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The Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) strongly endorses the right to own, keep, and breed dogs in a responsible and humane manner. We believe that responsible dog ownership is compatible with most living arrangements. A coercive law that limits the number of dogs an individual may own is an ineffective solution to animal control problems because it fails to address the issue: irresponsible ownership. Limit laws can be easily evaded by irresponsible animal owners who don’t license their pets.
GRCA opposes pet limit laws, recognizing that it isn’t the number of dogs one owns that determines the quality of care they receive. GRCA agrees that consistent enforcement of existing animal control laws can solve most nuisance complaints in a community.
Limit laws can drive a wedge between animal control agencies and many of the citizens they serve who responsibly keep more than the allowed number of pets. Such laws drive owners underground, lowering license compliance rates.
Instead of limit laws, GRCA supports thoughtfully written nuisance and cruelty laws. Nuisance laws should require pet owners to be considerate of their neighbors. The law should require pets to be confined to their own property, in control, or on leash when off their property; set and describe standards for acceptable levels of barking; mandate how often yards must be picked up and how often dog runs must be cleaned. Approximately 50 percent of all American households keep pets, so it is also imperative that nuisance laws are written using "reasonable man" standards so that unreasonable or hypersensitive individuals cannot hold an entire neighborhood hostage by trying to enforce irrational or overreaching demands.
February 2010
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