Lack of doggie day care rules leaves many pet owners in the dark
January 6-12, 2025
The death of Ollie, a 9-month-old labradoodle mauled at a Massachusetts pet care facility in 2020, led the state this October to enact the stringent “Ollie’s Law,” tightening regulations on the care and housing of pets at boarding and training kennels.
The new Massachusetts law mandates the timely reporting of such incidents to local authorities. It also empowers state regulators to come up with new rules that may require that dogs be housed with similarly sized animals and not be left without human supervision, as Ollie was, according to his owner.
A few other states — including Colorado and Iowa — have regulations in place, but most states rely on local rules or have no regulations at all for pet care facilities, according to Jeremy Cohen, an attorney who founded Boston Dog Lawyers. His firm represents pet owners in cases ranging from custody in a divorce, to injury and wrongful deaths, to defense of dogs that bit someone. (He did not represent Ollie’s owner, who did not file a suit.)
Opponents of new regulations say the rules may make it more expensive to operate the facilities and could hurt small businesses. Facing such opposition, recent legislative efforts to tighten rules have failed to advance in other states, including Kansas and Washington.
That leaves some pet owners without assurances that the facilities they trust to care for their pets are operating under certain standards, said Cohen, who pushed for the new Massachusetts law.
“Pet owners don’t know until something happens,” he said. “And they are shocked to find out there are no regulations. [Pet care facilities] can stay under the radar until something happens.”
That was the situation facing Ollie’s owner, Amy Baxter. She dropped off Ollie, who was 7 months old, at a doggie day care center in East Longmeadow and later received a call that her pet had been hurt in a dog fight, she said in an interview.
The center, which she said was unlicensed and which has since closed, did not notify local authorities of the incident nor immediately take Ollie to a vet. He died two months later after multiple surgeries.
Baxter, a former legislative aide in New York state, gathered a coalition of pet owners, kennel operators and animal protection groups and spent several years lobbying the Massachusetts legislature for new rules. Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed “Ollie’s Law” in October.
The law, which went into effect last week, limits the number of dogs that can be cared for in a single facility and requires recordkeeping, inspections and reporting of pet injuries and deaths. The precise rules on staff-to-animal ratios, dog group sizes and supervision, emergency planning, minimum housing and care requirements, and staff training and insurance will be written by the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources over the next 18 months.
The National Humane Education Society said the Massachusetts law sets “a new standard” in kennel regulation and safety for pets.
In an interview, Baxter said the most important part of the new law is that pet injuries are now required to be reported to the local licensing authority and that investigation results be made publicly available if enforcement action is taken.
“If I hadn’t gone to the police, no one would have heard of Ollie,” she said.
“There should never be just one employee at a facility,” she argued. If one worker is at the front desk taking payments, “who’s in the back taking care of the animals? It’s an animal protection issue, it’s a consumer protection issue, it’s also an employee protection issue.”
Extra staff and precautions cost money, and pet kennel owners are concerned about how the new rules will affect them, said Linda Wood, owner of Pawsitively Pets boarding and day care center in Bolton, Massachusetts.
Wood, who has owned her business for 20 years, said she fully supports the new law because it will give animal control officers better guidance on how to inspect facilities, as well as require training for kennel employees, such as the courses she provides her own workers.
Kennels that don’t measure up are dangerous, she said. She limits the number of animals she takes at one time.
But, she added, the extra steps will be costly for pet boarding facilities and owners.
“They are going to have to hire more employees. This will make it difficult for business. The prices are going to have to go up. It’s necessary, but how is the public going to handle it?”
This article was edited for length. Read full story athttps://arkansasadvocate.com
Elaine S. Povich covers consumer affairs for Stateline.
Photo Caption:
Ollie, a labradoodle, died when he was 9 months old, two months after being mauled at a pet care facility in Massachusetts. He was the inspiration for “Ollie’s Law,” a new state statute designed to protect pets in kennels. Business owners worry the regulations may be too expensive.
Photo Credit:
Courtesy of Amy Baxter
