NO permission to share!, as there are assumptions here, and I do not want assumptions to be out there as fact as so often happens :-( . Many of you have probably seen, either on Facebook or on one of the yahoo lists, that there was a paragraph relating to USDA/APHIS and the Retail Pet Store Regs, stuck in the 2014 Farm bill. That bill was passed by the House and will probably be passed by the Senate soon. On one of the thousands of pages, there was a tiny bit that was very important to Dog and Cat breeders. It still needs to be sorted out, but following is the least complicated explanation of it. It is my supposition and ONLY my supposition that there was some work being done by insiders. Maybe USDA/APHIS was the one that got this stuck in there. They saw a flaw (and was pointed out by thousands of unhappy breeders), had help in seeing the flaw by some inside work, and got a friendly Congress Member to add it. From Animal Legal Resources, a Wisconsin law firm that works FOR dog owners. ALR has some interesting news to report today. As many of you know, we at ALR have been strong supporters of the AKC, UKC and NAIA lobby efforts in promoting causes and expressing concerns of the hobby breeding community especially in response to the changes in the APHIS regulations pertaining to licensing dog dealers. We see some encouraging signs that those efforts have been productive in language incorporated in the Conference Committee Report on the reconciliation process engaged in by Congress during the process of passing the recent Farm Bill. The USDA derives its authority to regulate from Congress. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) is the law that creates the authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate certain activities including some sales of pets and use of animals in exhibition. In the recent Farm Bill Congress amended the AWA with the addition of the following language that a dealer or exhibitor shall not be required to obtain a license as a dealer or exhibitor under this Act if the size of business is determined by the Secretary to be de minimus. Adding exhibition to the de minimus exclusions to those who should not be required to obtain licenses. The magician who has one bunny as a portion of his act wont now need a USDA license to continue to do his magic act. The Congressional Committee in their report to Congress also made reference to the recently enacted rules pertaining to hobby dog and cat breeders who have four or fewer breeding females. The committee recognized the confusion in the industry with the USDA definition of breeding female and made the following statement in their report. The Managers urge APHIS to clarify that only those female animals capable of reproduction AND ACTIVELY BEING USED in a breeding program qualify as breeding females. We believe that statement was in response to many breeders concerns that show dogs capable of breeding are not used actively in a breeding program and animals too young to complete health testing or screenings prior to entering a breeding program are not considered breeding females by hobby breeders. We applaud the efforts of organizations and those individual breeders who took the time to contact their legislators about their concerns. While this language in the report has not yet been adopted by the USDA, we believe the strong urging by Congress will push the agency into adopting such a definition quickly. It does not require a rule change to do so. We will keep you updated as to how the USDA will address this urging by Congress. Stormy V. Hope https://www.facebook.com/GSDCA.LegislationAwareness https://www.facebook.com/CaRPOC.CaliforniaResponsiblePetOwnersCoalition ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2014. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION: http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================