hearing on Thursday, October 23rd, at 10 AM in Room A2 of the State House in Boston. The bill includes many extreme provisions that, if enacted, will prove devastating to responsible dog breeders and owners, including state-wide mandatory spay/neuter, permitting localities to enact breed-specific ordinances, and onerous nuisance laws.
“The American Kennel Club and the Massachusetts Federation of Dog Clubs and Responsible Dog Owners both strongly oppose HB 5092, and are encouraging all concerned dog owners from Massachusetts to do the same.”
For more information on the details of HB 5092, click here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The American Kennel Club strongly urges all concerned Massachusetts responsible dog breeders and owners to attend the committee hearing on October 23rd, and express your fervent opposition to HB 5092. Additionally, all Massachusetts dog owners are encouraged to write the members of the committee and express your vehement opposition to the bill. For a sample letter, click here.
*SENATOR ANTHONY W. PETRUCCELLI*
Room 413-B, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-1634
E-Mail: Anthony.Petruccelli@state.ma.us
*SENATOR PATRICIA D. JEHLEN*
Room 513, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-1578
Fax: 617-722-1117
E-Mail: Patricia.Jehlen@state.ma.us
*SENATOR STEVEN A. BADDOUR*
Room 208, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1604
E-Mail: Steven.Baddour@state.ma.us
*SENATOR SUSAN C. FARGO*
Room 504, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1572
E-Mail: Susan.Fargo@state.ma.us
*SENATOR RICHARD R. TISEI*
Room 308, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1206
Fax: (617) 722-1063
E-Mail: Richard.Tisei@state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE VINCENT A. PEDONE*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
Facsimile: 617-626-0551
E-Mail: Rep.VincentPedone@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE MARTIN J. WALSH*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
E-Mail: Rep.MartinWalsh@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE MATTHEW C. PATRICK*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
Facsimile: 617-722-2848
E-Mail: Rep.MatthewPatrick@hou.state.ma.us
E-Mail: repmattp@cape.com
*REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN R. CANESSA*
Room 443, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
Facsimile: 617-626-0839
E-Mail: Rep.StephenCanessa@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE DENIS E. GUYER*
State House, Room 443
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
E-Mail: Rep.DenisGuyer@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE SARAH K. PEAKE*
Room 473F, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2210
Facsimile: 617-626-0551
E-Mail: Rep.SarahPeake@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE JAMES J. O’DAY*
Room 39, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2014
Facsimile: 617-626-0884
E-Mail: Rep.JamesO’Day@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE PAUL MCMURTRY*
Room 443, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
Facsimile: 617-722-2353
E-Mail: Rep.PaulMcMurtry@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE SEAN GARBALLEY*
Room 134, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2400
Facsimile: 617-722-2850
E-Mail: Rep.SeanGarballey@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE F. JAY BARROWS*
Room 542, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2488
Facsimile: 617-722-2390
E-Mail: Rep.FJayBarrows@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE TODD M. SMOLA*
Room 156, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2240
E-Mail: Rep.ToddSmola@Hou.State.MA.US
For more information, contact AKC’s Government Relations Department at (919) 816-3503, or e-mail doglaw@akc.org. Please also contact the Massachusetts Federation of Dog Clubs and Responsible Dog Owners at http://www.massfeddogs.org/
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My Opinion
This law is bad news all around. Here are just some of the most problematic provisions:
- Mandatory spay/neuter of all dogs over 12 months of age or annually purchase an intact animal permit at a cost of up to $500 per dog. This is effectively double-taxation, as breeders already pay a higher fee to register an intact animal. Massachusetts does not have a dog over-population problem, but limiting the activities of reputable home breeders will end up limiting the availability of purebred dogs in the state.
- Requiring the reporting of all sales of puppies to local jurisdictions. For what real purpose? This just adds an additional and irrelevant record-keeping burden on the local communities.
- Eliminating the practice of humane tethering, without allowances for hunting or sled dogs.
- Allowing towns and cities to impose breed-specific ordinances and establishing unreasonable nuisance laws that can result in the forced sterilization, banishment, or euthanization of dogs. This is an open invitation for abuse, politics and pandering.
- Instituting state-mandated vaccination schedules, instead of allowing vaccination schedules to be provided by, and in consultation with, a veterinarian.
I will be going to the State House on the 23rd. If you live in Massachusetts and own a dog, try to take the day off to attend.
September 1st
Douglas at Shelburne Museum. More Shelburne pics.
Where has the summer gone? Tomorrow we pack up to go home after a month up here in Vermont. My husband has been going back and forth but Douglas and I have been here since August 2d with the dogs. I’ve been working all week while Douglas was in camp except for this last week when my mom came up, and I took a little time off.
We hit our usual haunts — VINS in Quechee and Shelburne Museum out near Burlington, and also checked out the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor.
I used my telephoto lens at VINS and was amazed at some of the pictures of the raptors — if the bird was toward the back of the cage, the bars of the cage literally dissolve in the picture.
On Friday afternoon, we drove over to the Hathaway Farm in Rutland to do the corn maze.
Douglas and Dave, about 3/4 through the maze. More here.
Saturday looked a bit threatening weather-wise, a promise that was mostly delivered in the evening as we were driving through Rutland and the skies opened up. But we decided to take a chance and drive over to Fort Ticonderoga NY to see the King’s Garden, which was not open when we went on Memorial Day weekend.
Then we drove down the western side of Lake George to the town of Lake George and took a one-hour cruise on the paddlewheeler Minnie-Ha-Ha. Lake George looks like the typical honky-tonk beach town — think Hyannis, York Maine or Center Harbor on Winnepesaukee, including more mini-golf than you would ever want to play, but the cruise on the lake is very pleasant with quite a lot to see.
The boathouse is a smaller copy of the house.
Quite a bit of Victorian architecture along the lakeshore.
And of course the Adirondacks.
More garden photos,Ticonderoga’s park and waterfall, and Lake George.
Today, we may go over to Billings Farm; they do special activities on Labor Day that Douglas enjoys. Or I may just read my book. I find that I read more when I’m here than I do at home for some reason. Maybe I’m more relaxed. Right now I am reading the new James Bond novel Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks, and I just finished two novels in Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series, The Right Attitude to Rain and The Careful Use of Compliments. You may know his Africa-based series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency but I find I enjoy the Dalhousie tales set in Edinburgh even more. The new one The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday is due out later this month.
I’m also looking forward to Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) by Christopher Paolini. While the second book in his trilogy was a bit disappointing, and the movie based on the first book Eragon was AWFUL, I’m hopeful that the conclusion of the tale will be better.
[tags] Vermont, Lake George, King’s Garden, Fort Ticonderoga, VINS, Shelburne Museum [/tags]
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