A bill is advancing in the Indiana General Assembly that would allow pet stores to continue to sell dogs in Indiana with specific guidelines regarding the care of animals and also require rescues to register with the state.
Those who wish to comment on House Bill 1412 may reach out to their State Senator. Visit the AKC Legislative Action Center (www.akcgr.org) and type your address in the “Find Your Elected Officials” box on the home page to get your State Senator’s name and contact information.
Summary of House Bill 1412:
This week, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed House Bill 1412, including an amendment requested by the AKC and Indiana Purebred Dog Alliance to ensure the bill solely addressed standards for pet stores and commercial breeders who source to them, and remove language that could have been misconstrued as requiring hobby breeders to comply with standards designed for large commercial kennels.
As passed by the committee, the bill now contains the following provisions:
- Allows pet stores to sell pets sourced from certain licensed commercial and USDA breeders, so long as specific criteria are met regarding standards of care, licensing, accreditation, and consumer protection. AKC is officially neutral on this multi-faceted legislation, but does affirmatively support the right of Indiana residents to purchase a dog from a regulated source. Visit AKC’s Legislative Action Center for more information about AKC’s position on pet store restrictions.
- Requires all rescues who transfer more than 12 dogs in Indiana (or 9 dogs and 3 unweaned litters of puppies) in a year to register with the Indiana Board of Animal Health. At this time there is no cost, but the rescue must display the registration. The rescue could be inspected if there is a belief that there is a violation of Indiana laws.
- Voids current local laws that restrict pet store sales. Any local law in Indiana that restricts or bans the sale of dogs at pet stores will be removed and pet stores will be permitted to operate, so long as they are in compliance with the provisions of House Bill 1412.
AKC and the Indiana Purebred Dog Alliance will continue to closely monitor this legislation. For questions, contact AKC Government Relations at doglaw@akc.org.