To All, Once again the state of Minnesota is putting forth bills, Dog and Cat Breeder Regulation bill (S.F. 36/H.F. 84), that would regulate the dog and cat breeders in the state. While nobody would deny that some regulation of commercial breeders is warranted, as is often the case, this bill also affects hobby breeders, probably even some you know. Hobby breeders who care about their puppies, no matter their age, do health screenings of their breeding stock, and carefully plan every litter know that the costs associated with breeding good dogs is already high. This bill would require them to pay more fees (of undisclosed amounts) and goes so far as to count all dogs over approximately 6 months of age, owned or co-owned, living with the breeder or not, in the total number of dogs they are allowed to have before falling under the requirements of this bill (10). Please familiarize yourself with it and let your representatives know what you think. The first 2 links I have provided are to the AKC website where they have paraphrased the bill and list the problems with it. The last link is to the current state of the House version in the Minnesota legislature. You can find the full text their also. http://www.akc.org/press_center/article.cfm?article_id=4807 http://www.akc.org/press_center/article.cfm?article_id=4838 https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?view=chrono&f=HF0084&y=2013&ssn=0&b=house#actions As someone who has been active in rescue for some 20 years, I know the issues with commercial breeding kennels. Let's not punish those who are doing it right. In it's current form the Dog and Cat Breeder Regulation bill (S.F. 36/H.F. 84) should not be passed. Janey Shaddrick