Mandatory dog desex Mitcham Council SA dog and cat management plan

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Hi all

Just wanted to let you know about a sneaky clause in the Mitcham Council (SA) dog and cat management plan - they want to have mandatory desexing for dogs and cats from 2018.  

Personally I think this would be bad for an agility dog.  If you don't desex - you have to registerer as a "Breeder" whether you intend to breed or not.

This is a link to their survey which doesn't mention anything about mandatory desex.  But there is an open format field that you can raise your objections or you can write a free format email.   You can (anyone anywhere) submit on this until May 29th COB. 
http://www.mitchamcouncil.sa.gov.au/dogandcatmanagementplan

[RuralPug]

 Since many excellent agility winners are desexed, I would imagine that your belief was due to growth/maturity reasons, in which case first check with council to see if a tubal ligation, which prevents conception but leaves hormones intact, is acceptable as a form of desexing? Many councils WILL accept a TL certificate as a desexing certificate.

If you want your dog to be able to able to conceive, then yes, I feel that you should register as a "Breeder", even if your intention is to have a stud male and not to raise puppies.

We all know that far too many are just too damn lazy or don't want to spend the money to get their pet's desexed and it does have huge impacts on our society, For those who believe strongly that just because others are negligent, they shouldn't be compelled to take measures aimed at keeping unwanted animals less frequent, why is there a stigma in applying for a Breeder's permit which they intend never to use? It is a way that they can adhere to their beliefs to keep their animal capable of conceiving, while still assisting in cutting down the number of unwanted animals in society.

Just my point of view.

[sparkycat]

I am interested to know how they are going to implement it. When Mitcham council brought in cat rego I registered ours but never met anyone else that did. I would bring the topic up while walking around the neighbourhood and not one person said they had or would ever register their cats. We also had neighbours with up to 4 unregistered dogs.

Our cats had a large run so couldn't roam.

I think Mitcham Council would be better spending the money on education re desexing and containment.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

sparkycat - you'd be happy to know that my neighbour registered her cat - tho I thought it was the same neighbour who said she never would because council didn't do anything for cat owners.   Maybe she changed her mind for some reason.

Frankston council in Vic brought in something like this - I think the breeder permit was very expensive - $250 instead of $50 for a desexed dog.
http://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/Our_Community/Animals/Pet_Registration

 

A friend said SACA membership would get you an exemption from the compulsory desex - but if the dog is a mixed breed farm dog - probably not going to be able to join the dog to SACA until it is desexed (eg my plan is 18 months old or so).    Friend also thought that mandatory desex was beyond Council legal powers. ie Ultra Vires.   Hasn't stopped Mitcham council tho.   There are no enforcement of Local Govt Act police to make sure Councils obey the law.  There is ICAC but getting them in is more expensive and not as straight forward as calling the local cops.

[Eza]

I'm in a different town in SA and I believe our council in also bringing in the same rule about the same time frame.

 

My boy isn't desexed as yet (12 months), I wonder if they have an age limit set on this clause.

[The Spotted Devil]

I have 3 entire dogs, have never had an unplanned litter and my dogs are registered with council. It's all very well saying that irresponsible people have entire dogs and do the wrong thing but EVERY time you desex a dog you literally kill off a dog in the gene pool. And then everyone complains about the in-bred pedigree dogs! I'm currently weighing up the costs/reliability of collecting semen from one of my pups as the owner would like to desex. I'm totally ok with that but he's a cracking dog and I'd like to have the option of using him down the track. I'd rather use the RT CH's brother rather than use a RT CH who is the sire of the moment. 

[moosmum]

Time to truely mature can be essential too, to find what a dog has to  offer.

 

I would think the costs of enforcing such a practice would be be better spent on finding  ways to bring dog owners together. Regularly, not just annual events. I think this would help massively in education by providing the forums needed.

 

Assuming every one is a fool who shouldn't be trusted with their own decisions-

gives you people who haven't the tools to form their own judgements, or can't recognize what tools they have.

 

Responsible dog owners who register are essentialy paying taxes to own dogs. I think that revenue would be better spent promoting those responsible owners in providing and showing the benefits, instead of only using those funds  to punish irresponsibility.

Edited May 14, 2017 by moosmum
Spelling

[ness]

If you read the information contained within the link provided it only says that the mandatory desexing is part of the Act so it will need to take any requirements under the Act into consideration. There are other ways the DCMB will enable an exemption to the desexing and one of these is with a letter from a vet. Easy fixed if you can find a vet who is happy to draft a letter advising a different age for desexing (and not all vets are insistent on dogs being desexed by 6 months).

I have a young performance girl who is just over 2 years who is not yet desexed. I have no intention of breeding her but she is on mains register and its my intention to desex her in the near future however she was certainly kept entire for health reasons.

 

Yet another example of a council trying to scare people into acting with lots of misinformation. The DCMB really need to increase education on the new proposals so correct information is being shared among various key stakeholders rather than a whole lot of misinformation.

 

The new law only applies to new dogs not to current dogs so i am doubtful that councils could insist on anything regarding current dogs.

Edited May 14, 2017 by ness

[Steve]

Council cant insist on anything that is not state legislation and I've never heard of a single person anywhere in Australia that has actually been fined for not desexing their dog. They may  have to pay a higher fee but forcing people to desex their dogs, their property - nup. 

[Simply Grand]

Agree Steve, desexing by six months has been mandatory in the ACT for years unless both owner and dogs are registered with certain bodies, including ANKC, as I recall you can't even get a breeder licence for a non-registered dog. However two of mine were registered with the government prior to being six months old, as not desexed at the time, and no one came chasing me when they turned six months old...

