California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill requiring dog trainers to disclose whether there have been any civil judgements regarding their training or any animal cruelty convictions.
The new law was significantly amended from the original version of Assembly Bill 1901 at the request of AKC, sportsmen, and trainers throughout the state. It goes into effect on January 1, 2023.
Assembly Bill 1901 as originally introduced sought to regulate all trainers as boarding facilities and included 13 pages of new requirements.
As signed by the governor, the new law simply requires disclosure of a trainer’s name and address, as well as any civil judgements relating to their animal training services or animal cruelty convictions (read AKC’s previous alert for more information). If there are no such judgements or convictions, that must be conveyed as well. The law does not specify how the information must be disclosed, presumably leaving that up to the individual trainers or clubs (Written statements, online, etc.)
For more information on California legislation impacting dog owners, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org.