It was supposed to be a great day for dogs, according to Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding.

In late August a state panel approved new regulations for Pennsylvania dog breeders. Part of Act 119, the landmark dog law bill passed in 2008, the new rules would, for the first time, regulate ventilation, lighting, humidity and flooring in Pennsylvania's 111 commercial dog-breeding kennels.

"We have the highest standards for dogs raised in kennels" in the nation, Redding said. And the activists who fought so hard for the dog law, he said, should be both ecstatic and proud.

Instead, they're seething — and vowing to go to court to prevent the regulations from being implemented.

At issue is a provision that would permit pregnant or nursing dogs to be housed in cages with wire flooring, and another that would prevent some dogs from having unfetterred access to an outdoor exercise area. Animal advocates say the inclusion of these provision undermines the law and will harm the dogs the legislation is supposed to protect.

Now, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett must review the new regulations and sign off on them; Redding expects that will happen in the next few weeks, and if it does the laws would go into effect next July.

None of this will happen without a fight, activists say.

Already, Main Line Animal Rescue has paid for two billboards along the Pennsylvania Turnpike — one outside Harrisburg, the other near Philadelphia — and has two more (one on the Turnpike, one on Interstate 83) planned, lambasting the Rendell administration for "bending over backward to accommodate PA's puppy mills." And "if the attorney general signs off, then we move to litigation," Main Line founder Bill Smith said.

In an interview last week, Redding said that while he respects the advocates' passion — he didn't quite understand it.

"It's like they are letting the perfect be the enemy of the good," Redding said.

"Why would you oppose [the regulations], after all this work?"

Breeders upset, too
Animal advocates aren't the only ones who despise the new rules.

Breeders dislike several provisions, including one that requires them to install electronic devices that monitor and record temperature and humidity levels — which could ultimately be used to prosecute breeders, said Michael Glass, of America's Pet Registry Inc., who has lobbied on behalf of breeders.

It amounts to 24-hour surveillance by the state, he said.

The state's dog law has already decimated the breeding industry, Glass said. Two years ago, before Act 119 was passed, there were 300 commercial breeders in Pennsylvania; that number has fallen by almost two-thirds.

In Lancaster County, long called the dog-breeding capital of Pennsylvania and perhaps the eastern United States, the number of commercial breeders has dropped from 120 to 51, according to state records.

"My family was involved in the kennel business for over 20 years," Nathan Myer, of Lititz, testified at a hearing before the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission, which approved the new regulations. "Now I'm a former kennel owner, one of the 60, 70, 80 percent of kennels that have ended their business."

Myer did not return a phone message seeking comment for this article.

Of those who remain, at least 31 have received waivers from the state, exempting them from having to comply with the state's dog laws. Statewide, 81 of the 111 commercial kennels still in existence have gotten waivers temporarily exempting them from having to comply with the dog law.

Redding said many kennel owners sought waivers because they were unsure what the final regulations would look like. Many of those waivers are set to expire in the coming weeks, he said.

Glass said breeders want to comply, but doing so can cost thousands of dollars, and "there are a lot of breeders who are using their kennel to support their family."

"And you have a group of people" — activists — "who don't care how clean your kennel is, because they don't want clean cages — they want empty cages," breeders driven out of business.

The industry continues to lobby state officials, hoping to get changes to some of the wording in the new regulations. "We have confidence they are going to work with us," Glass said.

That's exactly what dog advocates fear.

Some accuse the state of being too cozy with the industry, and actively seeking to undermine the legislation that was supposed to give dogs a break.

The Bureau of Dog Law, part of the Agriculture Department, "has been on the propaganda wagon for some time, saying Pennsylvania has the toughest laws in the country," said Jenny Stephens, founder of North Penn Puppy Mill Watch in Lansdale. "I don't find that to be necessarily true."

A ban on wire flooring was something advocates had fought for for years, and they believed the legislation accomplished the goal. But buried in the law were inconsistencies. Wire flooring was indeed banned for dogs older than 12 weeks, but not for puppies. "Puppies need flooring to let waste get away from them," Secretary Redding said.

Yet the law also requires puppies to remain with their mothers while nursing. "It's a conflict in the statute," Redding admitted. The solution was a compromise: an amendment that allows dogs that are pregnant or nursing to be housed in pens with 50 percent solid flooring, and 50 percent wire flooring.

To Stephens, it was a capitulation to the breeders. "We're right back to where we were," said Stephens, who asserted that most breeding mothers in kennels have two litters per year, and as a result will spend considerable time on the wire flooring advocates thought was going to be banned.

Advocates say slatted flooring would accomplish the same goal of letting waste drain. "Why not make it easier [on breeders] by saying no wire means no wire, so there's no guessing involved?" Stephens asked.

The new regulations also softened a provision in the dog law that was supposed to provide "unfettered access" to an exercise area for all dogs in commercial kennels. The language was omitted from the rules approved by the regulatory commission because officials worried that providing unfettered access for nursing dogs meant puppies might get trapped in a dog door, or stuck outside in bad weather.

Stephens said she hopes Attorney General Corbett will decide that the regulations are inconsistent with the intent of the law, and refuse to sign off on them.

If that doesn't happen, Main Line Animal Rescue's Smith said, the group's attorney "has contacted Secretary Russell Redding and informed the department that Main Line plans to use its considerable means to protect the integrity of Act 119.

"We are going to stop this," Smith said.

Smith wonders why the discrepancies in the law were suddenly discovered — and amended — now. "They claim this was an oversight, but these are the very people who worked on this [law] for years," he said. And he suspects politics may have something to do with it, as Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell leaves office and agriculture department officials "try to protect their jobs by being a little friendlier to breeders."

"Rendell is a lame duck. And because he's leaving and he no longer cares about these animals, dogs all across the commonwealth will be lame as well — from standing on painful wire flooring," Smith said.

But Redding said he can't understand why activists "have chosen to focus on one little piece."

"What did Act 119 do?" he asked. "It doubled cage sizes, required routine vet checks" and more, Redding said.

"It's preposterous that [advocates] have chosen to ignore that."

Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.