Protecting Ourselves and Our Dogs from Legal Jeopardy

In light of an increasing number of aggressive and questionable prosecutions of purebred dog hobbyists in local jurisdictions, Dale Martenson and host Laura Reeves discuss prevention and preparedness.

We maybe own the dogs, but the responsibility owns us back – Dale Martenson

“We are our brothers keepers in this,” Martenson said, “because every time we hear one of the salacious stories about somebody who is famous or a very successful longtime person ending up in trouble, that is when we as a community as a whole have failed because we need to be there in a little bit of a way, lifting each other up and kind of helping, maybe sometimes even saying something a little bit truthful…

Constructive Criticism is Good

“Embracing the inspections and licensing with open eyes and receiving criticism, constructive and otherwise, is a big plus when you are putting together your facility to keep the dogs. You really need to have a facility that fits your breed and your climate. Like my little 24 inch X pens for Japanese Chin probably would not work so well with your German wirehaired pointers… “You really need to know what you need to keep your dogs, how you need to maintain them, how you need to keep them healthy and happy. Then also take that extra step. I enjoy signs and plants and stuff, so my kennel (has) a garden … I spend a lot of time in there.

An Ounce of Prevention

“If you're hiring help that you're not aware of, that you don't know, this is not someone that you know intimately … then perhaps you should take an extra moment and do a little bit of background check on them… some places actually have non-disclosure agreements and “accepting of liability statements” so if someone takes a picture of a dog that they're supposed to be caring for in your facility and then shares this in some sort of inhumane way that they are legally responsible for that as an employee.” “I guess that the whole thing is to try not to break the rules … Just because we have ribbons from the dog show, does not exempt us from the rules. The rules are the rules and they don't care that your dog won the group in the Garden. If you have 35 dogs and you're only allowed to have five where you live (for example) you're putting your dogs at jeopardy.”