Nsw Companion Animal Taskforce

[lester]

Hi, all Members of DogsNSW need to actively support the DogsNSW position on this issue. It needs the support of thousands of us, not just the hundreds who have been involved to date. You can find out more by going to the DogsNSW website and reading the 1st news item. Basically, the NSW government has a report that recommends a new breeder licensing system on top of the DogsNSW registration system, with additional fees and inspections by the RSPCA and the Animal Welfare League. The aim is supposed to be to reduce the number of dogs euthanased every year (21,600 in 2010/11). DogsNSW put in a submission to become the registration body for all dog breeding in NSW but this was ignored. The advantage of DogsNSW doing it is that they have the systems, the ethical framework and the experience. It's a better option than creating a new bureaucracy and it would change things for unethical puppy farmers without penalising breeders who are already bound by the DogsNSW Code of Ethics. Our Code of Ethics commits us to the NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice. The main things to do are to read the report, read the DogsNSW submission, complete the online feedback form (deadline 10 May 2013), contact the 2 NSW Ministers involved and contact your local NSW State MP. You can find more info and the necessary links at the DogsNSW website in the first news item (click on Read more) and the Poodle Club of NSW website at the Companion Animal Taskforce page. It will take a little bit of your time but if you value our hobby of breeding and showing pure bred dogs, you need to do it. Cheers

[Elenbah]

I would like to add to this... That besides members of Dogs NSW needing to get actively involved (and I mean actively)...

We also need the support of all the members of DOL forums. These forums are for owners of pure bred dogs and in the words of the President of Dogs NSW... "If we don't get our message across, believe me it could well herald the demise of Dogs NSW, so no matter what discipline you are involved in, the threat is there that your source of pure bred dogs could rapidly dry up"

If this Legislation gets through NSW Parliament, it will rapidly be taken up by other States... DOL has a huge following and many friends have been made on these Forums because of the shared interest in pure bred dogs... Do you want your right to choose what breed you want to live with be taken away?.... Registered pure bred breeders need your support as well.!!!...

Perhaps you could contact the breeder that you got your purebred pup/dog from and ask them how you can help.

[espinay2]

Yes, pet dog owners can write to their local members and let them know what they consider important when it comes to how their new puppy is raised. This legislation restricts the ability of breeders to raise puppies in a family home environment and favours big commercial setups. Is that how you want your future dogs to be raised? If not then speak up now!!!

[Elenbah]

I'm going to bump this thread because it is important. I can't believe that no one is interested.!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, EVERYONE TAKE NOTE.!!!! and get informed on what is happening here.!

[jemappelle]

I missed this thread earlier! There is more info at this link:

http://dogsnsw.org.au/members/noticeboard/504-attention-all-members-of-dogs-nsw-of-utmost-importance-nsw-companion-animals-taskforce-report.html

[Sheridan]

Just like to point out that not everyone on DOL is from NSW. We can support, we can write but they're not going to take much notice of anyone who isn't a constituent.

[Elenbah]

Just like to point out that not everyone on DOL is from NSW. We can support, we can write but they're not going to take much notice of anyone who isn't a constituent.

I understand Sheridan but it would be in every one's best interest to be and stay informed. Your States will be next on the Hit List.... The RSPCA and the AWL are very determined.!!!!!!

[_PL_]

I'm going to bump this thread because it is important. I can't believe that no one is interested.!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, EVERYONE TAKE NOTE.!!!! and get informed on what is happening here.!

I urge everyone to read the entire taskforce submission (here) . This won't stop with breeders, it affects ALL pet owners. Tell me there isn't enough laws already, that aren't being enforced.

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/poctaa1979360/

Companion Animals Act http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/caa1998174/

Code of Practice for Breeding and Rearing Establishments http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/299803/Breeding-dogs-and-cats-code-of-practice.pdf

Companion Animals Regulation http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/subordleg+374+2008+cd+0+N

The failed NSW Bill proposing banning of mammals in pet stores and other retail methods (which is basically the only thing missing from all the existing laws) was vehemently opposed by industry lobbyists and officially disputed by the Australian Veterinary Association. http://www.ccac.net.au/nsw-bill-ban-sale-mammals-pet-shops

[dotdashdot]

Im currently in the process of writing to my local member. He's going over to Europe for an ANZAC service next week, but I'm going to try and meet with him as well.