 

Impounded dogs were and I'm sure still are regularly released from the pound without any requirement they be desexed first and without any follow up, and they are never seized JUST for being entire, it just isn't practical resource wise.

 

I do like the idea of it being compulsory (with the option of registering with additional costs to keep an entire dog/s) because I think it likely means less oops litters when dogs of those that abide by the requirement accidentally escape, and hopefully stops some people who think it might be nice to have one litter but arent committed to it, but like everything, only responsible, law abiding people are going to follow the rules anyway, and they aren't the major problem.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Simply Grand

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Maybe a better option would be a sort of once off deposit - eg pay $250 once - and if you get your dog desexed later you get it back (or credited to future rego for the annual rego states), or you forfeit it if your dog has an oops litter and then they insist on desex or another deposit (bigger this time).

[RuralPug]

 

Maybe a better option would be a sort of once off deposit - eg pay $250 once - and if you get your dog desexed later you get it back (or credited to future rego for the annual rego states), or you forfeit it if your dog has an oops litter and then they insist on desex or another deposit (bigger this time).

I like the idea in principle, but it might deter people from registering their dog at all - it's hard enough to get some people following the law now, and it is already a substantial  amount more to register an entire dog than a desexed one (unless of course you are a member of an approved organisation),
I do think the larger breeds especially are disadvantaged by juvenile desexing and so that one-off 'bond' would be retained by the shire for up to three years, depending on the breed maturity age, if you moved before the time was up you'd most likely forfeit it and have to pay another bond at the next shire.

Slightly off topic - are there any councils left that still give registration discounts for obedience qualified dogs? I know some councils run a sort of Good Canine Citizen programme, often in conjunction with local obedience clubs - but it would be great if passing a good canine citizen test qualified one for a discount. 

 

[ness]

Mitcham council did give a trained dog discount ($10) for completing a certain grade at obedience training. Great in theory but once I went through the local club grades with my first dog and started trialling (she got a CDX and was trialling in UD) there was no way I was going to put subsequent dogs through the classes just to get the discount. I had so much baggage to undo from having had long boring class heelwork drilled into her. My subsequent dogs are trained to the same level but I don't get a discount because they never got their obedience club certificate. This was despite one dog having a CD title which is a much higher standard then what is required to graduate a club and plenty of other titles in other dog sports. My current youngster isn't ready for competition obedience because we have been focusing on other sports like herding and tracking. 

[Simply Grand]

 

I like the idea in principle, but it might deter people from registering their dog at all - it's hard enough to get some people following the law now, and it is already a substantial  amount more to register an entire dog than a desexed one (unless of course you are a member of an approved organisation),
I do think the larger breeds especially are disadvantaged by juvenile desexing and so that one-off 'bond' would be retained by the shire for up to three years, depending on the breed maturity age, if you moved before the time was up you'd most likely forfeit it and have to pay another bond at the next shire.

Slightly off topic - are there any councils left that still give registration discounts for obedience qualified dogs? I know some councils run a sort of Good Canine Citizen programme, often in conjunction with local obedience clubs - but it would be great if passing a good canine citizen test qualified one for a discount. 

 

Ipswich City Council does

[melzawelza]

The council should look to the extensive evidence that mandatory desexing doesn't reduce dogs in pounds and instead typically increases them... and spend the money they'd spend on enforcing an unenforcable bit of legislation on low cost and free desexing programs. 

[moosmum]

 

I like the idea in principle, but it might deter people from registering their dog at all - it's hard enough to get some people following the law now, and it is already a substantial  amount more to register an entire dog than a desexed one (unless of course you are a member of an approved organisation),
I do think the larger breeds especially are disadvantaged by juvenile desexing and so that one-off 'bond' would be retained by the shire for up to three years, depending on the breed maturity age, if you moved before the time was up you'd most likely forfeit it and have to pay another bond at the next shire.

Slightly off topic - are there any councils left that still give registration discounts for obedience qualified dogs? I know some councils run a sort of Good Canine Citizen programme, often in conjunction with local obedience clubs - but it would be great if passing a good canine citizen test qualified one for a discount. 

 

N.S.W still has life time registration. With that, its worth paying the extra IMO. even with out a refund. A refund might  encourage some to spey or neuter at a later date.

Tho' I think switching to life time would do more to encourage rego. in the 1st place.

Edited May 17, 2017 by moosmum

[Simply Grand]

 

The council should look to the extensive evidence that mandatory desexing doesn't reduce dogs in pounds and instead typically increases them... and spend the money they'd spend on enforcing an unenforcable bit of legislation on low cost and free desexing programs. 

Do any councils actually spend anything enforcing it though?

 

I do think cheap/free microchiping and desexing would be extremely helpful. Ipswich City Council does give you a book of discount vouchers for all sorts of things, including the vet work, with registration but they are not big enough discounts to encourage low income earners to register and desex if they wouldn't otherwise

[The Spotted Devil]

 

Do any councils actually spend anything enforcing it though?

 

I do think cheap/free microchiping and desexing would be extremely helpful. Ipswich City Council does give you a book of discount vouchers for all sorts of things, including the vet work, with registration but they are not big enough discounts to encourage low income earners to register and desex if they wouldn't otherwise

Exactly. Very little education and enforcement. 

 

One idea I've come across is to share the costs of registration amongst ALL ratepayers. Registration with council is then free but heavily enforced. I would like to see it done as an experiment. It would be expensive initially but I think long term it would be more beneficial.