I just looked at this again and we are in trouble for two reasons. 1) Most of the committee members are from urban areas who are generally not sympathetic to our issues. 2) The house version is authored by McCall who is the chair of the calendar committee and therefore he is the most powerful person in the House besides the speaker. I am copying our contacts in the hunting community here because if there was ever a bill we need you on, it is this one. There are NO exceptions for hunting dogs.
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SB 634 makes many of us criminals for how we keep our dogs. Lone Star State APBT Club president, Tom Lundberg, is organizing a trip to testify at the hearing. If you would like to go please email tom at lsspbc.com or call him at 214-662-1971.
HTML version & link to bill:
http://lsspbc.com/blog/2009/04/17/sb-634-hearing-tues-421-need-action-now/COMMITTEE: Senate Criminal Justice
TIME & DATE: 1:30 PM or upon adjournment
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
PLACE: E1.016 (Hearing Room)
SB 634 Author: Seliger and HB 2001 Author: McCall (Companion)
Caption: Relating to the unlawful restraint of a dog.
OPPOSE: Would prohibit tethering or trolley runs under any condition, mandates 150 sf kennel size, does not allow dogs to be outside unattended at all even in a fenced yard (hunting dogs are not exempt). This means that owners cannot leave their dogs outside even to go to work or run errands. Requirements will result in more dogs at large and therefore dog bites, as well as more dogs being surrendered or impounded and destroyed.
TALKING POINTS:
* The state law passed in 2007 already requires safe and humane tethering practices. In addition, cities can and do pass tethering ordinances if unsafe tethering practices are a problem in the city.
* Some dogs are happier and safer when tethered correctly than when crated, kenneled or left alone in a fenced yard. Some dogs will injure themselves by chewing on or digging out of kennels and crates.
* This bill is detrimental to hunting kennels, which have always used tethers to safely confine their working dogs. These working dogs would be anxious and unhappy in kennels or crates.
* A 10 foot long tether provides 314 square feet of space, which is superior to the 150 square foot kennel specified in SB 634 and HB 2001. A tether provides vastly more space than an indoor airline kennel-type crate.
* This bill requires 150 square feet of kennel space for any dog over 6 months of age in Texas when the Texas prison system only requires 40 square feet for inmates.
* Each dog is an individual, and a few are escape artists. Most urban areas have a problem with dogs running at large, so why take away a method that can keep dogs safely confined?
* When we see 100 dogs or cats crammed into a filthy house, it doesn’t mean that most indoor pets are abused. Any confinement method can be abusive when taken to extremes. We already have animal cruelty laws to address owners who cruelly keep their dogs.
* The standard size for off-the-shelf kennels is 100 square feet, making 150 square foot kennels an unreasonable burden. Low income people and the elderly, who do not have the means to build new fences and kennels, will be unfairly targeted by this law.
* How many dogs will be turned loose or left alone with inadequate fencing and allowed to escape? Owners who cannot pay the fines for violating the tethering ban will be forced to give up their dogs. The vast majority of the dogs surrendered or impounded under this law will be destroyed because there simply are not enough homes willing to adopt large-breed adult dogs.
* The popular opinion is that tethered dogs are more likely to bite people. Aggression is caused by many factors including genetics, lack of socialization and abuse, and these conditions can exist in a yard, a kennel or inside a home.
* This bill has mandates concerning extreme weather without taking into account that Huskies and Chihuahuas prefer vastly different kinds of weather.
Please write your brief and respectful letters & faxes and call the members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. If you are a constituent please say so! Check to see if you live in their districts here:
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/SENATE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE
The Honorable John Whitmire, Chair
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0115 FAX: 512-475-3737
DISTRICT: HOUSTON
The Honorable Kel Seliger, Vice Chair
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0131
(512) 475-3733 fax
DISTRICT: AMARILLO
The Honorable Glenn Hegar
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0118
(512) 475-3736 (Fax)
DISTRICT: KATY
The Honorable Dan Patrick
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0107
(512) 463-8810 FAX
DISTRICT: HOUSTON
he Honorable Rodney G. Ellis
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0113
(512) 463-0006 (fax)
DISTRICT: HOUSTON
The Honorable John Carona
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0116
Fax: (512) 463-3135
DISTRICT: DALLAS
The Honorable Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0120
(512) 463-0229 Fax
DISTRICT: MCALLEN