I've got a couple of (registered) cat breeders as customers of mine as well that Im hoping will stand beside me in our little local fight.

[oakway]

Here is just part of the bill.

In reality the "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS TASKFORCE BILL" as

proposed will legislate that Pure Bred Dog Breeders are bound by the

following laws… just to name a few of the mandatory compliances…

1) ALL Breeders will have to immediately apply to their local Council

for a Development Application to breed Pure Bred Dogs. The D.A. has a

"possibly" of being approved if you can meet the conditions of

the Council requirements.

2) The application fee for a D.A. in order to meet just the basic

provisions that the Bill demands of us, equates to a fee of at least

$3,500.00 (10% of the cost of the construction). The BULK of this fee is

not refundable if your D.A. is denied.

3) Based on a bare essential set up (i.e breeding one litter of pups

per year), you would need a kennel block consisting of (6) double

kennels, and a whelping kennel/grooming room to carry out the tasks to

perform those functions. All kennels have to be constructed on a

concrete slab, made of Besser Block to meet extremes of climate; save on

air cont'd/heating, and to meet hygiene conditions.

Q. Why a block of (6)?

You are no longer allowed dogs in your homes, therefore you need to

accommodate your oldies, your show dogs… you no longer breed

with,

your current breeding stock – studs and broods, your young

prospects

that your growing out, and your pups until they reach the stage of a

saleable age and/or you have had time to assess "the picks"

to see what

will serve your breeding program most.

This quote for the most basic construction, and no margin for profit,

and which includes basic electricity and plumbing, is $35,000.00 -

$40,000.00.

4) You must agree to have your premises inspected – AT YOUR EXPENSE,

approximately $300.00 per inspection (& rising…as it does), by

RSPACA, Animal Welfare League, and/or your local Council, as often as

these bodies see fit. You only need to get 2 inspections per annum and

that adds another $600.00 per year.

5) You will be allocated the number of dogs each breeder is permitted to

keep in their kennels, and this requirement must be adhered to before

your D.A. is granted. Are you ready to part with Missy, Jock, old

Sussie and Doc, or more? I'm not…

6) All our dogs will have to be registered on an annual basis, and the

fee will go up to AT LEAST the same fee as is being charged to the pet

owners that refuses to have their pet de-sexed; namely $150.00 at the

moment. In other words we will have our present exception taken away

from us, because our breeding and/or show dogs have to be entire.

Therefore, any dogs over the age of 6 months (i.e. say 10 in all), will

add an additional cost of $900.00 per year..

The most basic cost to comply with this "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS

TASKFORCE BILL," in order to have any chance of your D.A. being

granted

is $40,000.00. This quote was given by a licensed builder, without any

profit margin built in.

I can well imagine that at least 98% of Breeders have uttered that they

will no longer be able to continue with their hobby!

[Elenbah]

Im currently in the process of writing to my local member. He's going over to Europe for an ANZAC service next week, but I'm going to try and meet with him as well.

I've got a couple of (registered) cat breeders as customers of mine as well that Im hoping will stand beside me in our little local fight.

The cat breeders will be affected by this Legislation as well, they need to be doing the letters to their MP's too.

[nedsur]

We certainly won't be continuing with our dogs Elenbah if this comes in. I certainly don't have the room or money to build kennels. And my shelties will certainly not be raised in kennels. I wonder where they expect us to sleep when we have to sleep with them when they are first born? The last litter of mine were bottle fed and I slept with them for over 3 weeks. I have written to my MP and the two MP's involved. I hope everyone else does the same. 90% of the breeders I know can't possibly comply with these new regulations so say goodbye to pure bred dogs unless they are in licensed puppy farms.

Edited April 18, 2013 by nedsur

[corvus]

Here is just part of the bill.

In reality the "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS TASKFORCE BILL" as

proposed will legislate that Pure Bred Dog Breeders are bound by the

following laws… just to name a few of the mandatory compliances…

1) ALL Breeders will have to immediately apply to their local Council

for a Development Application to breed Pure Bred Dogs. The D.A. has a

"possibly" of being approved if you can meet the conditions of

the Council requirements.

2) The application fee for a D.A. in order to meet just the basic

provisions that the Bill demands of us, equates to a fee of at least

$3,500.00 (10% of the cost of the construction). The BULK of this fee is

not refundable if your D.A. is denied.

