In January 2009, the Pennsylvania House passed a law on what supporters of the law call animal cruelty. This law was a knee-jerk reaction to the murder of 80 dogs by Ammon and Elmer Zimmerman, breeders in Berks County, Pennsylvania. At the time it was perfectly legal to kill your dog in Pennsylvania. Rather than address this issue, the House focused on the “cruelty problem.”
This alleged cruelty stems from docking the tails and dew claws and cropping the ears of Dobermans, Boxers, Great Danes, and any other dog that is recognized for these characteristics. These particular breed characteristics are what the American Kennel Club considers to be standard breed characteristics. In other words, when a Doberman is shown, the dog is expected to meet the required standards, including pricked ears, docked tail, and no dew claws.
Sure, you can show a Doberman Pinscher or other breed that isn’t clipped and amputated, but the dog won’t be a very successful show champion. Winning dog shows is how breeders demonstrate the value of their cattle and maintain the integrity of the breed. Champion dogs guarantee the care and quality of the breed lines. Until the American Kennel Club adjusts its standards, this new law will cause a lot of grievances in the ring.
The basis of the law states that any dog owner must be able to prove that the ear cropping and the removal of dew claws and tails were performed by a veterinarian. Therefore, if you are walking down the street and a humane society officer or animal cruelty officer sees your Doberman or Boxer with its ears cut off and its tail amputated, you may be given a summary offense, unless have a certificate stating that a veterinarian did the work. If the cultivation/docking was done before this law went into effect, you must show a certificate from your county treasurer stating this. In Pennsylvania, you have to pay $1.00 for this certificate.
There are several problems with this new law. It’s unclear how it will be handled if you have a clipped or amputated dog that you got from a rescue or shelter. There is likely to be no documentation available indicating when the procedure was performed or if it was performed by a veterinarian. The law states that you will not be fined if dew tails and dew claws are done within 5 days of birth. If an animal cruelty officer or humane society officer sees the puppy before he is cured, that is considered evidence of a violation of the law. If the breeder is going to do the tails and dew nails, records must be kept. The law does not specify what type of record or what is necessary to be exempt from being charged with a summary offense.
Instead of addressing the real issues, politicians looking for headlines and pictures decided to go after innocent hobby breeders and non-commercial breeders. This is twisted politics at its finest. Unless you are a large breeding operation making a lot of money, there is no way you can continue to breed your dogs. This means that smaller, more personal and less competitive breeders can no longer produce litters of these particular breeds. Good, reputable breeders do not randomly decide which dog they want to breed. They get involved in breeding Dobermans, Boxers, Great Danes, German Pinschers, and other clipped or amputated breeds because they truly love that specific dog and everything that breed represents.
Many states are passing similar laws regarding this issue. Eventually this will eliminate smaller or hobby breeders altogether. This is really sad.