Keep tight leash on dog breeders

The state auditor is skeptical that regulation of dog breeders is within the scope of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, as proposed in this year’s Legislature. Lawmakers should review rules in most other states to decide on a system that protects dogs from cruelty and assures an animal lover a puppy that needs no recovery from abuse.

Hawaii is one of 22 states that does not regulate dog breeders, though it is the state that would seem to need protection from abusive puppy mills the most. As Auditor Marion Higa points out, puppies lose their "cute" effect on prospective buyers once they are about 6 months old, and the state’s quarantine rules effectively prohibit the arrival of dogs any younger than that from regulated mainland breeders.

A bill to regulate large-scale breeders of dogs in the state was left in House-Senate conference at the end of this year’s Legislature. It would require the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to regulate such breeders.

That responsibility would include ensuring that the dogs under the breeders’ care are provided sufficient food and water, shelter from the elements, necessary veterinarian care, sufficient space and regular exercise, among other requirements. The bill, an emotional one for many pet lovers, received overwhelming support in testimony.

However, Higa’s audit questioned whether the job should be put to an agency that mainly supports professional and vocational groups in regulating themselves. She added that "dog breeding is a business rather than a profession or vocation." Also, the department’s role mainly is to protect consumers, not dogs.

That should not let dog breeders off the leash. Most states license dog dealers and kennels or require registration, inspect them and regulate accommodation and care of the dogs.

The initiative for dog breeder regulations comes mainly from the Humane Society of the United States and its affiliates, which estimate 2 million to 4 million dogs sold yearly by abusive puppy mills. The Hawaiian Humane Society has created a Puppy Mill Task Force and is the state legislation’s primary supporter.

Higa suggested that the state’s Humane Society could conceivably play the role of "the enforcement arm of the regulation." That activity would conform to its past activities against animal abuse, and she noted that the society has indicated its willingness to perform this function at no extra cost to the state.

The pending state legislation does not provide for help from the Humane Society or other nonprofit organizations in engaging in the heavy lifting where the state commerce department may find discomfort. Lawmakers should find a way to allow assignment of the organizations to operate the controls over large-scale dog breeders to fill the void that Higa calls "skill-sets the (commerce) department does not currently have."