3) Based on a bare essential set up (i.e breeding one litter of pups

per year), you would need a kennel block consisting of (6) double

kennels, and a whelping kennel/grooming room to carry out the tasks to

perform those functions. All kennels have to be constructed on a

concrete slab, made of Besser Block to meet extremes of climate; save on

air cont'd/heating, and to meet hygiene conditions.

Q. Why a block of (6)?

You are no longer allowed dogs in your homes, therefore you need to

accommodate your oldies, your show dogs… you no longer breed

with,

your current breeding stock – studs and broods, your young

prospects

that your growing out, and your pups until they reach the stage of a

saleable age and/or you have had time to assess "the picks"

to see what

will serve your breeding program most.

This quote for the most basic construction, and no margin for profit,

and which includes basic electricity and plumbing, is $35,000.00 -

$40,000.00.

4) You must agree to have your premises inspected – AT YOUR EXPENSE,

approximately $300.00 per inspection (& rising…as it does), by

RSPACA, Animal Welfare League, and/or your local Council, as often as

these bodies see fit. You only need to get 2 inspections per annum and

that adds another $600.00 per year.

5) You will be allocated the number of dogs each breeder is permitted to

keep in their kennels, and this requirement must be adhered to before

your D.A. is granted. Are you ready to part with Missy, Jock, old

Sussie and Doc, or more? I'm not…

6) All our dogs will have to be registered on an annual basis, and the

fee will go up to AT LEAST the same fee as is being charged to the pet

owners that refuses to have their pet de-sexed; namely $150.00 at the

moment. In other words we will have our present exception taken away

from us, because our breeding and/or show dogs have to be entire.

Therefore, any dogs over the age of 6 months (i.e. say 10 in all), will

add an additional cost of $900.00 per year..

The most basic cost to comply with this "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS

TASKFORCE BILL," in order to have any chance of your D.A. being

granted

is $40,000.00. This quote was given by a licensed builder, without any

profit margin built in.

I can well imagine that at least 98% of Breeders have uttered that they

will no longer be able to continue with their hobby!

Could you please indicate where these proposed regulations may be found in writing? I have been looking through the taskforce submission posted by Powerlegs and can't find where this is coming from.

[_PL_]

Corvus, I'm not involved enough but have already seen one panicky email and have no information about the correspondence between the two sides.

DogNSW interpretation of key points re breeders here I assume the costs are estimates given the DA aspects, gaining a breeder permit and plans to scrap lifetime registration and replacing it with indexed yearly rates with lower costs for desexed animals.

There are some good points in the taskforce findings, but it's disappointing to think that backyarders and large scale breeding facilities will feel less impact than small hobbyist registered breeders.

[corvus]

Thanks PL. I think it's important to sound reasonable and address concerns with direct reference to the recommendations of the task force. I am finding the latter difficult regarding kennels when it seems "breeding establishment" is not clearly defined as DogsNSW points out. I interpreted it to mean any establishment where dogs or cats are bred for commercial purposes, as per the definition given on page 36 of the taskforce submission: "a building or place used for the breeding, boarding, training, keeping or caring of animals for commercial purposes (other than for the agistment of horses), and includes any associated riding school or ancillary veterinary hospital." The context this term routinely appears in suggests it is aimed at large scale operations.

ETA There was some discussion of the annual registration at the AIAM conference last year. It was generally agreed that the once-off registration was a mistake that resulted in a considerable loss of funding that could be useful for things like more manpower to enforce council regulations. I think they are going to get it back one way or another, and I support that. They know what they are about.

Edited April 18, 2013 by corvus

[Ringo]

And to add insult to injury the NSW Land & Environment Court has already given a ruling in a matter in 2012 that in simple terms distinguished between "dog breeding, boarding, kennelling for commercial purposes" and one that was not for commercial purpose. As should be done when this bill is formulated the INTENT of the person undertaking the activity is the most important thing and was one thing the NSW LEC highlighted. To paraphrase part of the finding, '.. one would expect the same activities to be undertaken with respect to dog breeding, etc for a commercial purpose and one that was not ...'. In other words it is what your intent is with the activity and I have come across only a few people who would make money from this activity and could be deemed to be undertaking it for a commercial purpose.

One of the litigants was, surprisingly a local council trying to rectify their own error which back fired on them. The case is at time mentioned in general terms as a 'problem' by some of the parties involved in this working group and is mentioned in part of the documents made public by the working group. The problem would appear to that it has finally defined an activity they want considered as a commercial enterprise.

So worse case parts of the bill may end up being challenged in court if things turn pear shaped.

[oakway]

Here is just part of the bill.

In reality the "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS TASKFORCE BILL" as

proposed will legislate that Pure Bred Dog Breeders are bound by the

following laws… just to name a few of the mandatory compliances…

1) ALL Breeders will have to immediately apply to their local Council

for a Development Application to breed Pure Bred Dogs. The D.A. has a

"possibly" of being approved if you can meet the conditions of

the Council requirements.

2) The application fee for a D.A. in order to meet just the basic

provisions that the Bill demands of us, equates to a fee of at least

$3,500.00 (10% of the cost of the construction). The BULK of this fee is

not refundable if your D.A. is denied.

3) Based on a bare essential set up (i.e breeding one litter of pups

per year), you would need a kennel block consisting of (6) double

kennels, and a whelping kennel/grooming room to carry out the tasks to

perform those functions. All kennels have to be constructed on a

concrete slab, made of Besser Block to meet extremes of climate; save on

air cont'd/heating, and to meet hygiene conditions.

Q. Why a block of (6)?

You are no longer allowed dogs in your homes, therefore you need to

accommodate your oldies, your show dogs… you no longer breed

with,

your current breeding stock – studs and broods, your young

prospects

that your growing out, and your pups until they reach the stage of a

saleable age and/or you have had time to assess "the picks"

to see what

will serve your breeding program most.

This quote for the most basic construction, and no margin for profit,

and which includes basic electricity and plumbing, is $35,000.00 -

$40,000.00.

4) You must agree to have your premises inspected – AT YOUR EXPENSE,

approximately $300.00 per inspection (& rising…as it does), by

RSPACA, Animal Welfare League, and/or your local Council, as often as

these bodies see fit. You only need to get 2 inspections per annum and

that adds another $600.00 per year.

5) You will be allocated the number of dogs each breeder is permitted to

keep in their kennels, and this requirement must be adhered to before

your D.A. is granted. Are you ready to part with Missy, Jock, old

Sussie and Doc, or more? I'm not…

6) All our dogs will have to be registered on an annual basis, and the

fee will go up to AT LEAST the same fee as is being charged to the pet

owners that refuses to have their pet de-sexed; namely $150.00 at the

moment. In other words we will have our present exception taken away

from us, because our breeding and/or show dogs have to be entire.

Therefore, any dogs over the age of 6 months (i.e. say 10 in all), will

add an additional cost of $900.00 per year..

The most basic cost to comply with this "NSW COMPANION ANIMALS

TASKFORCE BILL," in order to have any chance of your D.A. being

granted

is $40,000.00. This quote was given by a licensed builder, without any

profit margin built in.

I can well imagine that at least 98% of Breeders have uttered that they

will no longer be able to continue with their hobby!

Could you please indicate where these proposed regulations may be found in writing? I have been looking through the taskforce submission posted by Powerlegs and can't find where this is coming from.

As I have not as yet read the entire document (it is I believe 115 pages long) I can not say which pages they cam from. :)

[espinay2]

Many of the definitions re breeders are contained in the code of practice for breeding dogs and cats. Currently this is mostly guidelines but one of the recommendations is to make the whole thing enforceable standards. It is this document which will have the most impact.

[Jed]

I am not in NSW, but I have sent a submission with a few points. They probably will ignore me, but it gets the numbers up if nothing else.

Trouble is, that MPs do not understand what they are legislating for because they know nothing about dog breeding.

Unless we all support each other, there will be no purebred dogs soon.

[corvus]

As I have not as yet read the entire document (it is I believe 115 pages long) I can not say which pages they cam from. :)

I did a search for "kennel", "breeding", "breeding establishment" and "housing" and could not find anything that clearly stated all breeders would have to keep their dogs in kennel blocks and were not to be kept inside at all. The relevant section seemed to be referring to boarding kennels and shelters and commercial breeding establishments. I can't submit a response to this if I can't find any reference to it in the taskforce submission. DogsNSW doesn't seem particularly concerned about the kennels thing. Maybe people should read stuff before they start disseminating information and canvassing for support. Just saying.